Over the weekend 15 Rupertites showcased an arrangement of talents for “Prince Rupert’s Got Talent” that had competitors battling it out for the top prize of $1,000 while helping earn much needed funds for the Lester Centre of the Arts.
Solo singer Jaime Aubee started the evening off, which also happened to be her birthday, with her rendition of “Not Ready to Make Nice”. Other solo-singing artists throughout the night included 11-year old Alaura Okrainetz, one of the younger performers, Kimberly Troung who sang Whitney Houston’s popular song “I Will Always Love You” and the youngest performer Bailey Rae singing a song from the Disney classic The Little Mermaid. Both Troung and Rae showed off their vocal talents, while adding a dash of their dancing talents to the mix.
Previous Prince Rupert Idol winner Joshua Comeau performed an original song while playing guitar, as well as Joshua Brown who also played an original piece accompanying himself on guitar. Kieren Nelson performed “Cosmic Love” accompanied by Molly Coburn on piano and the pair did a wonderful job together after practicing for merely four days before show time. As well, young musician Josie Gray showed off her skills on violin, performing songs from the popular movie Pirates of the Caribbean.
Several bands were featured in the show including blues-rock band “Electric Midnight and the Groove” consisting of Peter Stephens, Nathan Perry, and Zach Tait, alternative rock band “Coastal Medication” made up of Blair Marr-Verge, Aidan Galletti-Viscount, and Richard Sylvester, the “Mudcats” consisting of Joe Marvici, Bruno Hoy, and Paul Brady, and rock band “Blank Visual” made up of Christopher Sylvester, Grant Thompson, Colby Hogman, and Johnathan Dopson. All bands, excluding “Blank Visual” performed their own originals songs.
Charmaine Gibson was the only competing dancer and wowed the audience with her flexibility.
The runner-up position was given to Caitlund Catherall, who emanated pop-country singer Taylor Swift while singing and playing one of her original songs on guitar. Catherall said she was “very surprised” when she was handed the $500 cheque for receiving second place.
“It felt surreal. I had no idea who was going to get second place because there were so many crazy talented people there,” she commented.
Although every person or group that went on stage gave the judges a different reason to titled them number one, it was young pianist James Ryeburn that came out on top. Ryeburn performed a classical piece that showed off his lightening fast fingers that had the audience in disbelief, with several people giving him a standing ovation. Ryeburn told the audience that he practices about 30 minutes a day on average, and will probably be doing slightly less for the next little while due to the fact he’ll be busy spending the $1,000 he took home on Saturday night.
Crystal Lorette, who is the Lester Centre’s General Manager, organized this event to give people a chance to be on stage that might otherwise not get to, as well as raising money to go towards the theaters Capital Legacy Fund, which is focusing on building a new stage. Lorette estimated that the evening earned around $5,000.
“I was really impressed with all the support from the community,” Commented Lorette.