Blue Mountains students who starred in the Schools Spectacular are set to shine again.
This time they will delight upwards of a million viewers as their performances are beamed across Australia on the Seven Network at 7pm on Saturday, December 16.
Shot with 15 cameras at vantage points throughout Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena in November, the telecast of the whole show will offer unparalleled appreciation of the enormous talents of the more than 5700 stars of the show.
“It really is a must-see,” said creative director Sonja Sjolander.
Blue Mountains schools which made the four performances in November such a success included: Blaxland High, Katoomba High and Winmalee High.
There were also many students residing in the Mountains who took part with schools from out of the area.
They included Jacqui Dwyer from Springwood, who took on a featured vocalist role in her final year at Nepean Creative and Performing Arts High School.
Three Mountains teenagers – Laura Crambrook from Blaxland, Verity Hall from Faulconbridge and Nadi von der Schulenberg from Glenbrook – all attend Newtown High School of Performing Arts and had featured dancer roles.
“Schools Spectacular has something for everybody,” Ms Sjolander said.
“While it was electric in the arena, on television the show offers a completely different dimension of enjoyment.
“It has been magnificently captured by our partners Chief Entertainment for the Seven Network and I’m confident viewers will be thrilled by what they see.”
This year's Schools Spectacular again traversed the broad spectrum of entertainment from dramatic ballet accompanied by the 80-piece symphony orchestra and 2700-voice choir through musical theatre to bouncy hip-hop and pop tunes.
At times the arena stage was flooded by swirling colourful student performers, then switched to a single vocalist enchanting the audience with her powerful voice.
An innovation for Schools Spectacular 2017 was SpecFest, a parallel event outside the arena which not only brought a new dimension to showcase more student talent but also presented interesting displays and activities to entertain the audiences thronging to the shows.
