Pitt student wins second place at Campus Superstar competition

Carnegie Mellon almost swept the Campus Superstar competition again last night.

Rachel… Carnegie Mellon almost swept the Campus Superstar competition again last night.

Rachel Labosky, a Pitt freshman and first runner-up captured the audience with her rendition of “Love You I Do” by Jennifer Hudson. One of the night’s four judges, Lynn Cullen, said, “You are who I pretend to be in the shower. I’m envious.” And Etta Cox, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s “Performer of the Year” in 1999, said, “You have a big voice. I kept thinking you were going to run out of steam, but you never did.”

Labosky was among 10 finalists in the Hillel Jewish University Center’s sponsored competition. Five CMU students, three Pitt students and two Point Park students competed in Carnegie Music Hall last night. Carnegie Mellon swept the podium last year.

Labosky, a communications major, had her mom, dad and two sisters cheering for her from the audience. Before the show she said, “I’m sure once I step into Carnegie Music Hall, I’ll be a bundle of nerves. I turn the nerves into energy to deliver the best performance I can.”

Carnegie Mellon’s Olivia Harris, a freshman musical theater major, won the $5,000 grand prize for her performance of Billie Holiday’s “Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be).” Harris had a soulful, Joss Stone style that included a short scat.

Maxine Lapiduss, a judge and writer for television, said of Harris’s sultry performance, “Wow. It was like the best Pamela’s pancake I’ve ever had … sweet and buttery!”

Second runner-up Lee Marks, also a CMU student, belted out Barbra Streisand’s “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” with her theater-style voice. Lapiduss said, “In the Hebrew religion, that song is top-five.”

The Campus Superstar competition is “meant for up-and-coming Pittsburgh talent. No other venue showcases university talent,” Marc Schutzbank, a spokesman for Hillel, said. Students paid $1 get in the show, and an anonymous donor will match the student admission to benefit the Squirrel Hill Pantry, a Pittsburgh community food bank.

General admission for children and adults ranged from $25 to $250.

Tyler Kirkland, also a Pitt freshman, drew the first performance slot at the beginning when all contestants picked randomly from a fish bowl. Kirkland shined with his performance of “Make Them Hear You” from the musical Ragtime.

Pitt’s other Campus Superstar performer was Laci Mosley. She commanded the stage with “How Come You Don’t Call Me” by Alicia Keys. Sporting black, ruffled stiletto heels, Mosley made the audience pay attention.

“You got down and dirty and made it hot,” Richard Rauh, a drama critic for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, said. Although Mosley did not place, she said, “I just want to entertain and do that well … if I manage that, as far as I am concerned, I won.”

Thomas Green, a sophomore music major from Point Park University, brought the crowd into his performance of “Proud Mary.”

Judge Lapiduss said, “Tina Turner is at home crying because she can’t hit those damn notes.”

The show, similar to “American Idol”, ended with a group performance of a Michael Jackson medley, which included worldwide favorites like “Billie Jean,” “Rockin’ Robin” and “Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough.”