By Nicholas Voltaggio
Hundreds will be watching them. On the biggest stage of their lives.
In front of friends, family and neighbors, 15 amateur acts will compete for cash and glory at the 11th Annual Morristown Onstage competition on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018.
At 7 pm, the Mayo Performing Arts Center will come alive with singers, dancers, rockers, instrumentalists and even a contortionist.
Poet Ally Are, who won in 2015, will go for the gold again. Brothers will share a keyboard, and a mother and daughter will perform–separately.
“She says that I am her inspiration but she has no idea that she is my greatest inspiration every single day,” Gabrielle Trumbull, a single mom, said of her only child, Juliette Trumbull.
Juliette, 13, will sing How Far I’ll Go from Moana. Gabrielle says her song, You’ll Never Walk Alone from Carousel, has been infused with a new, special meaning since the Parkland tragedy.
The performers are vying for $1,000, awarded to one winner from each of two categories, 18 and under and 19 and above, by a panel of seasoned judges that includes The Voice semi-finalist Brendan Fletcher.
Audience members also will choose their favorite, for a $500 prize, and the Morris Educational Foundation, organizer of this extravaganza, will give the $250 Rossoff Rising Star award to the most promising act.
Last year’s show earned $126,000 for programs in the Morris School District. MEF officials hope to break that record.
Longtime television producer Tara Bernie is returning as emcee, to keep things lively.
As of Tuesday, about 80 tickets remained, ranging in price from $29 to $79. They are available here, or by calling the Mayo Center box office at 973-539-8008.
More than 60 acts auditioned back in December. Discover the incredible talents your classmates and neighbors have been hiding all these years.
Morristown Green correspondent Nicholas Voltaggio is a freshman at Morristown High School.
