South Side High School holds annual Red & Blue revue

In a close competition, the Blue team prevailed over its Red adversaries at the 95th annual three-night Red and Blue revue at South Side High School that wrapped up on March 12.

Blue won costume, dance, song, posters and volleyball events — and Red edged out its competition in the categories of skit, tumbling, floor hockey and basketball.

With well over half of the school’s female population deeply involved in the weeks of planning, preparing and rehearsing that go into the competition, the teams of approximately 160 girls each were busy developing and perfecting skits, songs, dances, costumes, props, posters, emblems and a tumbling routine — the major categories on which they’re judged — for Friday and Saturday’s competitions, televised live on Cablevision and Verizon’s local education channels.

The revue got under way on March 10, as the girls, dressed in white from head to toe, sang two songs and presented their posters and emblems to the art and music judges — all teachers — and to the crowd of family, friends and spectators who came out on a rainy night. The program started after a moment of silence in honor of two former captains — Dot Zaiser (in 1936) and Jillian Daly (in 2004) — who both died since the last meet. This year’s meet was also dedicated to them.

The gym again filled on Friday and Saturday nights as cheering ticketholders watched each team’s skit and dances, and rooted for them during the relay races, floor hockey, tug-of-war, volleyball and basketball competitions.

“Live! From the RED Carpet,” under the direction of Red team captains Amanda DiMare and Kathryn Sheppard kept the audience at the edge of their seats while the Blue team under the direction of captains Brenna Guinan and Lauren Rovere thrilled onlookers with “Blue Careful What You Wish For.”

Groups of girls in elaborate costumes performed aerobic, jazz, disco and tap numbers that were incorporated into the skits.

Following the skits they took part in athletic competitions that included various relay races, a tug of war as well as brief basketball, floor hockey and volleyball matches.

Natalie Napoli and Fran Wasserman were Red’s advisors. Nicole Knorr and Shannon McEntee were Blue’s advisors. Meaghan Healey and Walter Denton served as meet directors. Ian Liuzzi-Feldun served as the sound engineer. Mike Hayes, Mike Kennedy, Evan Needell and Andrew Senken were Red boys; Dom Moriarity, Peter Ravn, Matt Solin and Bill Vella served as

Blue boys.

Red Team song coordinators were Sam Berry, Ellie Melillo and Katie Richner; Lauren Maietti and Briana Reynolds served in that function for the Blue team. Red’s poster/emblem coordinators were Nicole Barci, Natasha Camarillo, Christy Castellano, Emily Essig, Liz Hallwood and Alison Volkert — Dana Ahern, Danni Bellando, Clare Brown, Shannon Buckley, Jennifer Gentile and Steph Rifai handled those tasks for the Blue team.