By Sabine Ebanks, year 12
On Wednesday the 27th of April 2022, LGB’s 7th Talent Show in support of cystic fibrosis (CF) research went ahead. The event has been an LGB tradition since 2015 but was unable to take place in person for the past two years due to covid. However, it was back on Wednesday with seven passionate student performers and a special performance from Dr. Hughes.
The event was organized by Strike StuCo, with some help from Ms. Kretzmeier, who is at the forefront of the CF fundraising efforts at LGB. When asked why they decided to bring back the talent show, members of StuCo responded “Because it’s a cause that we feel very passionately about. And for school spirit.” The idea of a talent show had been in the works for a while; members of StuCo explained that “We thought of the idea in November, but it was when we figured out we couldn’t do Bal De Neige that we put all our energy in the Talent Show.” They had to attract performers, coordinate the logistics, and put together a food and drinks stand to raise money for CF.
The atmosphere before the show was one of excitement and nerves from the performers. Manou Rimer of StuCo said he had “a lot of confidence in the acts.” Most of the performers arrived early to prepare for the show. Shania de Courten, year 12, explained she was performing “Because I’m passionate about what I do, and whenever there’s an opportunity to perform I take it.” Bartolomé Molloy, year 9, said he chose to perform because “It was a chance to face my fears. I love singing, but during my first concert it just didn’t turn out well so I wanted to perform again and this was a great opportunity.”
Before the first act of the show, Ms. Kretzmeier and her son Leo, who has CF, went on stage to introduce the cause that the show would be fundraising for. They explained what CF is and why research is so important, and Leo shared some experiences from his daily life with the disease. After that, Makula Muwanga-Ssevume, year 12, started off the night with her rendition of the song “Vienna” by Billy Joel. Next was Mathilde Thorens, year 11, who sang and played the guitar to the song “Too Close” by Alex Clarke. Bartolomé Molloy then performed his original song, “You Belong With Me”. Gabriell Girardin, year 12, rounded out the first half of the show with a performance of “La déclaration d’amour” by France Gall, the only performance in French. After a fifteen-minute intervention, the show continued with Hayden Button, year 10, playing her original piece on the piano. Shania de Courten then sang “Bang Bang” by Lady Gaga. Antoine Liang, chairman of Strike StuCo, performed an original piece of slam poetry. For the last act of the night – highly anticipated by many – Dr. Hughes came onstage to play guitar and sing “Castles Made of Sand” by Jimi Hendrix, who he described before his performance as the greatest guitarist of all time.
After the show had ended, the audience once again had the opportunity to buy food or drinks and donate to CF research. Donation boxes looked “promising”, according to Ms. Kretzmeier. Leo, who had been holding a donation box, said that the show was “excellent”, and “nice for people who have CF”.
The Express spoke to Ms. Kretzmeier before the show to get more information on the organization of this year’s show and the cause it is supporting.
Is this something you’ve been involved with in the past?
Yes, this will be our 7th show. We started a long time ago, when Leo was really little. It started with a year 12 student who came to me and said she’d like to organize a show for CF, and I said “go for it”, and that was the first one. She graduated in probably 2015 or 2016, and we’ve been doing it every year since. Of course, we had to stop for covid, and this is our first show post-covid.
Did you think that it would go ahead this year or were you surprised when StuCo reached out to you?
I wasn’t totally sure, but they were really determined. There were a lot of obstacles, but they were determined to make it happen. And they have, so I’m really proud of them.
How involved have you been in the organization?
Not terribly. This is the first year except for the first year that I haven’t really organized it. I helped make the poster, I made stars, and I kind of consulted with them a little bit in the early stages. But I’ve really not been that involved, which has been really refreshing.
What were some of the obstacles that the show faced?
The main thing was that it’s really hard to find an open date. We wanted to do it earlier so that the year 13s could participate because they have a history of doing this, and they wanted to do it one last time before they graduated. But it really wasn’t possible with the IB and finding a date that works. We also had trouble getting people to perform, which wasn’t an obstacle we had in the past, but I think because we had two years off we lost momentum. And then just trying to balance organizing a big event with all the other things going on.
Can you talk a little bit about the cause for the audience?
The show benefits cystic fibrosis research in Switzerland. CF is a rare genetic disease – so you’re born with it – and it affects roughly a thousand people in Switzerland. It’s a buildup of thick, sticky mucus in the lungs and the body, and it just wreaks havoc on the internal organs and such. It’s life-shortening, it’s quite a serious disease, so all the money we raise will go to help research in Switzerland to help fight CF.
Are you looking forward to the night?
Yes, I’m excited to see the performers and hopeful that we draw a big audience. That said, I always look forward to it being over, too. This year I haven’t been really stressed, because StuCo has taken care of almost everything, which is fantastic – but it is still a bit stressful, and it’s always nice to have a successful evening and then be done with it until next year!
