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As the lights dimmed and the performers took the stage, West Salem High School’s Star Search 2008 gave the crowd a show to remember.

There was something for everyone with 14 different acts in all.

Sophomore Zac Barbieur rocked the house with his improvised bongo drumming on stage, which garnered him first place in the show. The drummer from the band Zetus Deamos, a former Star Search winning act, kept the crowd going with his rhythmic, almost tribal drum playing style.

“The Connections” — consisting of juniors Coey Oliver, Josh Walker, Robert Revels and Sophomores Greg Jago and Adrian Rice — brought back the nostalgia of the Beatles, performing “Revolution.”

“We’ve been playing in different variations of the band since before last year’s Star Search,” said Walker, the band’s guitarist. “But between putting together the band and practicing, we really started to heavily practice about two weeks before Star Search.”

Whitney Wiatt pulled on the heartstrings of the audience, looking for her second Star Search title. She had two performances, an original acoustic guitar piece called “She Broke Your Heart” and a duet with sophomore Brandon Kendhammer entitled “Not Enough.”

While the show went off without a hitch, it wouldn’t have happened at all if not for the behind-the-scene workers who made it all happen. Senior Ross Bradley, who worked the technical equipment during Star Search, added an improvisation to the list of scheduled acts.

“It was a spur-of-the-moment decision brought on by the simple fact that no one was on the schedule to play ‘Good Riddance,’” he said. “I didn’t plan to perform at all, but it had to be done.”

His cover of Green Day’s “Good Riddance” received a cliched but humorous response. Audience members with a cell phone in the Heider Center took out their phones and held them up in a “lighter-during-a-ballad” way.

The hosts, Sarah Beir, Rachel Perry and Maria Clements ran the show with humor and kept the raucous crowd into the show. Dancing and joking, the trio helped set the tone for one of the best Star Searches in recent memory.

“Everyone that performed this year was great and it’s awesome that they can get up in front of the whole school and do something they love,” said Clements. “But I would like to see something different every once in a while like Adam Miller and Craig Meyers break dancing.”

Wiatt did come away with a second place while a group of senior girls took third for a ’90s musical skit. Katie Reischl sang the classical song “Art is Calling for Me” and took fourth. Dorinda Hopkins, on the piano, took fifth place.