Caleigh Wells, a 12-year-old from Corona del Mar, led off the competition by giving the audience a lesson in being cool. She sang “Popular” from the musical Wicked with the poise and coquettish charm of a high school prom queen on TV, giving the girls in the audience step-by-step instructions on how to be as charming as she.
“Oh, I’ll show you what shoes to wear, how to fix your hair, everything that really counts,” she sang.
As far as her hair was concerned, it lived up to the hype — long and straight with springy curls at the ends — but another contestant definitely had her beat in the shoe department.
Alyssa Henderson, the second-place finisher, fielded more questions about her four-inch, purple stilettos then she did about her excellent vocal performance.
During a short lull in the competition the emcee brought her up, told her to take off one of the heels and waved it in the air for the audience to see.
Other kids chose period appropriate costumes. One boy wore a shiny gold jacket with a silver-sequined collar, slicked back his hair, cradled the microphone under his chin and belted out an Elvis tune.
Another girl looked straight out of San Francisco circa 1970 as she sang Beatles’ hit “Let it Be.” She wore a homemade string of daisies around her head, a hemp shirt and a long necklace of wooden prayer beads she bought in India.
Her mother, who owns an antique shop, helped her put together the authentic-looking costume. Unfortunately, though, she forgot to tell her young daughter that they said “peace” in the Vietnam War days, not “peace out.”
