Grace Carney '17 won the first place prize at Dartmouth Idol last Friday, which includes $500 and the opportunity to record a two-song demo. The second place prize of $250 was awarded to Nikhil Arora '16.
Before director Walt Cunningham announced the winner, he said that they would be recording an album featuring all of the performers.
The Dartmouth Idol finals took place on Friday, March 4 in Spaulding Auditorium at 7 p.m. The show began with a group performance by the six finalists, followed bysolo songs by each of the performers, accompanied by a 20-piece band, backup singers and backup dancers. After a brief intermission, the finalists returned to each sing two duets before audience votes were tallied and the results were announced.
Carney sang "Creep" by Radiohead and Arora performed Sam Smith's "I'm Not the Only One." Stephanie Everett '19 came in third place, winning $100, after singing "Happy Days are Here Again." The other runners-up were Chelsea Lim '16, who sang "Bust Your Windows" by Jazmine Sullivan, Jimmy Ragan '16, who sang an medley of songs by The Eagles and Sean Haughey '17, who sang a Stevie Wonder medley.
The first half of duets consisted of Arora and Haughey performing a Justin Timberlake and Justin Bieber medley, Lim and Ragan singing "All I Ask of You" from the musical "The Phantom of the Opera" and Carney and Everett singing Janelle Monáe's "Tightrope." The second half of duets began with Lim and Haughey's rendition of "Like I'm Gonna Lose You" by Meghan Trainor and featuring John Legend, followed by Everett and Ragan's take on Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now," with Arora and Carney closing the show with Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven," joined by their respective a cappella groups the Dartmouth Aires and the Rockapellas.
Before the first intermission, "A Musical" from the musical comedy "Something Rotten!" was performed. The six finalists took part in the performance that also included a cameo by College President Phil Hanlon.
Kaitlyn Sheehan Ramirez ’09 Tu ’16, Jake Gaba ’16 and last year's winner, Tara Joshi ’18, served as judges. Carina Conti ’16, Aaron Cheese ’18 and Nick Vernice ’18 hosted the show.