Wantagh's 2013 Senior Variety Show is the 'Best Ever'

David Dubin, advisor for Wantagh High School's annual Senior Variety Show for the past 27 years, says the Class of 2013's show was the "best [he's]...ever seen".

The show was held in the Wantagh High School auditorium last Thursday, November 29.  Students from almost every grade were in attendance for the highly anticipated event. Through the encouraging morning announcements, word of mouth, and especially Twitter, the school was anxious to see what the seniors had in store for them.

Masters of ceremonies (MC's) Chris Bobby, Brendan Serrano, Sam Magnes, Pat Lavin and Alyssa Marro kicked off the night with some clever introductions, and the show began with a video - but not just any video. Producer Alyson Hopkins and performers Brandon Ngai, Ryan Reyes, Paulina Renda, Dianna Albanese, Sam Fraembs, Grace Albert, and others, remade the iconic "Gangnam Style" into the appropriately named "GangNGAI Style". It was a hit.

Current students, alumni, and Wantagh teachers alike agreed that the video was hilarious and incredibly well done. The following day, almost every student could attest to having seen the video during class multiple times. It now has over 7,500 hits on Youtube, and can be found here.

After the laughs died down, the next act took the stage, and Maggie Tigue sang a beautiful piece entititled "Sola, Perduta, Abhandonata," stealing the stage with her outstanding operatic voice. She was one of a few talented vocal performers, including Sam Balzano, Jenna Fazio, Christina Tramantana, and the duo "Mike Squared".

Other popular acts of the night were the "Wantagh Poppas," a parody of the infamous Facebook group "Wantagh Mommas," in which the mothers of Wantagh students supposedly confer about the goings-on of the community and the school. The varsity boys soccer team also got major applause for their performance of "Sherry Baby" and their take on "Barbara Ann", featuring Coral Sales instead of Barbara. Ryan Reyes swept the floor with a smooth dance number to Chris Brown's "Say Goodbye", covering the beginning and ending piano parts himself.  Paulina Renda, also on piano, had an outstanding solo on Alex Care's "Too Close".  Rich Grillo also had an excellent stand up routine, poking fun at the Dean, Eric Haruthunian, who took it in good humor.

Aside from the acts themselves, it was in between them that the MC's really made the show come alive.  One of the more memorable "surprises" would have to be Chris Bobby and Pat Lavin's duet on Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", with Brendan Serrano on guitar.  The audience could not stop laughing.  And for those of you that were in attendance, do know that Alyssa Marro's fall on stage was fake, setting up Sam Magnes's joke - she's just that good at fake falling. These seniors really held the show together, and made the whole night a success.

The Class of 2013 pulled off one of the most memorable Senior Variety Shows in Wantagh's long history. These seniors will probably go down as some of the funniest and most talented performers the school's ever seen: a well deserved title.