MBJH choir wins big at Atlanta competition

Twenty students from the Mountain Brook Junior High School choir joined more than 4,000 other students from 28 states at the 2014 Junior Theater Festival in January at the Cobb Galleria Center in Atlanta.

This is the third year that the MBJH choir has been chosen to participate in the event, which brings together students, teachers and professionals to celebrate and encourage outstanding student musical theater. Each group performs a selection from a Broadway Junior or KIDS Collection musical for critique by a panel of theater professionals. The panel scores each group and offers feedback on its music, acting, choreography and overall performance.

Amy Loden, the school’s choir director, helped the students perfect their 15-minute medley of songs from The Little Mermaid, Junior. Though some of the students had not performed before this year, the group from the MBJH choir received a trophy for Excellence in Ensemble Work. 

A festival judge who composed the music that the MBJH choir performed was “blown away” by the MBJH performance, according to parents in attendance.

Nicole Roberts won recognition for Excellent Individual Performance by a Female and Alex Perlman for Excellent Individual Performance by a Male. Clare Friday, Grayson Gamso, Kate Edmonds, Ainsley Platt, Remy Garrison, Simona Shirley and Rachel Rysdorph were awarded Golden Tickets and chosen to advance to other programming, auditions or performance opportunities.

MBJH choir students participating in the festival were Lucy Reich, Ainsley Platt, Catherine Skinner, Tess Levine, Simona Shirley, Kate Edmonds, Ann Douglas Lott, Remy Garrison, Alex Perlman, Daniel Azrin, Gabe Ivker, Josiah Sonich, Nicole Roberts, Anne Catherine Bonatz, Marilyn Oestrike, Sarah Oestrike, Clare Friday, Rachel Rysdorph, Grayson Gamso and Jessica Davidson.