“Orcas Has Talent” Auditions Make for Lively Show

From left, Al Bentley, Carl Burger, KT Laslo, Marissa Veldman and Christian Bailey hold their tickets to the "Orcas Has Talent" Grande Finale on Feb. 4 at Orcas Center. Tickets sell out fast!

Updated Jan. 24 at 2 p.m. 

Orcas Island Prevention Partnership (OIPP) again hit it out of the park with their “Orcas Has Talent” audition shows at the Grange yesterday afternoon and evening. (See accompanying story on the Orcas Has Talent Junior auditions that were held yesterday afternoon.)

Sixteen acts took the stage at the evening audition;  eight of the acts were judged eligible for the final performance on Feb. 4 at the Orcas Center. Judges Bob Shipstad, Joe Babcock and Susan Babcock judged the competitors on stage presence, technical ability and showmanship, and made the tough final cuts.

The Ceolinas first took the stage, playing “Pirates of the Caribbean,” directed by Orcas School Music Teacher Pamela Wright. Christian Bailey, Tashi Leitch, Monica Connell, Kyra Miles-Era, Paris Wilson, Emmy Carter and Anthony Kaskurs, Jules Mann and Suzanne Meitzner have played violins, viola and cello together for two and a half years. An early hit, the group advanced to the finals on Feb. 4.

Kelsey Whitaker sang Adele’s “Someone Like You” a cappella, and mastered the tricky  song with confident pacing and a poignant delivery.

Carl Berger, who cites Peter Schieckele, Weird Al Yankovic and Spike Jones as his inspirations, sang a 60s song “Garbage” with his keynote wry wit and professional-quality guitar accompaniment rendering the boomer song particularly applicable to Orcas Island, at the end morphing into a funny-sad refrain from Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.” Berger too will be seen at the final competition.

Maura Pelleteri, a relative newcomer to Orcas Island, sang to her own composition “Not Looking Down,” while accompanying herself on keyboard. Islanders will be able to catch her original talent at the Feb. 4 Finals.

Marissa Veldman, a three-time showstopper, sang the tearful “Hallelujah” from the movie Shrek, with her signature musicality and showmanship. She too advanced to the Feb. 4 Orcas Center Show.

Jason Kraayveldt, who won the competition in its second year, enraptured the audience with his seamless tenor-falsetto version of the Joe Cocker standard, “You Are So Beautiful.” Jason totally delivered the sustained notes and smooth longing of this simple but difficult song.

Rhiannon Lawson proclaimed her love for show tunes with a fabulous, vulnerable and bright rendition of “Part of My World,” from the Disney film, The Little Mermaid.  A wisp of a girl, Rhiannon’s confident singing and role-playing in the fast-paced, wide-ranged song won her a slot in the line-up for “Orcas Has Talent” finals.

The high school band, True to Fuji, made up of Robin Gropp and Mackie Blackburn, with Christopher Ghazel drumming in the place of band member Kellan Comrie (who was acting a lead role in Our Town across town), played their own progressive rock song, “Giant.” The guitar-drum song had a unique, combined dreamy-insistent, rhythm to it. (The band’s name is a salute to their sense of random serendipity, chosen from opening a magazine and deciding upon the first ad as their band’s name).

Following an intermission, the band “Almost Canadian” filled the Grange stage to the max, as Dylan Thompson, Emmy Carter, Lisa Carter, Christian Bailey and Christopher Ghazel played, “Forget You.” The group, formerly known as “Practice Makes Awesome,” was fronted by Julia Bailey’s fetching singing and showmanship. This school-aged group also made it into the final competition.

Next, Michaud Sauvage played the guitar and sang to “No Matter,” his own composition. With his wild Russian bear-like hat and lumberjack attire, this bearded young newcomer began with opening chords strongly reminiscent of “Corcovado” (known in English as “Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars”)” before morphing into a catchy strumming beat and scat-like phrases.

Later, Michaud re-created the show biz fable of the understudy rocketing to stardom, when he stood in for Matthew (Wally) Walrath,  to play a “rhythm rattle” accompanying Al Bentley’s sax on “Boogie in B Flat.”  Bentley’s rocking version had the audience swinging and swaying in their seats. Bentley too will go on to the “Orcas Has Talent” finals.

Josh Bronn hobbled onstage on crutches, his foot in a plastic “boot,” but there was nothing faltering in his delivery of the country rock song, “Ladies Love Country Boys.” Wearing the white T-shirt, blue jeans, outsize hat characteristic of country performers, Josh captured the audience, flexing his muscles, growling impossibly low notes, dancing to the beat and all but taunting the audience to join in with a “Nah-nah” chorus. The audience enthusiastically obliged. Later his dad was asked if he knew Josh had it in him. “I had no idea,” Greg Bronn replied.

Shawna Watson, another Orcas newbie who hails from performance in Seattle’s classical music and rock scene, sang an original composition, “Shadows.” She accompanied herself with strong guitar playing, and singing in a variety of voices, rocked the stage with the song of darkness and loss.

The sole dance performance of the night was to a Latin beat, choreographed by the performers Renee Sturk and Berenice Aravelo. Snappy and sensual, but always enthusiastic, the team captured the audience with their smiles and steps.

Zach Edwardson sang “Collide,” accompanied by his own guitar playing. Edwardson has a subdued and gentle tone, what Judge Shipstad called “Your voice’s whisperness and your whiskeyness,”  that makes the words and music of the song even more meaningful.

Carly Wehle also accompanied herself on guitar as she sang the Stevie Nicks’ classic “landslide,” in a manner that recalled the Fleetwood Mac’s glory years.

Another past “Orcas Idols” champion, KT Laslo singing the Amy Winehouse lament, “Valerie.”  KT is a two-for-one performer: there’s KT and there’s her voice – larger than life, yet remarkably compacted into one knockout performer. You’ll see her on stage on Feb. 4 too.

John Clancy again emceed the show with his humorous, self-deprecating patter and a sense of  “Orcas Has Talent,”  formerly “Orcas Idol” history.  Donna Laslo produced the show with her always-reliable  joie de vivre. She announced that again this year, she will produce a film of “Special Talents on Orcas,” interviewing shopkeepers and public figures to reveal their special talents, to be shown at the Finale. Donna recreated her own signature dog barks and added birdchirps to her repertoire as examples of the world-class talents that will be on exhibit during the film.

Orcas Island Prevention Partnership Board Members and stage techies Julie Pinardi and Margie Sabine took to the stage to call for a round of applause for Laslo.

The “Orcas Has Talent” show is OIPP’s chief fundraiser each year. Laslo announced that the organization, founded by Moriah Armstrong in 1999, has distributed over $800,000 in the last 12 years to engage youth in being models and leaders in alcohol and drug use prevention.

The show this year will take place at Orcas Center on Saturday, Feb. 4, starting at 6:30 p.m. Patron tickets of $50 will give the ticketholders the choice of where  to sit and “first-in-line” treatment. General admission tickets will be on sale at Darvill’s Books starting Jan. 23. Adults $25, youth $15 (ages 12 and under).  All net proceeds from the event go to the Orcas Island Prevention Partnership.  OrcasHasTalent@gmail.com