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’...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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.

X

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.

Travis Scott isn't known for calm, cool, and collected concert performances. His headlining appearances make headlines. In 2015, the Houston rapper encouraged Chicago's Lollapalooza audience to climb...

Community students and staff  'Sound Off' on their favorite Taylor Swift songs in honor of "Red," Swift's fourth studio album, being rereleased on Friday, Nov. 12.

80 minutes, give or take, is the time it takes to watch two episodes of Netflix's "Squid Game," ½ of "Titanic," or to listen to 25 Taylor Swift songs. 80 minutes of "Squid Game" delivers suspense and...

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...

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...

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...

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-...

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...

The Theatre program returns to the NCHS stage with "Zap!"'s premiere on Oct. 15. Friday's opening night marks the first in-person production at Community since February 2020's staging of "Clue."  Last...

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...

One Direction.  When those two magical words are spoken, they have the power to make minds jump to the products of the group's instant "X-Factor" successes. Songs like "What Makes You Beautiful" or...

2020 was a monumental year in music. While the pandemic, political turmoil, and the underlying uncertainty in nearly every aspect of life could have served as distractions and hampered creativity -- ...

Before the pandemic, fashion was an expression of outward individuality, highlighting different aspects of their personalities. Before we locked down, when we still had a reason to put on shoes and leave...

Fleetwood Mac vinyl records, including 'Tusk' (1979), 'Mirage '(1982) and 'Tango in the Night' (1987), are now sold at Walmart in Normal.

NCHS alum Jarrett Johnson, a member of the Class of 1997, was nominated for Best Arrangement - Instrumental or A Capella at the 63rd annual Grammy Awards. “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” arranged...

Four years of racism. Of sexism. Four years of every -ism imaginable. Four years of irresponsibility. Of lies. Four years of inadequate leadership. Four years of the compromising all moral...

Netflix has a history of providing some of the most bingeable television shows available to stream: "Friends", "The Office", "Parks and Recreation", "Shameless"... As many of the company's licensing...

The New Faces of Normal Combine large, bold images with the beautifully crafted words of your story.

A member of the Unit 5 Superintendent's Executive Cabinet tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday, August 29, according to Director of Communications and Community Relations Dayna Brown. In response...

To say that Taylor Swift has made a name for herself within the music industry would be an understatement. Swift has practically dominated the genres of pop, country, and rock, and fans like me have...

Unit 5 released the Return to School plan for the 2020-2021 school year Monday afternoon which will be voted on during the July 22 School Board meeting at Normal West.  An email sent to Unit 5 families...

Governor J.B. Pritzker suspended in-person learning in Illinois schools for the remainder of the school year during his daily coronavirus press briefing Friday afternoon. The suspension of in-class...

Taylor Swift has become one of the most loved and hated artists to dominate the music industry. Those who are unfamiliar or unwilling to accept the artist’s success have tried to drag her down, but most...

Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker issued a statewide stay-at-home order on Friday, March 20, which will begin at 5:00 pm on Saturday, March 21 and will remain in effect until the end of the day on Tuesday,...

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...

On Thursday, March 19, McLean County Health Department Administrator Jessica McKnight reported the county's first case of COVID-19. The man, in his 70s, is in good condition and being treated in isolation...

The following is a transcript of recorded statements at the Unit 5 Board of Education Regular Meeting on Wednesday, March 11 at Kingsley Junior High, where Dr. Mark Daniel, Superintendent; Dayna Brown,...

Harry Styles has been keeping a low profile in the music industry since his first solo album Harry Styles debuted in 2017 and his concert tour “Harry Styles: Live On Tour” came to a close in 2018.  When...

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...