Watch video of students at Staten Island's Tottenville High School cover the Queen classic "Bohemian Rhapsody". Watch video
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- When Tottenville High School concert choir members were searching for a show-stopper to perform, the Queen classic "Bohemian Rhapsody" came up in their discussion.
Students see Freddie Mercury's existential lyrics, although written more than 40 years ago -- long before the teens were born -- as apropos to today's world, said choir director and music teacher Joanne Nolemi.
"We went with 'Bohemian Rhapsody' because it is a hallmark of great pop music. Forty years later, today's kids love it. It's a masterpiece that resonates with every new generation," Nolemi said.
"Freddie Mercury composed a piece that works well for chorus with amazing solo opportunities, and a nebulous, surreal story that we were able to make into our own personal creation," she explained.
After the teens spent weeks and months practicing and rehearsing, they teamed up with students in Tottenville's TV production class to create a music video of the performance.
The chorus students recorded all of the music and vocals.
Jake Weyand, Alexa Martino, Michael Raguso, Alessia Randazzo, Luigi Caiazzo, Paul DiStefano, Joseph Bentivegna, Nicholas Reynoso, Sam Montanaro, Sara Pabst, Jillian Delaney and Cheyenne Poidomani were soloists.
Annie Nuara accompanied her peers on piano.
The video took more than three months to complete, from filming to editing, with students coming up with concepts for the scenes to coordinate with lyrics.
It was an amazing, sensational, and remarkable experience," said Caiazzo, a senior and soloist heard in the video.
"Creating this music video was a blast," agreed chorus member Jillian Delaney, 17, a junior.
The scenes were filmed in classrooms and various locations in the building.
"When we started filming, we were all over the place in school -- the law room, the auditorium, the culinary kitchens," Delaney explained.
Various faculty members also appear in the video, lip-synching the lyrics
Laura Monico, of ET Studios in Charleston, supplied the studio support and the sound editing and mixing for the video.
"Imagine going to a music studio with 30 of your friends and jamming out. This project wasn't your typical high school project -- you wanted to be there, working on it," said Delaney, who described the experience as something she will always remember.
For good measure Nolemi and TV production teacher Aaron Aflitto brought in Justin Bryte -- their former student -- and Justin (Slavo) Slaven -- the duo behind "Fly By Midnight" -- as consultants. The two filmed many of the shots and did some of the editing, Nolemi said.
See the final video version above.
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