Alexander Chao, senior, proved he was more than “kenough” to win the title of “Mr. Brea” at the Barbie-themed Mr. Brea competiton on Feb. 2.
“When I found out I actually won Mr. Brea, I was so shocked because I truly wasn’t expecting it,” Chao said.
Through singing and dancing, rifle spinning, interviewing, and even conjuring, nine male seniors — Timothy Carman, Chao, Beakman Chen, Sean Cronin, Ryan Kang, Aidan Lauron, Carter Lavold, Ryan Okazaki, and Dominick Rodriguez — contended for the Mr. Brea crown at the annual event.
Justin Villasenor, special education teacher, won the title of staff Mr. Brea. For the talent portion of the competition, Villasenor, playing an acoustic guitar, sang a soulful rendition of Sinéad O’Connor’s ballad “Nothing Compares 2 U.”
The prize of “Most Wild” — awarded to the senior who most impresses the judges with a unique talent — went to Chen, who, with partner Valeria Cubias, senior, performed a Color Guard routine of spinning wooden prop rifles.
“I think the reason why I won [‘Most Wild’] is because the song I chose for my talent is called ‘Wild Self,’” Chen said. He also credited Cubias for his success: “If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t have such a wonderful performance.”
All of the contestants danced in the opening number to a mashup of songs like Aqua’s “Barbie World” and Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night.”
Eliana Swindle, senior and Mr. Brea Co-Commissioner, organized the event and choreographed this segment.
“My favorite part about Mr. Brea was teaching [the contestants] the dance. It was so much fun having them learn it and watching them perform it,” Swindle said.
After each “Ken” was introduced to the audience with their escort, beach video segments, as well as recordings of contestants participating in “carpool karaoke,” were displayed before the talent act.
To promote the show contestants went to Newport Beach to film content for @bohs.asb Instagram.
“It was raining the morning we went [to the beach], but as soon as we got to the pier, the sun was out, and it was so perfect. It was so fun to see all the boys being able to mess around and bond with one another,” Danica Coburn, junior, and Mr. Brea Co-Commissioner, said.
The most anticipated segment was the talent show.
Chao, who brought a hip-hop routine to the stage, showed off his combos with his senior dance partners Adeline Dang, Ayla Mailom, and Eva Zhang. With elements of jazz and choreography by Dang, Chao danced to “Maria” by Justin Bieber.
“It was really fun being able to dance on stage with my friends one of the last time, and the energy from the crowd was super infectious,” Chao said.
Kang was a crowd favorite with a dance to popular pop songs with his close friends. With energetic popping and footwork, Kang and his escort, Kristin Kim, senior, covered BTS’s “Boy In Luv,” Twice’s “What is Love?,” and Kendrick Lamar’s “Family Ties.”
“It was hard to practice the dance pieces because there were seven of us, and we had to be in sync,” Kang said. Despite the challenges, he “enjoyed the [audience] singing along with the song.”
Okazaki performed a duet of “City of Stars” from the 2016 musical La La Land with his escort, Peyton Deck, senior.
“[Deck] and I perform with choir, but it was nice performing in an environment where we were able to have full control over what we put on stage. We truly had a great time,” Okazaki said.
The final chance for contestants to impress the judges was in the interview segment. Candidates were each given a random interview question to test their quick thinking and humor.
Cronin was asked what animal he would describe himself as, to which he answered “a meerkat,” because he likes to go back to bed in the mornings, similar to how a meerkat goes back into its hole.
“I was a little bit nervous as my turn to answer approached, but I was excited to see what question they would ask me. We had no idea what they were going to ask. I was relieved when I got asked what animal I would be, and I think my answer was fitting for me,” Cronin said.
Audience members, like Erika Yang, senior, enjoyed participating in the event. “It was a great show, overall. All the boys were super talented, and this was a very memorable and exciting event to watch,” Yang said.
