The 21st annual Madrigals holiday performance returned live on Friday, Dec. 3 and Saturday, Dec. 4. With COVID-19 restrictions prohibiting food service, tickets for the Chamber Choir and Madrigal singers’ Christmas concert were $5, their lowest price in years.

The court singers lined the walls of the dark auditorium, each with their own candle, while the madrigal singers performed "Silent Night" on stage.

Kevin Nguyen ('24) and Lily Mavros ('24), members of the court singers, perform "Russian Dance," an upbeat acapella choral.

Cora Winsor ('25), Cole Luginbuhl ('25) and Sophia Hartke ('25), three freshman members of the court singers, perform "Christmastime," an upbeat classical acapella choral.

The court singers performed "Christmastime" and "Russian Dance" following the "Ye Olde Consumer's Tome" infomercial.

Sophia Hartke ('25) and Maddie Chapman ('25), joined by the "jester" and "wench," entertained the audience with "Ye Old Consumer's Tome," a "medieval infomercial" between musical performances by the madrigal choir.

The madrigal singers perform a choreographed English madrigal adaptation of The Spice Girls' "Wannabe," prompting laughter from the audience.

The madrigal singers performed "In These Delightful Pleasant Groves" in a call-and-response manner, with singers split between two sets of risers at opposite ends of the stage.

The "jester" and "wench," the event's hosts, read the extensive list of rules that audience members must abide by, including that "guests must take care as to not spill their drinks or thou shall have several years of bad luck," and "guests must refrain from flirting with the wenches."

Schill and Speirer act out the "partridge in a pear tree" line as the choir sings "The Twelve Days of Christmas." Select members of the madrigal choir were assigned solo parts for each line of the twelve days.

Schill holds up five fingers as the choir sings the "five golden rings" lyric in "The Twelve Days of Christmas." Schill and Speirer, the madrigal "wench," acted out each of the twelve days in a theatrical performance accompanied by the choir.

Ivy Goeckner ('22) sings a solo during the madrigal choir's performance of "The Twelve Days of Christmas."

Tim Schill ('22) and Jackie Speirer ('22) played the roles of the event's "jester" and "wench," entertaining the audience with humorous skits and speeches between songs.

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Leslie Burton and Aubrey Simpson served dinner to the audience of the 2019 Madrigals Dinner performances, the last year the show was able to provide food service.

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Zach Bacon ('22) starred as Man and Amelia Lau ('22) as Woman in "The Avant-Garde Play." This play follows a "weird" couple that finds a corpse in their hotel room.

Zach Bacon ('22) starred as Man in "The Avant-Garde Play." In this scene, Man listens to the couple on the other side of the invisible wall to try and discover if their hotel room also came with a corpse.

Tray Lund ('24) starred as Clifford Gray and Megan Parent ('22) as Emmaline Gray in "The English Mystery." The mini-play takes place in the time period of World War I during a dinner party following Clifford Gray's return home from battle. In this scene. Emmaline addresses Clifford, concerned about his...

Tim Schill ('22) starred as King Richard III, Dash Morgan ('25) as Prince Edward, and Mia Lewis ('24) as Duke of Buckingham in "Shakespeare's Richard III." During this play, King Richard III becomes increasingly frustrated with the audience that continues to "zap" him off stage due to his overly dramatic...

Nick Baca ('23)'s character Nikolai Volnikov jots down advice on farming in the Russian countryside given to him by Ani Abbina ('24)'s character Konstantin in "The Russian Play."

Maddie Chapman ('25) and Mimi Calmes ('25), two actresses featured in "The Southern Play," are joined on stage by "The English Mystery" actor Gibson Smith ('23) before bows.

Ivy Goeckner ('22) played Marsha during "The Performance Art Monologue." Marsha, Goeckner's character, is the only character in this mini-play. Her abstract character directly addresses the audience in the form of multiple solo speeches, aiming to provide the audience with the truth about theatre.

Grayson Wills ('25) starred as Reginald and Mimi Calmes ('25) as Caroline in "The Southern Play."

Cast members from each of the seven mini-plays collide on stage in the ending scene, resulting in clashing costumes and conflicts between characters.

Ethan Scott ('22) as Sammy and Andrew Short ('22) as Irv Weinstein in "The Comedy." In this mini-play, Scott's character Sammy provides Short's character Irv with advice on how to win over a once-colleague-turned- enemy's wife.

Avrille Jorolan ('22) played Audrey McPherson and Killian Boyd ('23) played Luke. Jorolan's character Audrey picks up a pile of clothes scattered across the stage, throwing them at Boyd's character Luke as "The Comedy" and "The Southern Play" collide.

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Seniors Drexel Douglass and Joey Fela were crowned as the inaugural “Homecoming Royalty” at the kickoff of Friday, Sept. 24’s Homecoming football game. NCHS opted for the more inclusive term “Royalty” in place of “King” and “Queen” terminology. As a result, two male candidates,...

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The McLean County Health Department confirmed McLean County’s first case of coronavirus on Thursday, March 19. The man in his 70s with “no history of travel or exposure” is currently being treated for the virus at Advocate BroMenn Medical Center in Bloomington, according to WGLT.  While preventative...

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Madrigals host 19th annual dinner performances December 6 and 7, 2019

Students and parents from all three high schools gathered in the NCHS cafeteria on Thursday, December 5 to learn more about the BNL co-op.

The Lady Iron volleyball team concluded their season at the hands of Minooka on Monday, November 4. The Indians defeated NCHS in two matches -- 25-12; 25-15 -- in the IHSA 4A Sectional semifinals at Ottawa Township High School. Hitter Mallory Oloffson (‘21) could describe Minooka in one word: good...