Arts
Rocking night of young talent
On the first Friday night of November at 7 p.m., long queues curved and snaked around the BMICH for Rally Round Rock and Roll – the mega show organised by S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia with their Parent Teacher Association.
Diverse performances: The young Thomians on stage. On our cover is the band Mercury performing Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. Pix by Ranjith Perera
A sure fire hit, with some 875 students, overall more than 1000 persons involved counting teachers, children and prefects, the show was dedicated to the late Vinodh Senadeera, the veteran actor and drama teacher, an old Thomian who had directed many S.Thomas’ College productions over the years.
The third item of the show, a drum solo by Akhil Ismail was a tribute to this much loved and greatly missed thespian, with pictures of Vinodh teaching students flashing up on the screen, bringing back many memories.
The show was also a fundraiser for the Smart Classroom project at STC, which will equip every single classroom with Smart boards.
The musical show saw the Canto Choir, the Middle School Choir, Lower School Choir, Lower School Main Choir as well as the Lower School Hewisi Band and Western Band all performing, as well as student bands Mercury and “Essentials”. This showcase of Thomian talent saw performances in all three languages, as well as a plethora of different items, from modern fusion dances, to choral performances, to wind instruments being given the limelight.
The show was a smooth production, handled with commendable efficiency given the large numbers involved; from how the massive area outside the main hall was designated for kids to sit and wait before it was their turn to go on stage, to at the end, like in an airport where passengers find their loved ones, the kids were safely handed back to their parents one by one. The teachers deserve a round of applause for how exceptionally well they managed a production on this scale.
The Kandyan dancers in red and gold provided a great start to the musical show. The Kindergarten and Form One boys’ performance of ‘Superheroes’dressed in Batman and Superman costumes was absolutely adorable and excited parents were seen holding their phones up high to capture their kids on stage. Their bops up and down was one of the highlights of the performance.
Shaun C singing ‘Fight Song’ was undoubtedly one of the best performances of the night, as his voice was strong and powerful, hitting the high notes with ease. Being completely alone on stage, he commanded the audience with just the power of his voice.
The last performance of the evening was Bryan Adams’ classic ‘Summer of 69’, a firm favourite with the boys from the Lower Secondary School Choir. Their performance not only had the boys on stage really rocking, but also many in the audience too.
