On Sunday, Old Rochester Community Television (ORCTV) held its annual fundraising telethon with the help of local youth musical group, the Showstoppers. The four-hour variety show featured dozens of musical and dance numbers performed by members of the community in an effort to raise money to support the Showstoppers and ORCTV’s special youth programs.
The TV studio located on Front Street was bursting at the seams with young performers, all eager to share their talents for their communities. While the purpose of the show is to raise money for the station and the Showstoppers, Kim Miot, executive director of ORCTV who started the telethon four years ago, said she likes the focus to stay on the performers and their love of music.
“It’s something that’s really amazing for the community. People around here love seeing the kids on TV,” she said.
While Ms. Miot is in charge of running the show from behind-the-scenes, the founder of the Showstoppers, Kelly Zucco, supplies the talent in front of the camera. The singing group has been active in the community for ten years, performing often for people in hospitals, nursing homes, and community events. Many of the performers at the telethon are current or former members of the ensemble and many of the volunteers who helped bring it together are parents of members or close friends and family of Ms. Zucco.
Denise Bertrand has volunteered for the Showstoppers for ten years. “This production is really a team effort among all the Showstopper parents,” she said.
Any great variety show is nothing without its host. The ORCTV telethon was proudly MC’ed by Paul Sardinha, drama director at Old Rochester Regional High School. He has hosted the program all four years.
“It’s for the kids, you know? It’s a great program to do for them,” Mr. Sardinha said.
The Showstoppers has offered many young people the opportunity to learn and perform music they may not have known. Aside from singing in a group setting, the children come to appreciate music on a deeper level, one that has inspired many to want to continue performing well past their days with the Showstoppers.
Abby Rego, 12, from Dartmouth, is a four-year veteran of the Showstoppers. She sang “Angel” by Sarah McLachlan because she thought the song was beautiful, but was also extremely moved by its use ASPCA advertisements.
“In the future, I think I want to be a famous singer or maybe a vocal coach. And I definitely want to go to Julliard,” she said.
Samantha Couto, 14, of Dartmouth, sang Nat “King” Cole’s “Orang Colored Sky,” a song that predates the teen by almost 50 years. “I wanted to sing this song because it’s really upbeat and jazzy,” the five-year Showstoppers veteran said. She, too, has aspirations of attending Julliard following high school.
The telethon itself is about fundraising, but the message is all about giving back. Dartmouth native Alyssa Maitoza, 12, and member of the Showstoppers for the past five years, sang “It’s My Party (And I’ll Cry If I Want To).” She said she wants to pursue dancing and music at either Berklee or Julliard, but ultimately, wants to bring her skills back home.
“I want to open a dancing and singing studio somewhere in the New Bedford area because I think New Bedford could be as good as New York or Boston,” she said.
While the telethon featured mostly local performers, the program featured two songs by the a cappella ensemble Hawkward, comprised of students from Roger Williams University. Erin Morrissette, who sang the lead on their rendition of Adele’s “Rolling In The Deep”, was a member of Showstoppers for nine years. She was also the recipient of a musical scholarship from the group.
“I love music and I love singing with this group, so I wanted to come back for the telethon to perform so I could show them my appreciation for what they did for me and so they could see how I’m making music now that I’m in college,” she said.
The telethon, which ran from 4:00 to 8:00 pm, suffered from no shortage of performers. In fact, they had far more people signed up than they had time to feature. Though the program itself was available only in the Tri-Town area, it’s clear by the strong show of support through volunteerism and eager young performers and tamed veterans that the effects of the Showstoppers reach far beyond Front Street. The success of Showstoppers stands as a symbol of the power of music in the lives of young people and how they can work together to bring communities together.
By Eric Tripoli