A Dazzling Extravaganza of Talent at P.S. 89's Annual Show

Fifth graders Preston Washington and Laura Young-Squire dance to "All of Me" at the P.S. 89 Talent Show.  Photo: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib

Dance, comedy, magic, singing and piano playing aplenty. Seventy-seven(!) acts, 165 kids in all took the P.S. 89 stage in three shows on Saturday, Feb. 28 for the school’s annual talent show.

“I love seeing how talented these kids are,” said Laurie Sheindlin, who was in charge of the event along with fellow school parent Dmitry Paperny. “You see them at drop off and you see them in the learning environment of the school. But then to see this talent is amazing. Watching these kids who are really shy come out of their shell.”

It’s a mega-production that begins in December with “auditions” (“We don’t cut anyone,” Sheindlin stresses) and between then and the dress rehearsal (an 11-hour affair from audio equipment arrival to clean up), children rehearse and parent volunteers figure out how to organize all those acts into the smoothly running, entertainingly sequenced show that it has become.

Until last year, there was one show for all the acts, resulting in audience fatigue. Sheindlin and her team decided to change that. “We really wanted to make the customer experience our number one priority,” she said, “and the one thing we heard was it was such a drugery to be there for a three- or four-hour show.”

“I’ve heard we’re starting to get a reputation that it’s not such a long painful show to sit through because we’ve broken it up into three smaller shows,” she added, noting a 25 percent increase in ticket sales. “People are excited about seeing it.”

Maybe most important are the lasting benefits to the children. “The more you’re exposed to performing in front of people at an earlier age, the less scary it feels,” Sheindlin said. “It’s a confidence builder and it stays with them through life. ”