For over 100 years, at the start of the  second semester some of Central’s most talented students have gathered to put on Roadshow and this year will be no different. This year the musical acts include a barbershop quartet, jazz band, and several solo artists. 

One such solo artist is Willa Rauch, a Freshman singer who will be performing her original song, ‘Raise a Rose’. 

“I want to do Roadshow because I joy being involved in theatre and I love the idea of this giant group of people who are just sharing their talents. It’s just an amazing experience.” Rauch said. 

Before auditioning for Roadshow, Rauch has had plenty musical experience. She plays several instruments such as the guitar and viola, writes songs, and even had a role in this year’s school musical, “Grease”. 

“I have been writing songs ever since was little but they have definitely increased in quality since I was like 7 and starting out.”Rauch said. 

To prepare for the three shows, the cast has all put in several hours of practices and rehearsals to make sure Roadshow will run smoothly.  

“It’s been a lot of practice, to get in and to prepare ,I’ve been working really hard to get the song to be ready to perform.” Rauch said. 

Despite the work that it has took, Willa says the experience has been well worth it.  

“I have a such a wonderful experience so far just meeting all these people and getting to see their talents. It’s really cool to be apart of this giant showcase and having just this little part that’s yours” Rauch said.  

Another student to sing at Roadshow was freshman, Mila Herszbaum- Harding. She played the piano and sang her own song, specifically written for Roadshow. 

“I have been singing my whole life but I only joined choir this year. I’ve never been formally taught to play the piano, I just play chords.” She said. 

One thing that made this act unique was that the song was written in Spanish. Mila grew up bilingual,  speaking both Spanish and English at home. She chose to write the song in Spanish to better convey its meaning. 

“I chose to write this song in Spanish to add diversity to the show and I thought that the song was more meaningful and made more sense in Spanish.” She said. 

Preparing for Roadshow took a lot of work. Mila needed to write her own song, memorize it, and practice performing it all even before auditions. After auditions, there still was very little time to rehearse. 

“I joined because I wanted more experience performing and I hadn’t tried anything like it before and I thought it could be fun. It was really good experience but it was kind of stressful because of all the snow days this quarter.” She said.