Boys on pianos, girls with guitars, a capella dance music and more hit the stage at for Winter Arts Night on Thursday evening.
Winter Arts Night is the first of a two-night fundraising event for the Braintree High School Theatre Guild and the high school's literary magazine, Stone Soup. The second event, on Friday, is Battle of the Bands, a competition for high school bands, mostly rock and pop groups.
"Tomorrow night is about competition," said Theatre Guild sponsor, Dwayne Dahlbeck. "Tonight is about people doing their thing. This is like an acoustic coffeehouse venue."
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Nineteen student acts performed for an enthusiastic audience of parents, teachers and students. Performances ranged from classical -- Devin Kinsella's rendition of Schubert's "Impromptu in G Flat Major" -- to more experimental -- Kathy Lui and Nicole Kolaci's a capella performance of Lady Gaga's "Poker Face."
The audience exploded for Mackenzie Hawe when she performed "I'd Lie" by Taylor Swift, accompanying herself on guitar. Another popular act was Matt Kaplan's instrumental piano performance of a medley of "Adam's Song" and "All the Small Things" by Blink 182.
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Other audience favorites included Abby MacLean and Bridget Donahue performing "For Good" from the Broadway musical "Wicked," and Lexi Brow accompanied by Owen Korzec on guitar for a cover of Janis Joplin's "Me and Bobby McGee." Brow's vocals did great justice to the original material.
Another highlight of the evening included three performances by senior Marisa Duane, who lent a soulful voice to songs from several genres. She appeared early in the show to sing and play guitar on Trace Adkins' "The Stubborn One." She followed up later with an acoustic version of "This One's For You," first recorded by Barry Manilow. She capped off the evening singing a duet of the Neon Trees' song "Animal" with Ian Mofford.
Near the end of the program, Breanna Hewson presented a moving performance of Whitney Houston's version of "I Will Always Love You." Hewson had little need for her microphone as she filled the auditorium with a rich and powerful voice.
Battle of the Bands starts on Friday evening at 7:00 p.m. in the Braintree High School auditorium. Tickets are $7.00 and are available at the door.
