The Parent-Teachers Participation Association at Weehawken’s Webster School wanted to do a little something different for the students as the school year drew to a close. So they approached the district’s music teacher, Piero Romano, to see if he had any ideas for a presentation.
"I always had the idea to do a talent show," Romano said. "I always wanted to do something special for the parents, so we decided to do the talent show."
So Romano went into each of the classrooms among the kindergarten, first and second grades and videotaped each youngster as they performed.
"I looked at about 90 students and then chose 30 that would perform in 21 different acts," Romano said. "It was a variety show, like ‘The Ed Sullivan Show.’ We had kids doing a little bit of everything."
The show, which was first performed for the students in school on Wednesday, then to a command performance of approximately 200 proud parents and family members Thursday night, featured kids performing songs, poetry, playing instruments and dancing.
But there were also performances of karate, comedy skits, a puppet act.
"There were a lot of different things," Romano said. "The kids really got into it and weren’t too shy to perform. And I was really surprised with how truly talented the children are."
Romano said that he gave the kids one simple piece of advice.
"I just told them that they should have fun," Romano said. "I told them that whatever they did, it was talent. But if you’re having fun and you think you’re good at whatever it is, you should give it a try. I was really impressed, but I think the parents were even more impressed."
Romano said that he was totally floored by the talents of 6-year-old Pearl Jade Lee, who played what Romano called "a very impressive piano piece for a first grader."
Joseph Mendez played the recorder. He is already reading music and playing in just one year’s time.
Second grader Adam Hassouna wrote his own biography of Cleopatra and acted out the biography with his own music as well.
Second grader Laura Nieto sang a song that proclaimed that she was "Proud to be American."
Kindergarten student Bernard Fredericks did a stirring, yet comical impersonation of the famed "Crocodile Hunter" from the Animal Planet television network.
The hour-long show drew rave reviews from the audience, including Webster School Principal Anthony D’Angelo.
"I was absolutely impressed," D’Angelo said. "I especially liked the diversity of the acts and the different things the children did. It was really interesting. This was the first time that we did anything like this and it was a rousing success. Everyone had a really good time."