The annual talent show “Lions’ Follies” was shown on Friday, November 5 at 7:00 pm. From dancing to jokes, Lions’ Follies is a chance for the student body of LHS to show their talents and have fun. In between the acts each class performed a skit introduced by the hilarious senior emcees Max Regan, Victoria Majeske, Lane Greenly, and Harvey Rainwater.
The emcees did an amazing job introducing each act by adding an essential comedic aspect to the show. In the previous years, the jokes told by emcees have been a little lackluster and random. This year, however, the emcees did an amazing job making the crowd enjoy themselves and laugh despite the difficulties that came with running the show.
The Follies was opened by the Thespian officers Alicia Chavez, Grant Kinzie, Bella Houck, Ben Davis, and Lilyann Dominick who did a lip sync battle of the song “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls. It was extremely entertaining and well-choreographed all the officers were committed to their performance which made it very fun to watch.
After the Thespians, the freshman performed their skit, which included them attempting to sit on an invisible bench. Although it could have used a little more humor, the lines were well-rehearsed, and their prat-fall at the very end was quite impressive.
Grae Gallager sang after the freshman skit to the song Laplace”s Angels by Will Wood, they have a very unique voice and had a clear presence on the stage. One of the best parts of his performance was the lights changing in the background, it seemed to match the tone of the music which added an appealing visual aspect to Gallager’s act.
The 10-grade skit was performed after this, their lines were well-rehearsed and parts of it got a few laughs out of the crowd. However, their skit was a little long and a little bit boring.
After this, Eliana Joy recited a poem about love which was super wholesome and added some much-needed variation to the show. After Eliana, Heather Mooney sang “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston, in my opinion, was the highlight of the show. Her voice is beautiful and strong and she performed like a professional singer on stage, this made her performance the perfect conclusion to act one.
Act two was opened by Howie Marshall, Ryan Hill, Russell Watson, and Townes Uhl, doing a light-saber duel, which was by far the most entertaining act of the night. The duel was shockingly well choreographed and the lightsabers were extremely realistic.
After this Russell Watson had to quickly change from a duel-narrator to musician where he played the piano along with Grace Amine who played the violin to the song “Imagine” by John Lennon. After this duo, the juniors performed their skit which was a recreation of the opening acapella scene in Pitch Perfect. It was almost an exact replica of the actual scene (minus the vomit), the costumes were on point and it was extremely amusing to watch.
After the junior skit, Karissa Branine danced to a mashup of “Traitor” by Olivia Rodrigo and “Heather” by Conan Gray. It was amazing to watch Karissa do a multitude of jumps and turns in the air, her performance was extremely graceful and beautiful to watch.
After this, Giselle Fidler told some awesome jokes that had the crowd going wild! You could tell she was very excited to be on stage and her smile seemed to light up the room while performing which was heartwarming to watch. After Fidler finished her jokes the infamous senior skit was introduced.
In my opinion, the best actors were Lane Greenly playing Mr. Gordon, Harvey Rainwater playing Mrs. Anderson, Megan Montgomery playing her dad Mr. Montgomery, and Charlie Goffinet playing Mr. Burdick. All four of these people made the audience burst out laughing while watching their exaggerated, albeit, accurate interpretations of the teachers.
After this Andrea Rojas sang “No Me Queda Más” by Selena, this was her second time performing at Lions’ Follies and her performance improved dramatically from two years ago. She always had an amazing voice, however, she was much more confident in this performance than she was singing Ocean Eyes two years prior. I could easily picture her being one of the leads of the musical in the near future if she chooses.
Lastly, The band “The Fuz”, including John Keran, Holden Williams, Asher Morrisroe, and Ethan Pfister closed the show. It was an amazing performance and the band played classic music that was familiar to both parents and students making their performance the best of the night.
The winners of Lions’ Follies this year were Howie Marshal, Ryan Hill, Russell Watson, and Towns Uhl in 3rd place for their lightsaber duel, Grace Amine, and Russel; Watson in 2nd place for their cover of “Imagine, and the Fuz who won first place overall.
Overall, this Lions Follies show was a great way to come back after a year without this show. It’s a great way for the school to show off their talent and get a taste of the style of all of the classes and this year no one disappointed in the slightest.