By Caitie Bennell and Mariel Brunman
The Jazz Singers performed at the Santa Monica Community College Broad Theater on March 7 to benefit P.S. Arts. Actor Darren Criss, who plays Blaine Anderson on the television series “Glee,” performed Katy Perryâs “Teenage Dream,” and actor Josh Malina hosted. P.S. Arts raises money to train, recruit and hire professional artists to develop and teach an educational and empowering curriculum at inner-city Los Angeles schools.
“Knowing that performing would benefit kids that do what I love to do made it all the more special,” Kelsey Woo â11 said.
The Jazz Singers were invited to sing by the all-male award-winning Yale a capella group, the Whiffenpoofs. The Jazz Singers performed Paul Simonâs “Love Me Like a Rock” and closed the show alongside the Whiffenpoofs with “When the Saints Go Marching In.” Choirs from Crossroads School and Marlborough School performed as well.
“It was a fun experience. We met choirs from Marlborough and Crossroads. I hadnât performed on stage, and it was interesting to perform in front of a lot of people and parents. We had never done this before and it was really great,” Erin Landau â11 said.
“We were there for nine hours which made it a great bonding experience,” Danielle Strassman â11 said. “It was exciting to know that the audience paid to see us and that we got the opportunity to share the stage with big stars.”
