Mark Beckford, Gleaner Writer p>In a time where child stars in Jamaica are under the spotlight for good and bad reasons, a group of them from Lannaman's Preparatory School wowed a large audience at the Little Theatre on Saturday night.

The event was their annual Talent Showcase where they presented speech, drama, song and dance items which had garnered several medals in the 2006/2007 Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) festival competitions.

The show which started at 6 p.m. got off to a cracker with dance items entitled 'Boogie Woogie' and 'Let's Rock' from the kindergarten unit of the school. The crowd was obviously pleased with the little children prancing (albeit not in unison all the time) around the stage in their kaleidoscope of colours.

Following this was what could be arguably defined as the show-stealer. Judging from the response of the crowd, the item which was dubbed 'Sky Juice' a hit play touched on themes of love, loyalty, deception and fate. The drama production spoke of Sky Juice, a love child of her parents, but whose mother died in childbirth, and her father married the helper in the house who did not like Sky Juice and sent her away to boarding school.

Kidnapped

Sky Juice's father, however, got sick and when she came back from boarding school, the helper, now turned wife, plotted to have Sky Juice kidnapped so that she could have the fortune possessed by the father. The kidnappers, however, told Sky Juice who paid them to kidnap her and she returned, told her father and he ran away the helper.

Pretty complex for kids, one would imagine, however, the children handled their roles well to the delight of the members of the audience who were treated to humour as well as a 'tups' of drama.

Other standouts in the programme were the school choir's rendition of the gospel song Order My Steps, which won them a National Gold in the JCDC Children's Gospel Festival. Bespectacled in their red and white gowns, they earned a standing ovation and encore. A ska Folk Medley by the boys which won them Gold in the festival and a duet by David Samuels and Mikelia Williams entitled Goodbye were also great treats.