MEDIA THEATRE'S 'VOCALIST' HAS TOP TWENTY SEMI-FINALISTS

After four weeks of Wednesday night performances during The Media Theatre's annual summer singing competition, "The Vocalist", the Top 20 Semi-Finalists have been chosen. 

The Top 20 were lifted into the Semi-Finals, which take place Wednesday August 3 at 7pm, by both Judges' Scores and Online & Public Votes. The Scores and Votes were accumulated during the past four weeks. 

The 2016 "Vocalist" Top 20: Back Row-Troy Gartner, Paul Vink, Elaine Ficarra, Jacob Mergott.
Midde-Emma Costello, Alexandra Battisti, Jake Faragalli, William Fay, Alli Sutton, Alexia Alvarez, Toni Huegel
Front-Paul Mariani III, Kaleigh Kahan, Tori D'Ascenzo, Carrie Hytha, Molly Sorensen, Sarah Korbel,
Lauren Faulkner, Aiden Curry

The Judges' Scores account for the largest percentage of a contestant's score, and additional points are added from the Online & Public Voting process (which is $2 per vote). Those with the most Online & Public Votes receive extra points added to their Judges' Scores. For example, the "Vocalist" with the most Online & Public Votes after four weeks received 30 extra points toward their Score. The "Vocalist" with the second greatest amount of Online & Public Votes received 25 extra points, while the third highest Online & Public Vote-getter was given 20 extra points toward their score. Those who made up the rest of the top ten Online & Public Votes were given 15 more points toward their Judges' Score. 

The Judges rank the contestants as they watch them in three different categories: Vocal Ability, Stage Presence, and Song Choice. The three Judges' categories are rated on a scale from 1 (low score) to 10 (high score). So, in theory, each Vocalist is able to receive a perfect score each week of 30 from one judge. The lowest score a Vocalist could receive from a judge would be 3. 

Jesse Cline, the theatre's Artistic Director and the competition's main judge who is onstage each week with the contestants, has an extra category: Individualism. This category rates the contestants on their unique ability to entertain, to grow each week, and is somewhat applicable to that often un-explainable "X" factor a casting director looks for when putting a cast together for a production. So, the most points a contestant could gain each week from Cline would be 40, with the least amount being 4.

The Judges' Scores were added first, with a running tabulation during the four weeks. Following that, after the Online & Public voting ended after intermission of the fourth week, the extra points were added from the Online & Public voting.  If there were any ties from the Judges' Scores, or close scoring, this is where the Online & Public votes carry weight. The Online & Public votes may boost someone into the next round.

Now that the Top 20 "Vocalist" contestants have been chosen, all contestant's scores who are still in the competition go back down to zero. All previous Judges' Scores and Online & Public Votes have been erased, so that the Top 20 start fresh on a level playing ground. 

Song choices, vocal ability, and stage presence will now carry even more weight during the Semi-Finals, as only the top three Online & Public vote-getters will receive extra points toward their Judges' Score heading into the Finals. 

The 2016 "Vocalist" Top 20 headed into the Semi-Finals are:                                       Alexia Alvarez, 14, Media; Alexandra Battisti, 14 of Malvern; Emma Costello, 14, West Chester; Aidan Curry, 14, Broomall; Tori D’Ascenzo, 15, Delco; Lauren Faulkner, 15, Glenolden; Jake Faragalli, 14, NJ; William Fay, 16, Boothwyn; Elaine Ficarra, 15, Glenmoore; Troy Gartner, 18, Paoli; Moses Gonzalez, 21, Woodlyn; Toni Huegel, 14, Springfield; Carrie Hytha, 21, Phoenixville; Kaliegh Kahan, 16, Cochranville; Sarah Korbel, 17, Wayne; Paul Mariani III, 16, Ardmore; Jacob Mergott, 17, of Swarthmore; Molly Sorensen, 15, Malvern; Allison Sutton, 16, Hatboro; and Paul Vink, 14, of West Chester.

VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE CONTESTANT HERE

GET TICKETS HERE

Another view of the Top 20