Chorus kicked off the year with a Halloween-themed concert. Filled with popular songs, creative costumes, engaging choreography and, naturally, amazing singing, the concert was a fun way to feature McLean talent. 

The concert was different than a standard chorus concert. 

“I think usually, we will be more formal, and we’ll have our binders and folders of music and we’ll just stand there in risers,” senior Miranda Ma said.

But the costumes, choreography and lighting made for a unique experience. –

“For more fun concert’s like these, it’s more fun learning choreography because if [the audience] sees we’re having fun, they’re really going to enjoy it,” Ma said. 

The Choir Director, Linda Martin, choreographed the whole concert. 

“I basically choreograph them all in class, and then put them together on the stage. You know, sort of taking into account that I’ll have 80 people on stage moving at the same time,” Martin said. 

Along with the choreography, the lighting added something special to the concert. 

“I have to give a shout out to Brendan Camp who did the lighting for the show,” Martin said. “He’s just absolutely amazing, like he’s such a great lighting designer and really worked hard to make the kids look really good. So I think that…just put the thing over the top, and that made the kids even more excited.”

But of course, the most important part of the concert was the talent of everyone on stage. 

“It’s them: it’s their talent, their enthusiasm, their passion that really makes the show come alive,” Martin said. 

There were eight solo acts, including Ma, who preformed “Cruella DeVille.” 

“I decided a perfect jazzy song – I’m really into jazz – would be ‘Cruella DeVille.’ It’s a fun Disney song, like everyone should know it, so I thought ‘oh, that would be perfect,'” Ma said. 

There were also many group songs, including “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “This is Halloween” and “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd.”  

“I think the kids and I all liked ‘[The Ballad of] Sweeney Todd,’ just because it was so dark and operatic,” Martin said. 

In the end, everything came together for a wonderfully spooky concert. 

“I really enjoyed every bit of it; everybody was so good, so talented,” Ma said. “It was a good note to end [my last fall concert] on.”

Highlights from the concert: