The sound of music fills the auditorium, RM Idol has begun. Inside the auditorium, students cheer loudly  for their friends. Richard Montgomery is home to many longtime traditions that make the school what it is and RM Idol, a 30 year old spinoff of the reality TV show American Idol, is one of the most beloved. 

It is a good opportunity for RM students to showcase their singing talent for the school to see. Open to students from all grade levels, the requirements are easy: you just have to want to sing. While Fine Lines, the literary magazine club, was still able to carry out the show in some capacity over quarantine, it was finally able to put on the show students have known and loved for decades on the  stage once again. 

This year, there were 20 performers total, twice the number seen in previous years. With such a large group of performers, especially with it being the first RM Idol back from quarantine, the show took a lot of planning and grit from the editors in chief Sofia Christiana and Gabrielle Hester.

“It is a super popular contest here at RM and a lot of people can display their talents and see their friends perform, but it is stressful. It’s the first big event that we’ve planned as editors and it’s our first time to show our leadership to the entire community, so it’s a lot of pressure,” Christiana said. Hester had to dig up old scripts to see how RM Idol was carried out in previous years. 

“One of the biggest challenges for us was getting this event together because no one taught us how to do it so we weren’t sure how to get things organized. We didn’t know what lighting we needed or how to contact people,” Christiana said. “It was a very big learning experience for us. We had to spend a lot of time figuring things out and what we needed to be able to make the show a success.” 

Although the show could not have happened without the hard work of the editors-in-chief, crew and sponsors, the real stars of the show were the very talented performers who made the show a success. 

But before the success came the anticipatory nerves for everyone. Performers interviewed backstage admitted to feeling nerves in the countdown to their performances, whether those be excited butterflies or nervous jitters. It is this adrenaline that motivated them throughout the show. 

“I was feeling very nervous. Behind the song I picked out is a lot of emotional weight. I just want to deliver that to the audience and let them enjoy what I have to offer,” senior Anna Postolache said. “I’m scared out of my mind, but fingers crossed, it’ll be okay as long as I don’t go too fast.”

With songs ranging from ballads like “All of Me” by John Legend to show-tunes like “Burn” from the musical Hamilton, each performer had unique reasons as to why they chose the song they did. “The song “Stay” by Sara Bareilles means the world to me and it’s full of emotions but they are also vocally very challenging,” Junior Diya Britto said. A few contestants even had their own instrumental accompaniment instead of a track such as piano by senior Rachel Sharp and acoustic guitar by senior Nick Buckovich.

To almost everyone’s surprise was the special opening act brought to the audience by student band Bag of 8 Potatoes. The unique name came from junior Joseph McCudden , who was inspired by a lab in his biology class involving potatoes. The group consists of junior Joseph McCudden, senior Gavin Gibson, senior Hayden Lee, junior Chenhao Wu, sophomore Isaac Gilchrist and senior Aylin Apaydin. Together, they brought the crowd to life and prepared them for an awesome competition. In the future, they hope to have this same effect on the school audience as they perform at more events. Keep an eye out for them at this year’s Mr. RM.

Gallery • 6 Photos

All photos by Victoria Dziasek

Bag of 8 Potatoes gets ready for their opening act

This year’s show presented a learning curve for everyone. Performers had the new element of wearing a mask throughout their whole performance which added a layer of difficulty. Even still, the performers gave it their all and stunned the crowd. The audience showed their love to each performer with oohs and aahs when a performer hit a high note or a fancy run, motivating them to keep going.

“I think it’s such a good environment. It’s not judgmental and you really just go on stage and put everything you have out there and everybody is cheering you on. It’s just such a good vibe and environment and everybody should participate in it,” Postolache said.

 Britto agrees. “I hear my friends scream for me in the audience. Last year, my mom started crying and I just really like affecting people like that. It’s really special to me,” she said. 

After everyone gave it their all, resulting in a show packed with talent from beginning to end, there could only be three winners. Third place and fan favorite went to  Britto, second place went to freshman Liliana Katz-Hollander and the all around winner was Postolache. Even still, winning was not everything. “I’m proud of my performance and had a blast. I wouldn’t change a thing,” senior Nick Buckovich said at the end of the night.