Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Staten Island Cabaret

With the Miss Staten Island Pageant just around the corner (November 13th) it was time to take part in the annual Cabaret For The Crown at the beautiful Hilton Garden Inn on - where else - Staten Island.

The evening event is a fund raiser for the Miss Staten Island Organization which is one of the largest local scholarships in the country. Former titleholders came out to share their musical talents and contestants vying for this year's crown joined in one of their first formal outings. The Miss Staten Island Organization begins working with contestants over a month before the actual pageant, aiming to enable contestants to learn and practice the skills necessary for competition through events just like this. I met each young woman tonight. Many are first time competitors and all of them impressed me with an undeniable sense of grace. At the same time, they were real girls.

Highlights included performances by Miss Staten Island 2011, Maria DeSantis, and Miss Richmond County 2011, Amanda Alicea. We concluded with my first public performance of "Disneyland" since it's showcase on the Miss New York stage this summer. In between songs I had chats with some of the contestants.

Ok, ok, I'm bad...in the rush of interacting with the contestants I didn't take a single picture all night! My priority was speaking with them and watching them during the night (I'm a habitual people reader.) I wanted to see if anyone in the room was the girl I would crown next summer. Did I find her? Come on...do I ever spoil the surprise?

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