Teen Pulse

Mix together some hilarious emcees, musical talent, innovative dance moves, talented vocalists, creative skits and deep poetry and you get ’Topper Revue, a talent show put on by students at Los Alamos High School.
The first show was at 7 p.m. Feb. 1 in the Duane Smith Auditorium. As people poured into the auditorium, an animated buzz filled the air and the crowd waited in anticipation for the show.
’Topper Revue began with a video introducing the emcees, who are all seniors: Orli Shlachter, Gary Cooper, Monica Poston, Cassidy Reeves, Dallin Parker and Daniel Hill.
Each host had a different personality, with Shlachter as the witty one; Cooper as the self-obsessed prima donna; Poston as the quirky creative free spirit; Reeves as the fearless adventurer; Parker as the athlete; and Hill as the all-knowing bibliophile.
The theme of this year’s show was “Survivor: The Ultimatum,” where the emcees struggled to survive on a tropical island in a tough competition for a mysterious scholarship — with regular interspersion of the performing acts, of course.
There was a wide variety of vocal acts. Among others, two were boy bands, one was a duet by sisters Samantha and Alexandra Hammon, and another was an ensemble of five girls who sang about “100 Easy Ways to Lose a Man.”

Teen Pulse staff members Owen Bradbury Aranda and Elizabeth Hjelvik asked students, “What do you think about gun control?”

Popejoy Hall in Albuquerque has become a venue in which some popular touring Broadway musicals come to perform, providing people of New Mexico with some great artistic performances.
The musicals that visited the Duke City in the past, such as “Les Miserables” and “The Lion King,” were never disappointing. Then a tragedy occurred when the musical, “Rock of Ages” was presented.
“Rock of Ages” isn’t what one would consider a classic musical. Instead of having original songs like a Broadway performance usually does, the songs in “Rock of Ages” are covers of some famous 80’s rock songs, such as Twisted Sister’s “I Wanna Rock” and Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive.” The expectations are high because the songs are well known.
The musical had the potential of being extremely entertaining. The story was a romantic parody, the interactions between couples were exaggerated and all the characters were falling in love with any person they laid eyes on. Being set in 1987 Hollywood, “Rock of Ages” does manage to capture the 1980’s rock and roll era through its sets, costumes, makeup and props.
The men wore jeans with ripped up band shirts, had long hair, wore makeup and sported many tattoos.