The high school cafeteria buzzed as a crowd of 200 students, family and friends sat in the dark with anticipation. Mt. Hope senior Casey Ruth Little and her pink electric guitar took the makeshift stage and like a young Taylor Swift, played and sang, “Not My Crowd,” a song with a folky vibe about not fitting in during the 26th Musicafe on Thursday night.

Clips from the Musicafe

“The song is about learning to be comfortable,” said Little who wrote it and many others. “Saying no and trusting your gut, even when it’d be much easier to just follow the crowd. It’s my self-confidence anthem and one of my favorite songs I’ve written.” 

The talented Little sat on a stool under the lights and sang her song. Her smooth voice and rhythmic guitar boomed out to the audience. She heralded her fans after the show. 

“They are so welcoming,” she said. “No matter how I perform up there, I’m going to get a hug. I’m going to get screaming and cheering. I could fall flat on my face and they’d be like, ‘Oh my God, you were amazing.’”

Little is heading to the Berklee College of Music next fall, to pursue a career in music.

“Mr. Lauria went there and he is a big part of the reason why I want to go there,” said Little. “This is something that I want to do for the rest of my life.”

Music teacher David Lauria, the director of the high school vocal ensemble, created the event when he began teaching at the high school in 2016. The idea was to have three to four shows a year. 

“My goal with this event was to create something that belonged to the students,” he said. “They are incredibly talented, but also smart and capable.”

Mr. Lauria is also multitalented and accompanied some of the acts on guitar and on piano. 

“The acts must be live, No karaoke,”  he said, “The choral department officers recruit the acts, help find accompanists if needed, do the advertising, and run as much behind of the scenes as possible. They also have a student tech crew, stage manager, and hosts for every show.”

“There are a lot of people that work really hard to make these happen,” said Sonia Bradley president of the vocal ensemble. “Me and the other officers do a lot of organization. We make the set lists. People come to us with their songs. We do them every year and they have just grown since I have been here.”

Bradley, who also co-hosted the Musicafe, said that the team has gotten good at spreading the news to performers as well as the public. “When people watch them, they want to perform,” she said. “We get so many performers rolling in. This time we couldn’t fit everyone unfortunately.”

The staff also records all of the shows and publicizes it online. 

“There’s a lot of work that goes into it before hand,” said Bradley. “But it’s really worth it once we have the event.” 

Senior Jeffrey Gonzalez co-hosted the show and performed a duet with Kiara DeRobbio to sing, “Shallow by Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga” and also performed solo and sang, “How to Return Home” by Bree Lowdermilk.  

“It’s a way that we can express ourselves through music and truly be ourselves,” Gonzalez said. “Some people have sports and can do what they love. This is what we love. This is kind of like our sport.” 

Over the years performers debuted new material and some bands played their first gigs like junior Vic Bullard and their band, Aren’t They Pretty, featuring Edda Petrillo on bass, Joe Ricci on drums and Logan Sartrys on guitar, all four accompanied other artists during the night. Bullard’s band performed Paramore’s Misery Business on Thursday. 

“I had wanted to sing in a band for a long time,” Bullard said. “I have sung in musical theater and choir all my life. I reached out to Joe Ricci and was like, let’s make a band. We brought in Logan and Edda …and it’s just four kids from school. We meet once a week, sometimes. It’s nothing super serious, it just comes from kind of a love for performing and music. Every rehearsal is let’s do this song, let’s do that song and figuring it all out together. The performances are the best part of it. The energy that you feel is like, nothing else. I was up there tonight, I felt crazy.”

There have been rappers, poetry readings, classical duos and trios, jazz bands, and live electronic music performances according to Mr. Lauria.  

“We have watched many students grow and become confident as performers, and the audience is always enthusiastic and supportive,” he said. “Obviously, I love these shows. Even with all that we do in the music department, these are some of my favorite nights of the year.”

Fans can see the show on YouTube at https://youtube.com/@mthopemusic. Fans can see the last Musicafe of the year held on 5/25 at 6:30 p.m., and will feature senior performers. 

Musicafe Setlist - 3/30/2023

JIVE- The Longest Time by Billy Joel

Emilia Brum- Back To December by Taylor Swift

        Accompanied by Vic Bullard

Amelia Silvia- Show me How by Men I Trust

        Accompanied by Mr. Lauria

Isabelle Courtney- Telemann’s Sonata in F

Taliah Reid- Like a Tattoo by Sade

        Accompanied by Mr. Lauria

Olivia Almonte and Jack Sobreiro- Bourree by Johann Sebastian Bach

Aren’t They Pretty- Misery Business by Paramore

Jeffrey Gonzalez and Kiara DeRobbio - Shallow by Bradley Cooper & Lady Gaga

           Accompanied by Casey Ruth Little & David Lauria

Logan Sartrys, Nathaniel Boucher, and Nate Calouro- Original Composition

David Rynhard- Happy Ending (Original Song)

        Accompanied by Logan Sartrys

Casey Ruth Little - Not my Crowd by Casey Ruth Little

Ellie Wyman and Ryan Coffey- Let me be Your Star from Smash

        Accompanied by Mr. Lauria

Zelda Hayes and Henry Scott- Stop Draggin my Heart Around by Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty

Olivia Watters- Ceilings by Lizzy McAlpine

        Accompanied by Priya Enjeti

Jeffrey Gonzalez - How to Return Home By Bree Lowdermilk

          Accompanied by Vic Bullard

Megan Harley and Grayson Lautieri- Need You Now by Lady A

        Accompanied by Edda Petrillo, Joe Ricci, and Vic Bullard