Then, the names were announced. Third Place: Ricardo Calderon-Mantovani, for singing "The Lord's Prayer." And then, Second Place: Erik Bloomquist, for singing "Beauty and The Beast" while accompanying himself on keyboard.
"I wish we had a drum roll, this is going to be awesome," said Val Ginn, one of the judges. Master of Ceremonies Steve Parker made a drum roll sound and Ginn joked that it sounded like her car in the wintertime.
"I'm not going to keep you guys in suspense," Ginn said. "Samuel Lostocco!"
The First Place winner of the first ever Newington's Got Talent! was 13-year-old Samuel Lostocco, who played classical guitar at the show Feb. 26 at Town Hall.
How difficult was it to decide? asked Co-MC Gary Byron. "Very, very difficult. Everybody did a great job, even through rehearsals," judge Christine Andrews said.
"I'm very impressed with the talent, it was hard to choose," Ginn agreed. "We had a lot of fun."
Andrews and Ginn are both members of the Human Rights Commission, which organized the talent show both to raise public awareness of the commission and to raise money for the Human Services Department's food bank, special needs fund, and holiday fund. The show was also sponsored by the Polish-American Club of Newington and The Brickhouse Bar & Grill on Market Square.
Next year's show will be probably be at Newington High School's auditorium, to accommodate a larger audience, and held in April, to avoid winter weather concerns, Ginn said.
The first show didn't exactly go off without a hitch. There was microphone feedback, pre-recorded music that didn't start on time or started too soon and had to be restarted, and the electric keyboard wasn't always plugged in when it should have been.
This is the first year, Byron said. "Whenever you do something for the first time you have iron out all the bugs," he said. "It's part of having a live studio audience."
Still, it was a sold out show with an enthusiastic audience cheering the two dozen acts that sang, played, and entertained on the stage. Byron and Parker from Newington Community Television (the station taped the show and will air it this month) provided lively banter with the performers and each other between the acts.
The three judges - Ginn, Andrews, and Frank DeMaio - sat at a podium to the left of the stage, scoring each act on a scale of one to 10 for talent, originality, and appearance.
The acts were chosen from auditions in January. "I was really surprised about the ones that did not make it," Byron said to the audience. At the auditions, "I would think, 'Wow that person's great,' and it turned out she didn't make the cut. So when I tell you that the talent here tonight is exceptional I mean it."
First to perform was the band Say The Word (Holly McDonald, Dakota Lee-Penn, Sean Dalke and Joseph Maltese) rocking the house with a cover of M.I.A.'s hit "Paper Planes." Then Antonio "Tony V" Vieira sang "Fly Me To The Moon" with Sinatra style.
Julia Trzeciak played "Beauty and The Beast" on the keyboard. The seven-year-old was barely visible behind her sheet music, so stage hands had to turn her sideways so the audience could see her.
Kati Ciaffaglione sang a bluesy version of "I'm a Woman." that had the audience clapping along. Patrique Hurd belted out "Why Haven't I Heard From You" in a powerful voice. Dance duo The Country Cuties (Skyler Voorhies and Valerie Guerette) danced to "Hoedown Throwdown."
Daniel and Jack Tracey sang the Owl City song "Fireflies," with Daniel playing guitar. Todd Malinosky played guitar and sang his own original song, "Going Down A One Way Street." Jenelle Miller, 9, tap danced to Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock 'n' Roll."
Angelica Ellis sang her own original song "Shining Moment," while accompanying herself on guitar. Lonnie Szahaji sang the Taylor Swift hit "White Horse." Edward Maselli sang and played the electric keyboard.
The Connecticut Kenpo Scorpion Demo Team performed a choreographed martial arts routine, with metal rods flashing in the stage lights, wooden sticks, and fans, punching, kicking, tumbling to music.
After the intermission, rock band Arsenic Inc. (Thomas Roper, David Vitali, Brandon Eilard, and Erik Smith) played. Then, Susanna Lopes sand "The Wind Beneath My Wings" a cappella.
Lostocco played "Romanza" on guitar and told Parker when he was younger he considered playing drums before settling on guitar as his instrument. He said he also plays electric guitar.
Frank Wilson sang "You Make Me Feel So Young," which he dedicated to his "five beautiful granddaughters." Aliana Ayuso, 11, sang "No One." Darious Walwyn and Danielle Pinho, both age 8, sang "One Time." Music teacher Susan Marangellisantos sang "The Nearness of You."
Peter Wacht did a magic act as the silent Peter The Great, with Bloomquist as his talking assistant Chuck The Chicken. They combined slight of hand, card tricks, and comedy, calling up volunteers from the audience.
Paul Tine played classical piano. Leann Boisvert sang "I Got Trouble," with Bloomquist accompanying her on keyboard. Then Bloomquist performed his solo act. The Newington High School senior said he's been performing since he was very young and may attend the Juilliard School in the future.
Calderon-Mantovani closed out the show, singing to a pre-recorded track. He told Parker he works for the Connecticut Department of Social Services and he sings in church every Sunday.
At the end, the MCs called everyone out on stage to take a bow and shout in unison "Newington's got talent!"
"That could be our promo for next year," Byron said.