One part pep rally, one part musical revue, the 11th annual Westmoreland Night of the Stars packed all 1,300 seats of the Palace Theatre in Greensburg Wednesday night with an audience whose enthusiasm ranked right up there with your average Steelers Super Bowl crowd.

Started by Greensburg lawyer and actor John Noble in 1996, the Night of the Stars showcases Westmoreland County high school musicals and distributes noncompetitive awards and scholarship money to participating schools. Noble, who emcees and produces the show, said by the end of the night he had given out $14,000 and eight scholarships to students from 14 high schools to attend Stage Right School for the Performing Arts.

Each school presented excerpts from its spring musical in well-coordinated medleys that often included full costumes, props and student orchestras and hit so many of each show's highlights that it seemed like audiences got 14 musicals for the price of one. This is especially impressive in that Noble and his assistants managed to keep the Night of the Stars to a relatively brisk 3¹/₂ hours.

Highlights from a night full of them included the title song from Hempfield Area's "Mame," done Busby Berkeley-style with twirling umbrellas and riding crops, the typewriter tap number "Forget About the Boy" from Franklin Regional's "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and Belle Vernon's Alexis Ferrante as Ado Annie from "Oklahoma!"

Also notable was Night of the Stars first-timer Kiski Area's "Guys and Dolls," with an inspired "Luck Be a Lady Tonight," and Erika Pealstrom with the title song from Norwin Area's "Kiss Me Kate." Greensburg Salem's "Fiddler on the Roof" presented an impressive take on the bottle dance, and Jamiel Riley's Will kicked up the dust in Jeannette's "Oklahoma!" Derry Area's "Thoroughly Modern Millie" scored with its Chinese version of "Mammy," and Penn Trafford's "Godspell" rang to the rafters.

Noble pointed out the unusually large number of talented young men performing at the event, which featured several shows that rely heavily on male leads. "We always have lots of talented girls, but guys -- let's hope this trend continues."

Before graduating seniors were honored and all the performers sang the traditional finale "Do You Hear the People Sing?" from "Les Miserables," Noble reiterated his message of the night: Support high school arts, and fight cuts in school arts programs.