What A Wonderful Time The Multi-County Talent Shows Are!

The 2nd Annual Multi-County Talent Show was a wonderful experience, and proved again this year that there is talent in the youth of this area!  As Jason Benjamin* expressed it, "I came here expecting the "normal", "run of the mill" small-town talent show, but I was blown away!"  

More about Jason in the next post.  He has been in movies, on TV, as an actor, and stuntman and coordinator, and will soon pass on what he has learned to the youth in our community.  Stay tuned!

He was right too.  The talent show at the Princess Theatre in Harriman, TN never fails to amaze those in attendance.  This area is full of talent just begging for a place to express it, and the Princess is just the place to do that!

Muse Watson was bursting at the seams with pride as he, and daughter Sophie, took the stage after intermission.  "This is what it's all about folks!"  He loves to see young people take the stage at the Princess, where he and Gary Baker first had "The Dream".  "The Dream" is being fulfilled in the youth of Roane, Morgan, Rhea, and other surrounding counties today.  These annual talent shows are the proof!

For those of you that don't know what "The Dream" is, here it it:

Please come out and support these wonderfully talented kids every time you can...they are truly worth the effort.

As Ms. Vera Scarbrough put it on Facebook:  "EVERYONE!!! HEAR THIS! The Talent Show is going to be the last FRIDAY in March every year.  MARK you calendar for 2016!!   Unless the Lord comes back, we will see you there.  We need your help: parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, neighbors, businesses, schools.....to make the Princess Theatre a true performing arts center for our children!"

 

And don't forget that the "Sidewalk or Street Art" show is the Thursday evening before the big show.  It even went off this year during the rain.  There are lots of awnings up and down the street, so come out next year.  Maurice Lowery says we need to "paint" the whole street, so if we get enough interested, we'll expand this portion of the talent show!  Make it happen!

Now back to the Friday night show!

 

The 2nd Annual Talent Show kicked promptly at 6PM, with Emery Francis, last year's "Princess Idol", playing her piano and signing.  It turned out that she co-hosted the show with John Condrone, who also played guitar and sang while the votes were being tabulated.

 

 

So, getting right to it, this year's "Princess Idol" was Kelsey Cate of Sevier County!  Kelsey sang "Tennessee Waltz" and really impressed the audience.  I was even impressed with her beautiful boots!

As you can see, the news of our annual "Multi-County Talent Show" is spreading!  We might have to have multiple nights in the near future, and that would be grand!

Here is Friday night's program, so you can read the names of those participating.  I don't want to clearly identify our young talents, but they and their parents and grandparents will know who they are.

Regardless, the Princess Theatre Foundation, Roane State Community College, and everyone who had something do with this production is very proud of all of them.  It takes courage to step out on the stage they did so well.  They will get more and more used to in years to come, and maybe they will be encouraged to follow that "dream" on to bigger stages someday.

I must tell you here about how proud I am of the Princess audience.  One young lady was a little intimidated by the bright lights and faltered at the beginning of her duet.  A couple of people shouted, "You can do it!", and others began to applaud.  I was touched!  This gave encouragement to the girl and she went on to finish strong!

In a world today where making fun and "boos" are the norm, this let gives me hope that we still have good people in the world.

The Princess Theatre Foundation would like to thank the Roane and Morgan County Schools Directors, everyone at Roane State Community College, the Princess Theatre staff, and all the volunteers that help at each show, who make these events possible.

Here are the photos of everyone that was in the show, and if I left anyone out that performed, let me know.  I will add them to the post.  However, I think I have it covered!

Almost forgot Alex, who is taking a video course at RSCC.

I apologize for this post being so long, but I must try and get in everyone who was there and/or participated! 

Megan Anderson And Muse Watson Entertain The Rotary Club

Yes, they did exactly what they are supposed to do, entertain people!  Megan is the Manger of the Princess Theatre, and Muse, and actor of stage and screen for over 25 years.  They each amused and charmed the Harriman Rotary Club at today's meeting.

Muse Watson, Megan Anderson, and Dr. Julian Ahler

Filling in for ailing Vera Scarbrough, who was supposed to have addressed the club today, Muse and Megan volunteered to present this week's program in her absence.

Muse also has picked up the reins of coordinating the upcoming Multi-Talent Show until Vera is back in action!  The show will feature students from the Roane and Morgan area schools, grades K-12 coming up Friday, May 2 at 6 PM.

Muse told his "The Dream" story, but unlike he had given it before.  I was personally impressed with his strong commitment to children of this area; and how much he wanted every member of the group before him to believe in "the dream" just as much as he does.  He related about even more coming shows involving students for this area.  I will be posting a lineup of those shows in the next post.

Muse tells hopefuls that he never recommends anyone getting into the "acting" field.  It's a difficult road, but at the same time he stresses the importance of "the arts" in our lives.  

He told a story of how he longed to play the drums in high school, but his family circumstance did not permit that.  His family had bought a clarinet for his sister, therefore, it was handed down to him.  If he wanted to play a musical instrument, it had to be the clarinet!  The clarinet isn't a manly instrument, he quipped!

However, years later, while at Berea College in Kentucky, on a music scholarship, he realized that the "less than manly" clarinet was paying his way through college, and ultimately lead him to his career in acting.

So, the arts are important in our lives, even if all we ever do is play our clarinet for our girlfriends or wives!

The first thing cut out of school budgets is art!  So, we must strive to keep art in our schools, and in our communities.  The Princess needs everyone's help in maintaining a place where students, regardless of their backgrounds, can come and learn the arts.

"Please," Muse asked, "if you can help even a little, please help the Princess stay open for our children.  As the theater grows and we learn how to operate, we will do more and more to ensure "the dream" continues to come true for every child in our area." 

Meagan, armed with photos taken by yours truly, took the Rotary group through the 10 years of restoration; showing before and after photos of the Princess.  It's amazing, some whispered, when they saw the pre-restoration photos, that anything so beautiful could have come from that decaying mess!

As Megan stated, looking back at these photos, you wonder why we just didn't start from the ground up.  But good things happened and the Princess was reborn.

Megan explained her role in managing both RSCC theaters, and how she decides which performance plays on what stage.  Most of it is common sense, for example, a concert is naturally best for the Princess stage.

She then went through her upcoming line up, which I will post next.  Suffice it to say, there are entertaining things coming up for the children of the Roane and Morgan communities.  So, please come out and support, not only the children, but the Princess Theatre.

Erica Lane Preforms To An Intimate Crowd

Outside, the Princess cast a welcoming white light across Roane Street, and to attract more attention, she lit up her tall face in shades of red, purple, blue, and white, but inside it was evident that most passersby simply continued on their way!  Have we forgotten how much we wanted her, how hard we worked for her?

We have to do better than this folks!  The fight for the dream continues everyday.  If we fail to support even the seemingly smallest of events, we will lose her again.  

Please, PLEASE, bookmark this website, the RSCC website, and the various Princess, Harriman, and Roane County Facebook pages for upcoming attractions.

The most expensive show yet were the $30 premium tickets for Marshall Tucker.  Most tickets are from $5 to $15, with some shows sponsored by RSCC absolutely FREE!

So, I'll quit preaching and get back to what happened inside the Princess Saturday evening, and it was good!

Erica Lane (Saylors) again brought her Christmas musical concert to Harriman and graced the Princess stage.  Even though there were barely over 200 people present, she performed as if it was to a live national audience.  I was personally embarrassed at the turnout!  Was that the best we can do? (TO SEE LAST YEAR'S REVIEW CLICK HERE!)

Anyway, her voice, backed by Rachel Mann and American Idol finalist, Johnny Keyser gave the great Princess acoustics a work out!  She sang all of the Christmas favorites, plus a few of her own songs.  

She made all the old favorites new and exciting with her stunning and silky vocals.  Erica is a prolific songwriter, and has toured internationally, starred in a reality TV series “Inspired Ambition,” and is featured on nearly a dozen film soundtracks.  Her album “A Merry Little Christmas” received glowing reviews and was selected as the Classic Christmas Standout by OnCourse Magazine.

Here are a few more photos from last evening's show.  Note, the fog machine was on high, so the photos suffered accordingly.

 

I apologize for the chastising, but you know I care about the Princess, and Harriman.  If it never meets the expectation of "the dream", then we can only blame ourselves for none support.  And, please pass on news about upcoming events.  If you can't make it, maybe your neighbor can.  Thanks!