Davis High Idol delayed, remains in-person and open to the public

PHOTO: Sophomore Sawyer Schoen and senior Peyton Schoen planned on singing ‘Breaking Free’ from High School Musical at Idol, but now likely won’t be able to because of the delay.

By Elliot DeJong,

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

Davis High Idol, an annual singing competition and fundraiser hosted by the Advanced Treble Choir, was recently delayed by three weeks due to the spike in COVID-19 cases.

The event is usually broken up over three days: two for the preliminary rounds and one for the finals, which were originally scheduled for Jan. 21, 22 and 29 but now will be on Feb. 11, 12 and 19.

Each preliminary round has 11 performances which are ranked by three judges. The top eight picks go on to the finals, along with an audience favorite from each night. 

The winner, picked by the judges, gets a $150 prize. The audience favorite at finals gets $50.

“It’s just like American Idol,” said ATC director Karen Gardias. “Everyone has a lot of fun! They make posters and get into it.”

Gardias delayed the show due to a spike in COVID-19 cases. “I didn’t feel comfortable with putting 400 people in the theatre at that point.”

She now feels the numbers are low enough to proceed, and is glad that it can be in-person this year. 

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for students to have the limelight,” Gardias said.

Last year’s Idol was a Zoom-only production, whereas this year’s show will be in person at the Richard Brunelle Performing Arts Center. 

Senior Maya Belk has been in Idol since her sophomore year, and is a part of the Jazz Choir.

“I did (Idol) because it’s great performance experience,” Belk said. “I think it was the right choice to push it back.”

Belk has performed in Idol since her sophomore year, and is also in Jazz Choir at DHS. She says last year’s Zoom version was not as good as in person, but did recognize the convenience of online connection.

“We actually do our (vocal) lessons on FaceTime,” Belk says. “We started because of COVID but now it’s just more convenient.”

Sophomore Sawyer Schoen was planning on performing “Anything you can do I can do better” and “Breaking free” with his sister, senior Peyton Schoen, but might not be able to because of a conflict with the new dates. He wanted to do a duet with his sister at Idol before she goes off to college next year.

“My mom was like ‘you guys should do it,’” Schoen said. “‘It’ll be fun!’”

Sophomore Ella Del Favero is excited to be back to performing after taking a break during the pandemic. She performed at Davis Musical Theater Company for five years prior to coming to the high school and joining the Jazz Choir.

“Before I’ve been acting as someone else so this will be a challenge,” Del Favero said. They plan on singing ‘Times Are Hard for Dreamers’ or ‘Heart of Stone’ for the preliminary round.

“Jazz Choir has actually been my dream since I was little,” Del Favero said. “It still feels surreal to say I’m part of [it].”

Concert tickets are available from any ATC member or from Karen Gardias in PA-8. Tickets are $8/$10 in advance for students for the prelims/final, or $20 for all three nights.