This April, five seniors competed for the ultimate title: Mr. Mendham. The show is a mock beauty pageant, featuring talent acts, games, and various competitions. Michael Romanov, Jake Perri, Nicholas Zawadiwsky, Max Orlins, and Ajani Bowrin all faced down a panel of teacher judges for a chance to win. In the end, Ajani and Max placed in the top three, and Nick won the title of Mr. Mendham.
The contestants had varying reasons for joining Mr. Mendham. Max expressed, “I’ve always been big on school spirit and just supporting my class.” Differently, Ajani said, “I just thought it’d be a fun, kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be in a game show type of setting.” Nick joked, “My English teacher, Ms. Kober, convinced me to join, and I figured, Why not? Because it’d be funny to go out there and embarrass myself.” Rehearsals for the show began two weeks before April 18th, with contestants spending their entire lunch period in the auditorium practicing. In addition to the daily practices at lunch, the group had two evening rehearsals leading up to the show. Lighting and sound were run by Anderson Piester and Kevin Stroup, who volunteered their extra hours of time for the production. Chase Hartnett, the stage manager, also helped the show run smoothly.
Introduction and Opening Dance:
The show began with an energetic introduction of the contestants. As each contestant appeared on stage, Zoya Ayub and Daniel Malikov (the MC’s for the event) read a short blurb about their lives. Next, the contestants performed an opening dance. Nika Polyakov, a sophomore who appeared in both theater productions this year, choreographed and taught the opening dance. When asked about the dance, Max remarked, “It was a great way to open it up to the audience, and it was just a blast being out there with everyone, especially at the start because it helped settle the nerves a little bit.”
After the dance and some jokes from the MC’s, the contestants showed off their best beachwear. Ajani rocked a rubber duck floaty, and Jake paraded around with an umbrella. Following that, the MCs held a quick Q&A for the parents. While this was going on, the seniors prepared for the next segment of the night: formalwear. One by one, each contestant walked out in their blazers and ties. They met their escorts in the middle of the stage, performing a handshake and dance before delivering their best “pickup line”. Michael Romanov charmed his date, Brynn Budnik, by saying, “Mi gusta the way you walk, Mi gusta the way you talk, Mi gusta the way you dress, señorita mamcita favorita.”
The Talents:
The main event of the night was the contestants’ talents. First, Ajani displayed his mathematical talent, solving a Rubik’s Cube in 2 minutes and 32 seconds. When asked about the crowd, he said, “They encouraged me for the most part. Definitely seeing familiar faces, knowing a lot of people in the crowd were there to support.” Next, Max surprised the audience with a very unconventional act: hopping around on a pogo stick dressed in a bunny costume. Max wanted to “spice things up” and add a fun factor to his performance. After he was done, Max threw tickets for the Boys Baseball game at TD Bank into the crowd. For his act, Jake impressed the audience with his magic tricks. Using a deck of cards, Jake guessed Ms. Cadden’s card and made it so that her card would be the only one flipped over in the deck. Second to last, Michael performed a cover of the song “Trololo” by Eduard Khil. The song is three minutes of yodeling.
Finally, to close out the talent section, Nick recreated the famous scene from “Ten Things I Hate About You” by singing “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” by Frankie Valli. In the movie, the male character sings the song to his love interest while trying to evade the school cops. Nick re-created this moment by entering from the back of the auditorium and slowly walking to the stage, all while singing the song to his date, Natalie Payne. When he made it on the stage, two “cops”, played by Nick’s friends, chased him around and then off stage. Then, at the climax of the song, Nick reappeared holding a sign asking Natalie to prom. The crowd exploded in cheers as Natalie accepted. When asked about any flaws in his performance, Nick quipped, “I think the singing part, because I’m not really a good singer, but I thought I hit some notes even though I got it off-key for some parts.”
The Final Three:
After the talent acts, the judges stepped out to choose the final three. While this was happening, the boys competed in their “Minute to Win It” competitions. For the first game, the boys had to shake out ping pong balls that were in a tissue box attached to their waist. After some impressive moves, Ajani ended up taking first place. As the last competition of the night, the contestants participated in a “Wig-Snatching” competition, where they had to try to grab each other’s wigs off their heads.
After this, the contestants were hit with a round of questions from the MC’s. They were asked a variety of questions, such as “Describe your most embarrassing moment” and “What 3 adjectives best describe you and why?”
Finally, after much suspense and careful consideration from the judges, Nick won Mr. Mendham. When asked about advice he would give to future contestants, Nick said, “Don’t be nervous when you get up on stage and just enjoy it all, because it’s a really fun experience.” While only one contestant was crowned, all the boys did a fantastic job bringing energy and laughter to the night. For the senior class, this event was a great way to kick off senior events and the end of the year.
