Not everyone can keep a crowd entertained, nor make one laugh. So it’s pretty impressive that a group of high schoolers had an entire auditorium chuckling without saying a single word!
It all started when the students from South Kitsap High took their places on stage wearing hooded costumes and carrying signs. Surely, no one knew what to expect – but it turned into a brilliantly funny performance they won’t forget.
The Christmas season is the perfect time of year to enjoy skits and musical performances. However, the teens’ act below puts a unique spin on it all.
Most everyone is familiar with George Frideric Handel’s “Hallelujah” chorus. But likely, if you were to envision the song, it would involve a big church choir shouting to the heavens, “Hallelujah! Hallelujah!”
This is the tune that was part of the students’ performance, which took place in Port Orchard, Washington. Only these “silent monks” aren’t allowed to speak a word… That’s what the signs are for!
With the classic song blasting through the auditorium – the teens follow along using their signs.
As each lyric is sung a monk flips over their yellow card so the audience can see it. Together, the group in front spells out lines like, “For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth…” As for the monks in the back? Well, they’re in charge of the most epic word, “Hallelujah!”
The “Hallelujah” chorus, which is from the German composer’s Messiah, is full of both high notes and low ones. For this clever skit, that’s been thought of too.
Where the monks position their signs depends on what level the note is. For the very low ones, some are flipped up near the floor. Then for the high ones, they’re held up in the air, etc.
It’s hard not to crack up at the subtle humor as they “silently sing” with their cards to lines such as, “And He shall reign forever and ever…”
Keep your eye on the short monk near the end, on the right.
When the group hits the high notes, it poses a little problem for him, leading to laugh-out-loud results! He’s forced to jump up into the air just to get his sign in the correct position.
Many people who’ve watched the video online have pointed out how creative and amusing the performance is. In fact, it’s been viewed more than 21 million times since it was posted.
A woman named Carolyn commented:
“This is the most hilarious video I’ve ever seen! I can only imagine the hours and hours of practice that went into this. Congratulations to these students!”
The teens managed to pull off the skit amazingly. However, they’re not the first group to do it, nor will they be the last.
In the video description, there was a comment left from who seems to be the music teacher responsible for putting the production together!
Mike Allen explained:
“I think the original idea was on a variety show in the late 60’s. I saw an early version of it done by another high school and asked permission to do it and they were great about it. I’ve shipped our monk costumes to different states to use in their own productions. Good times. It was fun preparing it. We’ve done it a couple of times since but there’s nothing like the original!”
It’s a Christmas performance with a twist of humor that you can enjoy for yourself below.
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