Two Colonia Singing Stars Win Awards at UCPAC Talent Showcase

It was a talent show for anyone who wanted to audition, so Colonia residents Morissa Schwartz and Christopher Jago of Colonia decided to throw their hats in the ring. Held at the Union County Performing Arts Center (UCPAC) and sponsored by the Rahway Department of Parks and Recreation, the program had three divisions for performers: youth (12 and under), teen, and adult.

Chris Jago was one of the four performers in the adult division and Morissa Schwartz was one of five in the teen division.

The program opened with Damian Otchere singing the Star Spangled Banner. An attractive young man with a lovely voice, he stumbled over the words at one point and decided to begin again.  The encouraging and friendly audience then joined in singing to help him and he sang it again with no problem. The talent show then began with five young performers ranging from about 8 to twelve years of age, singing and dancing. They included Amiya Neal, Kiri Skibniewski, DeAndre Phillips, and Cheyenne Rodriguez singing various pop tunes, and Eboni Duncan praise dancing to “I Give Myself Away”.

The teen division came next and had four singers and a lively dance group called “Party People”.  Morissa Schwartz was one of the singers and performed “ If I Ain’t Got You” with the precision and technique of a professional.  She received a huge round of applause from the audience.

After the performance of two professionals- Aditi Verma, who did a dance from India, and the BSV-Loud band - the talent show continued onto the adult division which featured two singers and two bands to entertain the crowd.  Christopher Jago performed a staged and choreographed version of “Mrs. Jones”, which he then sang.  Well sung and otherwise performed, Jago made a favorable impression on the very charged audience.

The judges deliberated for approximately 15 minutes and then presented the winners. In the youth division, 12 year old praise dancer Eboni Duncan was the winner with very young, but confident DeAndre Phillip singing “Crawl” as runner-up.  “Party People”, a very quick moving dance ensemble, won first place, with Colonia’s own Morissa Schwartz singing her way into the runner-up position. 

Morissa explained simply why she entered the contest.  “I love to sing and this seemed like a lot of fun," she said. Morissa said it was karoke that got her involved in singing.

“I was on vacation with my parents in the Poconos when I was 8 and was singing karaoke, when a singer with the band heard me and asked me to come up and sing with the band," Morissa said.  After that, she began singing the National Anthem at the downtown Woodbridge Cruise Night which is sponsored by her parents, the owners of .  At age 11, she added, she entered the Middlesex County Pageant and won first place. 

Christopher Jago, another Colonia singing star, was the winner in the adult division while the Goodbye Friday band took the runner-up position. Chris said he became involved in singing through school: “I sang in the choir in high school but then hardly sang at all for a while."

Much later, he said, “I was singing karaoke when two men approached me do an Elvis tribute.”  This was the beginning of his taking up singing again in a more concerted way.

Now, Chris said, he performs tributes to such classic crooners as Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, and Michael Buble.  When his aunt told him about the UCPAC talent show, he decided to give it a try.