Finalists compete for top Marblehead talent prize

MARBLEHEAD – Eight talented Marblehead students sang, danced and played instruments Friday night for the town’s second annual “Marblehead’s Got Talent” show, which raises funds for scholarships for local students, but only one walked away with a $1,000 scholarship for college.Marblehead High School junior Liz Drabkin won the scholarship Friday with her violin performance after more than 150 audience members voted on their favorite act by secret ballot at the Boston Yacht Club in Marblehead.Drabkin, who has been playing violin for more than 10 years and is a member of the Boston Youth Symphony, said she was pleasantly surprised when she won.”I didn’t think I was gonna win,” she said. ” ? There was so much talent there.”The eight finalists who performed Friday were so wonderful that the votes were almost too close to count, said Julie Livingston of the Marblehead Rotary Club, which puts on the show.”They should all go onto American Idol,” she said. “And they might be winners.”Friday’s show concluded more than four months of planning and talent show competitions that whittled down last night’s top finalists from a group of almost 100. The show included a live and silent auction that raised $10,000 for future scholarships, Livingston said.Livingston said the talent show is one of the rotary club’s biggest fundraisers.”The students are helping us raise money that goes back to them,” she said. “So there’s great synergy in this event.”Other performers Friday included Marblehead High sophomore Addy Sleeman, who sang a duet with fellow sophomore Julia Taliesin; Marblehead High sophomore Alea Moscone, who sang an Italian opera; singer/songwriter Ryan Henrich, who will attend New York University in the fall and major in music technology; freshman Annie Krivit; and theater talent Joanna Rosen.Dancer Glenna Joyce, who made it to the finals last year with an Irish step dance, said she wasn’t too nervous to perform a Don Quixote ballet for the crowd again this year. Friday night was relaxing after so many months of competing for the next round, she said.”I’m just here to appreciate everyone else’s talents,” she said.Drabkin also said she enjoyed watching her fellow contestants show off their talents.”I would have been happy if any one of the other contestants won because they are so hard working and they gave amazing performances,” she said.Contestant Rachel McLean performed Friday on the heels of her brother, DJ McLean, who won the talent show last year with a drum set. The future Berklee College of Music student said performing is her passion.”I just enjoy singing, because when I talk to people I’m really nervous, but when I sing it’s like I get to express myself in another way,” she said.Peter and Janet Barnet were one of the 150 guests who showed up Friday to support the show.”We think it’s a great concept,” Peter Barnet said.Janet Barnet said the show rewards students who put effort into performing arts.”It’s something they’ve worked at and now they’re getting rewarded for, so it’s cyclical,” she said.Livingston of the Marblehead Rotary Club said every student who performed Friday was a winner.”There was not one that you wanted to say shouldn’t have been there,” she said. “They all did such an outstanding job.”Amber Parcher can be reached at [email protected].