St Andrews Radio

The sky in St Andrews was lit tonight as its brightest stars displayed their amazing and diverse range of talents in the performing arts at RAG Week’s latest event, St Andrews Got Talent.

The three-hour event was adeptly and well hosted by Lauren Dunlop and STAR’s own Mark Gregory. Sitting up on the judges panel were: Sam Lipworth of The Other Guys fame, Lisa Miller, previous SAGT winner Leon O’Rourke, and Association President Freddie fforde. The Ents Crew managed to navigate the technical maze of stringing together each element of the show. UNICEF and the Charities Campaign showed in full force to organise the event and raffle.

The competition opened up with an incredible musical duo – students Maneesh and Nayantara – perfoming a multi-instrument and sung piece that ended with some surprise Call Me Maybe. (In the opinion of this writer, such surprises are always good surprises.) Following on from this high note, eventual third-place winner Matt Gibson brought character to his personal love story sung with keyboard accompaniment. Emily Molloy came through with an acoustic and heartfelt rendition of Titanium, a feat that was made all the more impressive by the later revelation that this event was indeed her first live performance in front of an audience. The musical duo Sasha and Louis kept the standards set high with a folksy duet with amazing harmony. (If they begin to sell CDs, this writer will be their first customer.)

Zorbey Turkalp gave the first non-vocal performance, returning a second time to SAGT to basically deliver a professional-grade piano performance. One judge rightly called the performance “mesmerising.” Right after, the first non-musical act of the night from Faith Frampton left the crowd giggling the entire way through her monologue with the lessons of antebellum Dixie Southern dating etiquette. Closing the first half of the show, Macintosh Got Talent winner Robert Dixon left health and safety screaming with the rest of the audience Oooohing and Aaaaahing with his chin-balancing and ukulele-playing combo-performance.

During the intermission, the Big Band entertained guests as they mingled around, refilled their drinks, and helped raise money for UNICEF. A brief improve dance routine from Rory McLion set him to be the best dancer of the night.

However, Rory’s fame was short-lived as Lisa and Katie wowed the crowd and the audience with a beautiful Bollywood-influenced dance routine. Following just after them, medic-but-not-really Sophie Quayle gave her own impressive, earthy rendition of Adele’s Someone Like You while also performing the guitar. Reviewing the performance, Freddie fforde remarked that he was “absolutely captivated.” David Spain then displayed his passion for stand-up with a quick comedy routine.

Two acts remained and both acts met the high marks for the night. Yenlik Nurasheva gave a refreshing performance of her original song. Closing the night with the final act, Ruth Kroch gave a luscious ukulele-partnered rendition of Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream. The performance ultimately scored her the top prize of the night, beating out dancers Katie and Lisa in a thrice-tested and hotly-contested final round.

Overall, a great night all around, with plenty of fantastic entertainment. You’d be surprised at all the talents that this small coastal village hides.

This article has been filed under the following keyword: lovely.