Another Dartmouth Idol, and this year with reserved seats! We had heard from those who went to the Semi-Finals that there was a good crop of singers, so we were looking forward to the show.
The three judges were all past Idol winners, and the presenter Deby Xiadani had hosted before, and she was ably accompanied by hosts Jake and Jesse. They did a good job, as did the judges.
The singers all sang well. Summer Cody, Molly McQuoid and Caitlin Wanic all did a good job with their solos and duets. Daniel Abate was particularly strong, with a dynamic stage presence, and an audience sing-along for his Stevie Wonder song. Matt Dempsey was a very congenial singer, with a warm bass voice. He was a lot of fun to watch on the stage. The weakest singer seemed to be Soomin Kim, who struggled with the range in her songs.
The strange thing about this show was the decision to tie it to the 50th Anniversary of Sesame Street (which was actually in 2019, not 2020). This seemed completely irrelevant, and added a lot of material to the show that detracted from the students’ performances. There was the choir from Hanover’s Ray School, a video of a choir from Chicago, and lots of Sesame Street songs. Again, why was all this in the show? All great stuff, but they didn’t belong to this show. And what was that Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood thing? But I must admit that I did enjoy seeing the President and the Provost with their corresponding muppets.
In the first half, we heard the solos, and later on duets and trios. The text message voting worked well, with a designated phone number where you texted your top two choices with a number for each contestant. The winner was Caitlin Wanic (my 2nd place choice), Summer Cody in second, and Daniel Abate in third place (my first place choice).
The closing song was a medley with Sesame Street and Earth, Wind and Fire, and would have been a lot better if it had been one or the other, but not a mash-up of both.
Meet The Finalists of Dartmouth Idol 2020!
For Dartmouth Idol Finalists, Music Is All in the Family
