Since moving, the second most common question people ask me (after “how’s New York?!”) has been, “are you still singing?” And unless you count screaming show tunes in my room when my roommates are out, then no, I’m not really singing. I keep saying I’m going to join a choir or start singing on the subway in hopes I’ll run into Lin-Manuel Miranda and he’ll make me a Broadway star, but I haven’t done either of those things yet.
Last week, however, I finally had an opportunity to show off to my coworkers perform for the first time since last April (yikes). My whole team at work has seen videos of my high school musicals and my a cappella group, but apparently that just wasn’t enough. My self-proclaimed manager, Tori, insisted I sign up for the office talent show. I mean, it was for charity. It would’ve been rude not to participate.
The event was a fundraiser for THON, which is Penn State’s dance marathon. The audience could pay to vote for their favorite contestant, and those votes were added to the judges’ scores. So yes, I essentially won this talent show because my team put in the most money to vote for me. Love a supportive work environment and a nice ego boost.
Three members of the official Maddie Stuart fan club. Please contact Tori Wright (not pictured) if you are interested in joining. Please contact me directly if you are interested in deflating my ego.
One of the senior associates on my team (hi Danielle!! here’s your shoutout on the blog!!) made signs for me, as pictured above. If you look closely you’ll see she photoshopped microphones over my face. Usually I’m the official artist of the team, as my calligraphy skills are called for every time someone has a birthday or an anniversary or a Valentine’s Day, so it was nice to have a break. Would’ve been a little too conceited to make signs for myself, I guess.
Prior to last Wednesday, I told everyone I peaked in my high school production of “Anything Goes,” but Tori reassured me I actually peaked during this talent show performance of “Gravity” by Sara Bareilles (yeah, apparently I only know three songs that aren’t from musicals. My show choir did sing this senior year. Sorry, Claire). Not too reassuring to know my performance career will be all downhill from here, but I’m so excited to be an office celebrity for at least five more days.
SoOOoO because I know at least three people, all related to me, want evidence of this award-winning performance, I decided to share it with you right here. I swear I’m not just posting this because I need validation. That’s only, like, 47% of the reason. I really missed singing, okay? Thx. Bye.