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A power outage couldn't stop Howell High School's Fine and Performing Arts Center's year-end showcase as students continued in the light of cell phones Thursday, June 8.
The ordeal happened during a scene in the middle of "The Importance of Being Earnest," and featured Christopher Abt, Tori Dillon and Angelika Salinas.
It was captured on video and shared by the Howell HS FPAC Instagram page.
Beaming among the flashlights in the audience was Scott Napolitano, a video teacher in the high school's FPAC program.
"As performing arts teachers, you hope that your students will remember their lessons when 'the moment' comes," he tells Daily Voice. "And when the lights go out and there’s no mics and the audience gasps… that’s a 'moment.'
"The actors stayed on their marks, stayed in character, the crew didn’t panic and improvised. It showed just how special this program is. We couldn’t have been prouder of how the cast, crew, even the audience responded."
What amazed Napolitano was how when the acting scene ended, two more numbers were performed: Aa duet with piano and the program-wide finale, "What A Feeling," from "Flashdance."
"It’s tricky enough to execute a major musical theater piece with hundreds of students with full light, sound and music," said Napolitano, "and these kids pulled it off with a single drummer in the dark, with only cell phone lights and a few portable film lights to help them. It was iconic. It was emotional.
"No one in that room will forget it."
Commenters on Instagram lauded the students' professionalism.
"What an amazing night. Kudos to all these kids for their perseverance. A night they will never forget," one said.
"As hard as that is, these kids won’t forget that! That’s an amazing moment," another added.
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