…and if emceeing is not your thing, how about tutoring math or language arts?

So maybe you’re not ready to crack jokes before 1,300 spectators.

The Morris Educational Foundation has other plans for you.

The foundation, which next week will audition prospective emcees for the 2013 edition of Morristown’s Got Talent, also seeks community members willing to tutor students at the Frelinghuysen Middle School.

It’s an expansion of a pilot program from last year.  Tutors in math and language arts are needed for students in grades 6 through 8.

From the foundation:

Tutors come from varied backgrounds, not necessarily with any educational experience. Warren Rhines retired a number of years ago as a technical manager at Bell Labs.  He was proud to have tutored two eighth graders in math. “I enjoyed it a lot,” Rhines said.  He believes his background in math and engineering can help students make the connection between practical knowledge and real life experience.

Tutor Joan Bariahtaris, who tutored reading and writing, echoed the sentiments of many of the tutors.  “My children went to the Morris School District and I wanted to give back,” she said.

The students, too, spoke positively about the program.  An enthusiastic sixth grade participant said, “I felt much better and more confident. I’m getting better grades in language arts.”

Interested?  Drop the MEF a line at:  MorrisEdFoundation@gmail.com.

Calling all emcees: Sept. 27 is deadline to apply for Morristown’s Got Talent

If you’ve ever wanted to emcee a show before a huge audience, speak now or forever hold your microphone.

Sept. 27 is the registration deadline to audition to host Morristown’s Got Talent!

The signup form  is here.

Auditions will be held on Oct. 2 from 6 pm to 9 pm at Morristown High School. The sixth annual talent show, a fundraiser for educational programs in the Morris School District, is scheduled for Feb. 27, 2013, at the Mayo Performing Arts Center.

The emcee gig is not a paying proposition. But it’s a chance to show your neighbors what you can do. And who knows?  Maybe Billy Crystal will retire someday and there will be an opening at the Oscars telecast.

Applicants must be at least 18 years old. They should bring five minutes of family friendly material to next week’s audition.

Performers still have some time to rehearse…tryouts are on Dec. 15.  More details about all of this are available from the Morris Educational Foundation.  Questions can be sent to: MorristownsGotTalent@gmail.com.

VIDEO, STORIES FROM MORRISTOWN’S GOT TALENT 2012

MORE COVERAGE OF MORRISTOWN’S GOT TALENT

The Morris School District knows how to throw a party: Sun and fun mark Big 4-0 in Morristown

If you wanted symbolic weather for an anniversary, you could not have done better than Sunday.

Bright sunshine, a pleasant breeze, scarcely a cloud in sight…it seemed light years from the Morris School District’s stormy birth four decades ago.

At that time, it took the state Supreme Court to glue Morristown and Morris Township schools together.  A legal battle spearheaded by Steve Wiley warned that allowing the township to secede from Morristown High School would hasten white flight and doom Morristown to problems plaguing New Jersey’s inner cities.

While Steve has acknowledged that the results are imperfect, they merit celebrating. Morristown High School ranks among the nation’s top 1,000 public high schools (No. 953), according to Newsweek’s latest survey. Some 93 percent of its graduates continue to college, the magazine reports.

And celebrate, residents did on this glorious Sunday afternoon, marking the 40th anniversary of the Morris School District and the 20th anniversary of its philanthropic arm, the Morris Educational Foundation, with music and children’s athletic events at the high school that once was the center of controversy.

Please click icon below for captions.

There were no long speeches. The only struggle involved a friendly tug-of-war between schoolkids on the synthetic turf field, itself created as a community project.

MHS senior class president Joey Gatto emceed an outdoor program featuring performances by bands from the Thomas Jefferson and Frelinghuysen schools; the rock groups Captain Lung and Art of Play; and solo artists Danielle Becht (age 8!) and sixth-grader Hanna Neil.

On the field, players and coaches from various MHS teams shared pointers with young kids. A “dunk tank,” in which teachers took one for the district, proved popular.

The celebration “was meant to help build a spirit of community, and give people an opportunity to come out for a day of fun,” said district spokeswoman Mary Donohoe.

Debbie Sontupe, chairperson of the foundation, was looking to the future, not the past. The MEF, sponsor of Sunday’s festivities and of Morristown’s Got Talent! and the Colonial 5K Challenge, aims to gear up its fundraising efforts…for any rainy days ahead.

“We want to be pro-active,” Debbie said. “We know there may be a time when budget cuts might be needed. We don’t want to react to that. We want to be ready. We want to enhance the experiences of students in our schools.”

Photos by Scott Schlosser. Please click icon below for captions.

Steve Wiley video tribute was a race to slow down for Morristown students

City Living, the student documentary that dazzled Thursday’s Stephen B. Wiley Tribute Gala, is “not a nowadays film,” according to its executive producer, Shannon Kikuchi.

The Morristown High School junior said the 18-minute video purposely takes its time telling the story of civic icon Steve Wiley, MHS Class of ’48.

“Jay-Z videos that flash every four seconds are good in some stuff. But this is about leaving a message with the viewer. How can you leave a message if you don’t leave time to think about it?” Shannon said.

Co-producer and script writer Sean Mowry said he tried to emulate the deliberate pacing and photo-panning style of the Ken Burns Jazz documentary.

To get in synch with Steve Wiley’s analog youth, Sean even hunted for a typewriter. (His online search found one in Canada.) For her part, Shannon opted to go retro by jotting everything on a notepad instead of a laptop.

Mike Butler, head of Morristown High’s broadcasting department, said he was impressed by the maturity of students on this project.

“Kids like to do goofy stuff, music videos,” said the teacher, formerly with Court TV. But for City Living, his students shelved the jump cuts. “They started to appreciate the word ‘dissolve.’ They gradually bought it.”

 

Mike’s department got the assignment on Dec. 17. Students completed the video just hours before the Morris Township gala. That’s 2:37 pm, to be precise, Shannon said.

Although Steve Wiley, who is 80, could not attend for health reasons, dozens of his friends and relatives  gave the premiere a standing ovation at the Morris Museum’s Bickford Theatre.

“It’s astounding they captured him so well,” said Steve’s daughter, Katie Laud.

Sean said he thrives on pressure. “Deadlines really help focus you,” he said. Going down to the wire yielded seasonal benefits, too.

“Before, we went out (to shoot) in the middle of February, and the Green looked dead. Now, with so many last-minute shots, it looks beautiful,” Sean said.

A dearth of archival material forced the team to be resourceful, Shannon said.

“We didn’t have access to old photos. They weren’t online. We had to find creative solutions,” she said.

To simulate Steve Wiley’s days on the unbeaten 1946 football varsity, the crew recorded Sean passing a football from hand to hand one drizzly day this week.

As the project unfolded, students gained confidence to trust their intuition. Sometimes it just felt right to use images that did not mirror the narration, Shannon said.

Mike Butler marveled at how students juggled activities. Shannon acted in the spring musical, Sweet Charity, and works for the literary magazine, Tricorn. Sean appeared in the musical and is taking advanced placement courses. Another co-producer, Sam Casedevall, is on the track team.

They also had to contend with some “backseat drivers” who were only casually involved in the project, Mike said.

“It’s tough trying to edit with someone breathing down your neck, asking, ‘Who is Stephen B. Wiley?’” acknowledged Sam Casedevall.

Pleasant discoveries included freshman Andrew Speers, one of the narrators. “I heard his voice and told him, ‘You have a special voice,’” Mike Butler said.

Several of Steve’s longtime acquaintances were interviewed on camera; Steve was interviewed by his grandson, 23-year-old Boston College graduate Matt Laud.

MorristownGreen.com contributors Ben Cutler, Joey Gatto and Zaji Zabalerio were among students working on City Living, a title derived from a Steve Wiley poem recited in the documentary.  MHS senior Parker Fairey served as project photographer; faculty members included Brian Kievning (photography) and Steve Woodruff (chief engineer).

Pressed for another key ingredient to the video’s success, Shannon took no time to ponder her one-word response:

“Coffee!”

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On May 20, festivities at Morristown High School will celebrate two anniversaries: 40 years for the Morris School District and 20 years for the Morris Educational Foundation.

Lawyer, leader, poet, gentleman: Steve Wiley honored at Morris Township gala

Many people tried to sum up Steve Wiley at a gala benefit in his honor on Thursday.

This is the guy who raised millions to save the Community Theatre, beautify the Morristown Green and expand the Morristown & Township Library. The guy who founded banks and cable TV companies, and helped launch First Night Morris and the Morris United Way. The guy who convinced the state Supreme Court, in a historic case, that the Morristown and Morris Township school systems should be merged to avert segregation at Morristown High School. The guy who retired from a successful law practice to write volumes of poetry.

Once again, as he has done in so many courtrooms, Steve delivered the best summation:

From dreaming to wishing
From wishing to planning
From planning to doing
From doing to done.

The words were read by Connie Hagelin, co-chair of the tribute at the Morris Museum in Morris Township. At 80, Steve Wiley was not up to making the trip from his retirement home in Vermont.

Dozens of Steve’s friends and relatives attended the $150-per-person event, a fundraiser for a Stephen B. Wiley Scholarship that will help cash-strapped students from his alma mater, Morristown High School, and the Morris County School of Technology. Candidates must be community minded and demonstrate “a record of leadership, integrity and kindness.”

The gala was timed to mark the 40th anniversary of the merger known as the Morris School District, and the 20th anniversary of its fundraising arm, the Morris Educational Foundation. Steve was its founding chairman.

Please click icon below for caption.

Accolades flowed like the Whippany River during Tropical Storm Irene. Which is pretty remarkable, considering Steve Wiley also is the guy whose one term as a Democratic state senator from Republican Morris County produced the state income tax.

Even more remarkable was City Living, an 18-minute video tribute produced by MHS students born decades after the landmark merger battle.

Five months in the making, the documentary was finished just hours before people started filing into the Morris Museum on Thursday night.

“Deadlines really help focus you,” said MHS junior Sean Mowry, who wrote the script.

“I never despaired,” said Shannon Kikuchi, executive producer, who squeezed in the project while acting in the school musical and working on the school literary magazine.

Michael Butler, the teacher who oversaw the production as head of the MHS broadcasting department, said he started getting emotional during an advance screening for members of the Morris Educational Foundation. “I’m ecstatic. I’m really proud of them,” he said of his students.

The audience gave them a standing ovation.

“Their production was worthy of its subject,” said Art Raynes, a truck driver’s son who rose to partner in Steve’s firm thanks to mentoring by the boss.

Art described him as someone who led by example. Steve wrote beautiful legal briefs and once called his young protégé to task for a typo in a letter.

“Do you want 110 lawyers at McCarter & English to think Art Raynes is a sloppy lawyer?” Steve asked. The lesson stuck.

On the morning after knee surgery, Steve was back to work, Art recalled. He expected the same energy from his staff. One job applicant, asked by Steve to rate his energy level from 1 to 10, answered “nine.”

“Let’s eliminate the lazy guy,” Steve told the partners.

The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, rocked by scandals in recent years, was fiscally sound and on the rise academically when Steve served as chairman, according to Art. He also credited Steve with establishing the first legislative committees in the state Senate.

Steve made every lawyer around him “better in 20 ways,” Art said. Instead of taking victory laps after big verdicts, he wrote thank you memos to the whole firm. “He made everyone feel appreciated.”

Janitors and CEOs were accorded the same respect, added law partner Jim McCreedy. “He was always a gentleman.”

Three volumes of poetry came after Steve turned 70; he was inspired by a professor at the College of Saint Elizabeth.

“None of us knew he was doing it,” Jim said. “All of a sudden, he announced he’d written a book of poetry. It was amazing, like everything he did.”

Steve’s father, J. Burton Wiley, came to Morristown in 1912 and helped create the high school. It may be the reason why Steve maintained his ties to Greater Morristown after graduating from Princeton and Columbia universities, said one of Steve’s older brothers, orchestra conductor Jackson Wiley.

Their father also taught Steve proper use of a scythe–their grandfather died in a scything accident. Tools figure prominently in Steve’s poetry, Jackson noted, reciting from Crosscut Dancing. It concludes:

With two men
A forest is a field.

Pulling together, Steve Wiley and community members changed the landscape of Morristown.

“I can’t envision what Morristown would look like without Stephen Wiley,” said Felicia Jamison, a civil rights activist whose late husband, Charles “Moose” Jamison Jr.,  played alongside Steve on the high school’s unbeaten 1946 football team.

“You wouldn’t have had the rich experience of (blacks and whites) living and working together.  You wouldn’t have had an example of a pluralistic democracy,” Felicia said.

“You wouldn’t have the Green. You would have some trees.”

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On May 20, festivities at Morristown High School will celebrate two anniveraries: 40 years for the Morris School District and 20 years for the Morris Educational Foundation.

Joey Gatto, Hanna Neil, Captain Lung, AOP to headline Morris District 40th birthday bash

Joey Gatto’s crowded résumé is going to need another page.

The Morristown High School senior class president–and beat-boxer and pianist and winner of last year’s MorristownGreen.com Film Festival– has been chosen to emcee the Morris School District’s 40th birthday party on May 20.

“I was really honored and excited because I love being on the mic, and it should be a really fun event,” said Joey, who will be attending the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan this fall.

Although he probably is versatile enough to carry the show himself, Joey will have the luxury of introducing lots of home-grown talent at the MHS football field.

Hanna Neil, the sixth-grade songbird who sang the national anthem so beautifully at our Earth Day concert last month, will reprise the Star-Spangled Banner at 1 pm.

Captain Lung, the MHS trio that won third prize at this year’s Morristown’s Got Talent! show, will perform, as will Art of Play, a rock group from Frelinghuysen Middle School that is competing this week for  top amateur honors at Harlem’s famed Apollo Theater.

The Frelinghuysen Jazz Band and 5th-graders from the Thomas Jefferson School Band will play, too, and MHS athletes will give sports demos and mini-clinics for younger kids.

At 1:30 pm, it will be boys and girls track, hockey, boys and girls lacrosse, baseball and cheerleading. At 2:45 pm, it’s boys and girls soccer, football, softball and cheerleading.

The festivities will mark the merger of the Morristown and Morris Township school systems–highly controversial four decades ago–and the 20th anniversary of the Morris Educational Foundation, the fundraising organization that runs Morristown’s Got Talent!

On Thursday, May 10, a cocktail party at the Morris Museum will honor Steve Wiley, the central figure in the creation of the District and the Foundation.  One of the featured entertainers is MHS junior Charlie Savage, pianist and co-winner of this year’s Morristown’s Got Talent! show. Proceeds from the evening will fund a Stephen B. Wiley Scholarship.

“In partnership, over the decades, the Morris School District and the Morris Educational Foundation have afforded extensive opportunities for program innovation; inspired and supported extraordinary achievements of students and alumni; and provided numerous opportunities for community involvement and commitment,” MEF Chairperson Debbie Sontupe said in a statement.

Community partners at the May 20 celebration will include the Morristown Neighborhood House, the Community Soup Kitchen, the YMCA, the Seeing Eye and the Interfaith Food Pantry. Several area restaurants also will be involved.

Performers for Morris School District celebrations. Please click icon below for captions.

As for Joey, this event caps a schoolboy career that includes four straight years as MHS class president and two appearances at Morristown’s Got Talent!  One of those performances landed him an agent. While he enjoys beat-boxing, he cites video production as his first love.

Joey’s productions for MorristownGreen.com include The Man Hole Cover Hat – a spoof of Morristown’s exploding manholes — and a music video featuring Eric “Fluffy” Glover, the Ticket Taker Guy from Clearview Cinemas.

Three days before the deadline for last summer’s MG Film Fest, Joey composed a rap song about recycling, recruited a cast, and directed and edited the video.

Naturally, the audience voted Reduce, Reuse, Recycle  as Best Picture.

The same formula will apply this month.

“I have nothing planned. I’m just going to freestyle it, because that’s pretty much what I do in most of my work,” Joey said.

Why mess with success?

VIDEO: HANNA NEIL, AOP AND CAPTAIN LUNG ON EARTH DAY

No clichés here: May 10 gala will salute living legend Steve Wiley. . . ‘Mr. Morristown’

Maybe they should chisel one more guy next to Washington, Hamilton and Lafayette on the Morristown Green.

Because when anyone talks about Steve Wiley, it’s in monumental terms.

“What does Steve Wiley mean to the Library? Everything,” said Maria Norton, director of the Morristown & Township Library. “Without his leadership, our new wing would still be a dream.”

The Community Theatre? “Steve’s leadership, perseverance and dedication were responsible for helping to raise over $8 million” to transform an abandoned movie theater into a showcase, said Allison Larena, president of the renamed Mayo Performing Arts Center.

Steve raised millions more to keep the historic Green from becoming a weed patch.  The lawyer went to bat for the former Morristown Memorial Hospital. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Morris School District and Year 20 for the Morris Educational Foundation, which has raised more than $1.4 million for school programs. Guess who was behind those organizations?

Please click icon below for captions.

To help celebrate these milestones, members of Steve’s fan club are throwing a cocktail party on May 10 at the Morris Museum–the man played a role there, too–to raise funds for a Stephen B. Wiley Scholarship.

Starting next year, the college scholarship will be awarded to a Morristown High School senior with financial need, who has “proven involvement as a community-minded individual and . . .  a record of leadership, integrity and kindness,” said Connie Hagelin, who worked with Steve for years on the Foundation board.

Tickets to the soirée are $150. Entertainment will be supplied by the MHS Strings and pianist Charlie Savage, a winner in this year’s edition of Morristown’s Got Talent!, a production of the Foundation. Students will premiere a documentary about Steve in the Bickford Theatre, and K-12 artworks from the Morris School District will fill the museum. The District and Foundation anniversaries also will be observed with festivities at the high school on May 20.

Now 80 and retired in Vermont, Steve is not expected to attend for health reasons. There should be no shortage of people eager to sing his praises.

It wasn’t always that way.

Steve’s battle to block Morris Township’s secession from Morristown High School went all the way to the state Supreme Court in 1971, drawing national attention.

A Township resident at the time, Steve represented some Morristown residents who felt that pulling out the Township’s students was a racist act that would leave Morristown High segregated for the first time since 1869, said former Morristown Councilwoman Margret Brady.

“By the time the court-ordered hearings were held, bitterness was all that most can remember. Wiley bore the brunt of many of the attacks because as a graduate of MHS in 1947 and the son of J. Burton Wiley, the former longtime superintendent of schools for the district, his friends and neighbors felt he should have been protecting their interests rather than the minorities he represented, ” Marge said.

“That was a bloody, fierce battle . . . and I was not a popular person,” Steve told MorristownGreen.com in 2008.

Yet it was imperative to take a legal stand, he said, to halt white flight from Morristown.

“…Having a minority center and a white ring around it is nothing but a guarantee of an explosion and you’re going to lose everyone. So anyway, to me the key to the success and stability and prosperity of this area, economically and otherwise, is the school.

“If you don’t have a good Morris School District, a school system that is attractive to parents who could, who have a choice, you’re gonna have trouble. You are gonna have trouble,” he said, rattling off a list of New Jersey cities that hit the skids in the ’70s.

Don Jay Smith, former chairman of the Community Theatre, said Morristown and the Township have talked about consolidating services for years.

“But only one merger ever occurred–the school district–and Steve pushed it through,” Don said.

If that’s not proof of Steve Wiley’s powers of persuasion, consider this: The Democrat won a state Senate seat in Morris County, where only Republican is spoken on Election Day.

“He’s really good at engaging people in conversation,” said Don,  ascribing Steve’s fundraising prowess to a warm personality, strong organizational skills, relentless follow-through, and a penchant for surrounding himself with good people and sharing the glory.

“Our schools teach the ABC’s with distinction, but young people in Morristown High and the grade schools also learn the D’s, E’s and F’s. By association and experience they learn about democracy and diversity, about equal opportunity and ethnic strengths, about freedom and fraternity, about the whole alphabet of America.”
Stephen B. Wiley, 1992

“He was like the Pied Piper of Morristown,” said Connie Hagelin. “He had a way of talking to everyone as if you were doing the most amazing job… It wasn’t just the money he raised. It was the spirit he infused in the community.”

Glenn Coutts and Steve Wiley went from boyhood neighbors on Georgian Road to teammates on the unbeaten 1947 MHS football team.  Glenn played center and Steve was a guard for that single-wing offense. Over the years, Glenn has marveled at his friend’s performance for the community.

“He’s not going to make a lot of noise. But he could sit down with you and others, and he would find the right way, and when you’re done, you would be convinced we’re doing the right thing. He would answer the questions that needed to be answered.”

‘MR. MORRISTOWN’

The hardest two years of Art Raynes’ law career were his first two years working for Steve Wiley.  Looking back now, as a partner in the firm, he treasures the experience.

“I’m the luckiest lawyer around, because my first few years I worked with him,” Art said, describing his mentor as a big-picture guy who paid attention to tiny details.

Educated at Princeton and Columbia, Steve did his homework.  His victory in a $1.6 million whistleblower case against Mobile “was as fine an example of lawyering as you will ever see,” Art said.

Steve won an antitrust case by whipping out a pencil and calculating that a financial expert had made an error.

“I felt sorry for that math expert” on the witness stand, Art said.

There was no gloating. While Steve enjoyed beating younger guys in tennis, he was a gentleman who “treated everyone with respect. If he said something was going to happen, he made it happen. If someone asked a question he couldn’t answer, he made a note and got back to him.”

A gifted orator and an “unbelievable wordsmith,” Steve took pride in crafting legal documents that made sense, Art said.  The law firm wasn’t too surprised when Steve published three volumes of poetry after age 70.

In his book The Miracle on South Street, historian John Cunningham praised Steve as a Renaissance Man and the “heart and soul of Morristown.”  Now, John simply calls Steve “Mr. Morristown.”

Barry Goffin considers Steve a role model, and credits him with helping  First Night Morris get off to a great start 20 years ago. “Very quietly, he exceeded expectations in everything he did,” said Barry, co-owner of the 23 South Boutique and an original board member of First Night.

Art Raynes sees Steve Wiley’s legacy everywhere.

“You can’t walk a block in Morristown without seeing something he made better,” he said.

TICKET INFO FOR MAY 10 GALA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video: Morristown’s Got Talent 2012 preview

Here is a sneak preview of some of the acts that will vie for the $1,000 top prize at Morristown’s Got Talent!, which celebrates its fifth anniversary on Feb. 29.

Ninety-seven acts wanted in, but only 16 made the final cut.

Tickets are $20-$75, with proceeds benefiting programs of the Morris School District. Call the Mayo Performing Arts Center at 973-539-8008 or visit the show website for tickets.

READ MORE ABOUT MORRISTOWN’S GOT TALENT 2012

COVERAGE OF MORRISTOWN’S GOT TALENT 2011

 

Tickets on sale for Morristown’s Got Talent, take 5! Judges announced

If there’s one thing we know from the first four editions of Morristown’s Got Talent!, it’s this: Don’t wait until the last minute to buy tickets.

The Mayo Performing Arts Center was packed last year, and chances are the same will hold true for the fifth anniversary show, hosted by local comedian John Mruz on Feb. 29.

Tickets are $20 to $75 and proceeds benefit the Morris School District through the Morris Educational Foundation. Ninety-seven acts tossed their hats in the ring; 16 finalists emerged. They are vying for local glory and a top prize of $1,000.

If there is a sentimental favorite, it must be Timeless Jazz, an ensemble striving to repeat its victory in the very first MGT contest. But the competition will be formidable; this lineup offers something for everyone.

Danny Dones (third appearance), Ricky Webber (who won second place with his prior band, Boys Night Out), Joey Gatto and Jasmin Serrano all have been here before and know what it takes to shine. And there are some great newcomers, too.

The act will be judged by:

• Bruce Moran, president of the Latin American Division of Live Nation, the world’s largest live music company.
• Ed Kirchdoerffer, general manager of the Mayo Performing Arts Center.
• David Hess, an award-winning actor whose Broadway and Off-Broadway credits include Sweeney Todd and Annie Get Your Gun.
• Ben Elliot, music producer and engineer and chief engineer and co-owner of Showplace Studios, who has worked with many top artists and bands in rock, blues and jazz genres.

Stay tuned for video previews.

Tickets are available from the Mayo box office, 973-539-8008.

MORE ABOUT MORRISTOWN’S GOT TALENT 2012

MORRISTOWN’S GOT TALENT 2011

 

Timeless Jazz, King’s guy, and several other familiar faces (and voices) among finalists for Morristown’s Got Talent

The fifth annual Morristown’s Got Talent! show is going to have all kinds of interesting story lines at the Mayo Performing Arts Center on Feb. 29.

Among the 16 finalists announced Wednesday–after a marathon weekend audition session in which 86 acts tried out–are the winners of the very first competition, Timeless Jazz.  Charlie Savage from that ensemble actually gets two cracks at the $1,000 first prize–he also will perform on piano with xylophonist Oliver Cervantes.

Ricky Webber, who previously won a second prize as a member of Boys Night Out, returns with another band, Art of Play.

Michael Pyo, the kid brother of prior winner Chris Pyo (a fiddler), will sing in this year’s show.

Repeat contestants also include Morristown High School seniors Danny Dones (third appearance) and Joey Gatto, who join forces in a bluesy/jazzy group called Top Hat. Singer Jasmin Serrano is back, too.  Seafood lovers can cheer for singer James Cutler, who serves them behind the counter at King’s supermarket. Fans of Morristown High School theatrical productions will recognize singer Carolina Alvarez, and regular readers of MorristownGreen.com will know the rock trio Captain Lung.

Local comedian John Mruz is hosting the show; look out, JCP&L!

“It was extremely difficult choosing the finalists for this year’s show,” said Debbie Sontupe, chairperson of the Morris Educational Foundation, which hopes to top the nearly $40,000 it raised at last year’s show for programs in the Morris School District.

“Our committee stuck to our committment to providing a top-notch show with diversity in talent, ages, and connections to our community — and that guided our decision-making!  We are confident that our audience will be once again inspired and touched by the performances of the evening and of course, we have some special things planned to help celebrate our fifth year.”

Here is the complete roster:

FINALISTS FOR THE FIFTH ANNUAL ‘MORRISTOWN’S GOT TALENT!’

Master of Ceremonies: John Mruz

1. Danielle Becht…..Singer….”Born to Entertain”

2. Hanna Neil….Singer…..”One and Only”

3. Cristina Cappy….Singer….”You and I”

4. Jasmin Serrano & Laura Rondinella…..Singing Duet…..”Take Me or Leave Me” from RENT

5. Oliver Cervantes & Charlie Savage…..Instrumental….Xylophone & Piano….”Tambourin Chinois”

6. Emma Farinacci…Singer….”Rolling In the Deep”

7. Timeless Jazz….Band….”Beyond the Sea”….featuring Gus Bacas, Peter Bacas, Ryan Gallagher,

Dan Reardon, Ben Burgess, Charlie Savage, Stephen Ferm, & Isabel Rogers

8. Michael Pyo….Singer….”Tomorrow” from Annie

9. Art of Play…..Band….”Medley of 3 songs” featuring, TJ Coon,

Domenico Randazzo, Ricky Webber, and Tyler Volk

10. James Cutler…..Singer….”You’ll Never Find”

11. Matthew Onigman…Singer….”Nesu Dorma (spelling not right…will get correct)

12. Sam Barnes & Adam Honeycutt….Instrumental….”Donnybrook”

13. Carolina Alvarez….Singer….”O Del Mio Dolce Ardor”

14. Top Hat….Band….”Ordinary People/Sir Duke”….featuring Sean Horan, Joe Gatto, Aidan Keefer,

Kiana Davis, & Danny Dones

15. Captain Lung….Band…”Lonely Days”….featuring Travis Fielding, Andrew McNally, & Johannes Burger

16. The Legends….Band…”Stratus”….featuring Josh Klein, Lucas Kadar, Greg Sgrulloni, & Eric Swiontkowski

Congratulations to the finalists, and to everyone who had the courage to give it a shot!

MORE ABOUT MORRISTOWN’S GOT TALENT 2012

MORRISTOWN’S GOT TALENT 2011

 

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