- Hey, I'm Valerie June.

Coming up on "Reel South."

- [Valerie] This small town in Mississippi has a surprising claim to fame.

♪ A A Attaché Attaché - [Valerie] The Clinton High School show choir has won national championships year after year.

- Being from a small town, I don't think I would've known that performing could be a career.

- [Valerie] Their demanding director believes in them.

- New people, you're not understanding what it's gonna take.

We will do it all night long if that's what it takes.

- [Valerie] But can they win big one more time?

- It really gives you the courage to do anything in life.

- All of these people coming from different backgrounds and working for that same purpose.

It's so powerful.

- [Valerie] Let the music play with Attaché.

Up next on Reel South .

- [Announcer] Majo music] ["Man Done Wrong" by Valerie June] ♪ [sizzle sound] - Clinton is a small town in Mississippi right outside Jackson.

It's a really great place to grow up.

Some of the things you can do in Clinton are go to church, hunt, fish, and show choir.

[cheering] [upbeat music] - It's hard to explain what Attaché is because when I tell everyone I came from the show choir world, they immediately think "Glee."

And that is nothing what I experienced.

What I went through was very special because, you know, we were one of the number one show choirs in the world.

♪ Ahhhh - [David] We've been to 79 competitions since I've been here with Attaché and we have been named Grand Champion in 70 of them.

- We're expected to be the best and to look the best.

- In any given week, we're putting 20 hours a week.

I mean, it's serious stuff.

- Excellence is the only option.

- [All] Wherever it leads - [David] I'm gonna enjoy the ride.

- [All] I'm gonna enjoy the ride.

- Every year, we, you know, do some competitions in the south but we pick one venue somewhere in the nation for the big competition of the year.

This year, it's at Los Alamitos High School in California.

Our sort of rival, I guess you could say, for the last decade has been this school named John Burroughs, who's from Burbank, California and of course, they'll be there as will Twinsburg, Ohio, and then Mount Zion, Illinois.

We will get on buses because they don't fly Southwest into Jackson anymore.

That hurts so there's not a plane big enough to get us on so we have to bus to New Orleans over three hours away and then we will fly to Los Angeles.

- [Boy] Don't forget your ID.

- It will be many of the kids' first time on an airplane.

It's just so fun to see how much their world opens up to the vision of what's out there.

- It's kinda like our Super Bowl of the season, so to say.

- It's kinda everything all four years that I feel like I've worked for.

- I'm just kinda nervous.

It's my first year and it's a lot on the line.

- If I lose, as a senior that would be pretty awful.

I just don't wanna think that way.

- See, no we don't go around thinking we're anything great, we just know what everybody else does and then we work on all the little details so that we can show that whatever they can do good, we can do that too.

Plus we can do this, this, this, and this.

That's why we don't fluctuate in the rankings much because we try to cover every last little detail.

- I was at the time, teaching in Special Education next door to the Choral department and my principal had called me in and asked me if I would like the Choral Music program.

The program was just almost defunct.

I mean, it was just dying.

I was a graduate from Indiana from the north, so some of the friends that I had that I graduated with, they had already started a show choir.

And they were having really good fortune with that.

It seemed like the thing for me to do if I wanted to build a choral program.

- It was very unusual for a small, conservative town in Mississippi to have something like this.

- They did not think I was crazy.

I had the student body president who was Steve Stanford.

He was extremely popular and if he was going to do it then a lot of other guys followed suit.

Because he was cool.

[laughs] - Winona Garner found several of us that we were hanging out in the football locker room and said, "Hey, would y'all be interested in being in a show choir?"

We didn't know what a show choir was.

And so, sure.

She took us down the hall and then we sang for her and she said, "Okay, you're gonna be a part of this group."

I remember being in a classroom with Winona, discussing naming this group and it was obvious that we were taking this opportunity for input where she didn't wanna take it.

And because she said, "Well, what do you y'all think about Attaché?"

And we're saying, "Attaché?"

Obviously we kept having other ideas.

And then finally, she got frustrated with us and said, "We're gonna be called Attaché.

"Y'all sit down."

- The first two years, if you wanted to be in Attaché, you were more than welcome to be in.

The third year, we began to have auditions.

You hate to hurt peoples' feelings.

It's just the way it is.

Those people whose children did not make it, my phone would ring off the wall when I would come home on Friday and through Saturday and the weekend and then I would have several conferences the next week.

- I was one of three people my sophomore year that actually made it into the Attaché Show Choir.

I was sort of seen as Mr. Attaché.

[laughs] - My idols in Attaché were Kendall Sparks and Mary Crawford.

Kendall was just already Broadway.

♪ When he sang ring them bells I mean, you just wanted to get up and sing with him.

We all wanted to be at his level.

[indistinguishable singing] [audience cheering] ♪ - The year that I first started, it was like our goal in life.

We were gonna walk away with that championship and we practiced, and practiced, and practiced, and practiced and when we finally did win the competition, I mean, people were crying, and wailing, and weeping because we had worked so hard and I can still bring up that memory of what it felt like to win that competition and feel like I was an integral part of the first group from Clinton to win a major show choir competition and then it went on from there.

My younger sister, who was seven years apart from me, when she was in the show choir, every time out of the gate if you guys went to a competition, they came back with gold medals and I can't think of a time when that didn't happen.

- Just over an hour ago, the Clinton High School Attaché Show Choir rolled back into town.

- Tonight in Clinton, the high school students say they are number one in the country and they have the rewards to prove it.

- I don't know, it's just the greatest feeling.

- They have tried very, very hard to learn everything that I, as a teacher, have wanted to teach them and that's just not always the case in education.

♪ Won't you give us the night [jazzy music] - You know, we thought we were cool.

We had a smoke machine, we did "No Parking On The Dance Floor" in our sequin gowns with our jazz hands.

I think the most advanced lighting we had was a black light.

[band music] ♪ [audience cheering] - In Clinton, it's a family affair.

The brother was in it and then the younger brother and then the little sister and then they move on and become married and they have kids and those kids are in it and it just perpetuates.

- Parents that have been in Attaché, especially the women, just expect that their kids are going to begin to sing and dance at a certain age and then you're just gonna get ready for Attaché because that's what we know.

[mellow piano music] - The biggest challenge was money.

It wasn't until, I would probably say late eighties, that a budget was even given to Attaché.

We still continued to fundraise with pecans, with car washes.

Of course, the students had to pay for their own outfits and we did have a few benefactors that helped to pay for some of the students who could not afford to be in there.

- Someone sponsored me.

I don't know who it was but someone sponsored me, took care of me, accepted me for, you know, who I was and there was no looking at, you know, the color of my skin or anything like that.

I was treated as a person when I was a member of Attaché.

- A third of the students were at least in National Honor Society.

We had cheerleaders, band members, student council officers, and then we had some people that would never have been involved or even known some of those students that they would have even given them the time of day.

So it became like a family.

I'm not going to say that there weren't ever problems but they worked as a team and that's how I taught was this was a team, just like a football team.

- I never played sports, was picked on quite a bit but I found my sort of salvation in the fact that I could excel in this group and that people noticed me and noticed that I was talented and it sort of saved me and helped me get through those difficult high school, junior high years.

Attaché seemed to bring all of those elements, whether they be athletics, or academics, kids from the band, kids that would have been perhaps thought of as outcasts, they all came together to become one unit and we all became very good friends and worked toward a common goal.

And I think that's probably one of the life lessons I take all the way through my life because of the show choir.

- It didn't matter if you were on the football team, you know, whatever you wanted to do, you were all accepted and looked up to actually.

And the community was so supportive.

That was what was so wonderful as well.

So I think any kid that really had music in their hearts and wanted to perform it, you know, they could do that and feel confident that they were gonna have the support of the community and all their friends.

They weren't gonna be made fun of or anything like that.

And that's not true for every community.

- I think most communities it's not true for.

- It's really not and to me, I think that's just so wonderful.

- It was the number one thing to do in our town.

It was either play football or be in Attaché.

So it was the cool thing to do.

So thank God it was the cool thing to do 'cause what if it was one of those, you know, choirs that no one wanted to join, I would have never gotten into music.

So thank goodness I ended up in Clinton to be able to, you know, to appreciate this, enjoy this, and find the love of my life.

- The Clinton High School Attaché Choir will be competing in the Show Stoppers Invitational at Walt Disney World.

- They're really up against what, in the show choir circuit, you might say the big boys.

I would say that it's very much like the Final Four in the NCAA Tournament.

I can remember asking David Fehr when we were in Orlando would he be interested in coming to Clinton and taking over the program.

And he said, "I might be.

"We'll talk about that later."

- You know, the school that I taught at was in Sullivan, Illinois.

And the high school was just Sullivan High School and we started the Sullivan Singers, which then competed in, won two national championships with a student enrollment of 325 students.

- Second place... [drum roll] goes to Sullivan Singers in Sullivan High School.

[audience cheering] And the grand champion.

Attaché Show Choir, Clinton High School, Winona Costello!

- My last year at Sullivan, Attaché got grand champion in Florida and Sullivan got second and that's then when she decided that was it.

She retired and then said, "Come get me."

♪ Take a look ♪ ♪ Forget your troubles forget your blues ♪ - I've been the director for 24 years.

I flew down the first time and listened to 'em and went back home and then made them fly both my wife and I down the second time 'cause we're a team.

People were great, just like the people where I was from, you know, just normal, good old people that like the sir and ma'am that have a respect and want better for their kids than they had for themselves growing up.

♪ a free bird [rock music] [audience cheering] ♪ There are 76 students this year.

45 are singers/dancers, 17 are pit, and 14 are crew.

[band music] [cheering] Yeah, yeah.

Feel the power of wait and just, if you think wait, wait, wait, wait, it just makes it that much more building and exciting at the end, yep.

And pose!

Teaching music, teaching dance, teaching performing is very important and we have kids of all different types from all different backgrounds, race, religion, you name it in this group and in the end, that's not important.

It's not important to be judgmental about people but it's important to be judgmental about how you do something well.

Because that's the important thing.

Because if we can get people of all types to agree on how to do something well, the world's a simple place.

♪ Tonight we own the night - The biggest takeaway for me for Attaché is definitely David Fehr.

I mean, what he instilled in me at a young age was incredible and I didn't know what I was learning at that time either.

But the dedication and the discipline that I learned from Mr. Fehr and Attaché lives with me today.

Working in this business in this crazy entertainment industry, I now understand what he was doing to us.

He was making it hard for us.

He really was.

He was making it hard to say, "Look, this is what you're gonna have to deal with "in the real world."

- Two, three, four.

- When I got in here, I didn't know I could sing really.

Then I got in here and he pulled that out of me somehow.

You know, he taught me notes, and key signatures, and, you know, head voice, and chest voice, just things that I never understood and wouldn't have understood without him.

- He has really forced me through a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to go beyond myself.

He's taught me that even I don't know what I'm capable of.

- Come on, people!

[yelling] - Definitely the greatest teacher that I've ever had.

He knows how to get on you when you're doing something wrong and how to encourage you when you're doing something right at the right time.

- I've always loved to dance but being in Attaché has showed me you can actually do this as a career.

You know, people, alumni have come in and talked to us about what they're doing now, about they're performing on Broadway, or on cruise ships, or they're dancing with dance companies and it just opened my eyes to all these doors that I could take that I didn't know really existed.

- Attaché, as far as performing goes, has been very lucky.

We've had pop stars, country singers, opera singers, professional dancers, choreographers, we have other music teachers, band directors.

- It humbles me to see so many students involved in music.

We had a drummer, Keith Carlock.

He's the number two drummer internationally.

For a little town like Clinton, I think that's a pretty big deal.

And we always featured him.

In fact, we built an entire stand for him where the stage crew would bring that out with him sitting on it and then he would have his own little drum show.

[audience cheering] And that was probably the highlight of the spring and fall review was Keith Carlock playing the drums.

- We also have doctors, lawyers, dentists, so many professionals.

The point of this program is not to produce professional performers, the point of this program is to teach everyone that they're all professional performers in whatever field they choose to go into.

People from other places think we're a private arts school, they think that we're just some little rich haven.

If they only knew.

Now, do you understand, new people?

Now do you understand what the whole rest of the year's been for?

Would you have ever got to this point if we did it any other way?

Would you have?

You can do it.

You've earned it.

You don't deserve it.

You don't deserve anything in life.

That's all silliness.

You don't deserve anything, you have to earn what you get in life.

You're not owed anything.

You owe it to yourselves, you owe it to your families, you owe it to your communities, you owe it to them to earn stuff.

That's what's made this place and will continue making it great so thank you.

Tonight, what time?

- [Students] Six.

- Six.

- Before he even makes the show, all we learn is fundamentals.

Singing vocal fundamentals, dancing fundamentals, how to spin on your pole, posture, all that kinda stuff.

But then once he finally has a show together, he gives us the music and then we still focus on the fundamentals on that music.

[singing vocal exercises] - [David] Rhythmic there, right?

That cannot be... ...[pbbblb] muddy.

- He didn't just pick notes on a piano.

We actually know how to read the music and pick the notes out ourselves.

And then choreographers come in, then we learn all kinds of dancing to the music, and then we finally are able to mix it together.

[piano playing] - Let's wait til right on the beat, huh?

- This year's competition set, it's a simple story with a girl and a guy.

And they come together and they meet at this huge carnival.

They fall in love and they're having so much fun together.

But then I get distracted with all these rides, right?

I mean, there's all these ladies and everything's just going on and then I cheat on the first girl I was with, Casey, and then she gets mad at me.

In the show, I'm kinda like full of myself.

That's what "Mirror Man" is about.

'Cause it's saying like no one could love you better than a mirror can.

There's love but then there's a break-up.

And then in the end of the show, I'm there pleading with her to take me back, I'm pleading because I now realized I was an idiot.

It kinda does parallel high school drama.

[piano playing] - Opening of the show today was okay.

And then the first... [playing piano] girls, totally blew it again.

[playing piano] Just 'cause the third note is the highest does not make it the loudest.

And you changed tone quality again.

And once again, it only takes one but there was more than one today.

[singing with piano] ♪ Yaaa Ahh Ahh Aaaahh That third note is the softest one of the four, yes?

And we had people did it totally wrong again.

Why?

And we can't do that.

Then your intensity on ♪ A thousand miles There wasn't that one.

It's gotta be the most intense one that's ever existed on the face of the planet.

Then two smooths out a little bit and then three, we start now opening up the resonators and show them and then four, we're singing.

Did that happen?

- [Students] No.

- Well then be ready to congratulate other people.

There's no margin for error.

- So hopefully, all the preparation and hard work we've done, hopefully all of this work won't be in vain and we'll be able to pull it together.

♪ I'm gonna enjoy the ride ♪ Ahhh oh yeah - I don't believe ya.

♪ Oh yeah I don't believe that.

You don't mean that.

You are not meaning it!

You don't seem to have a clue.

Some of you new people understand, you don't have a clue how hard this is gonna be.

What's it mean at this point of the year?

Everything.

It's gonna take everything you possibly have because they have what?

- [Students] More.

- They have more.

They have more of everything.

They have more!

Do it again.

Come on, don't be so stiff.

Move!

[piano playing] - If somebody doesn't pull their weight around here in Attaché, well they get called out for it.

I mean, that's just what it is.

I mean, we might get mad but if you're not pulling your weight, what else are we supposed to do?

- He'll first tell you this stuff at the beginning of the year and you'll be like, "Okay, well maybe he's exaggerating a bit."

- Bring it home!

Let's go!

Sing!

- And then we'll actually see it.

He tells us that we have to sometimes like, spit when we sing.

And I was kinda like when I was in ninth grade, I was like, "Does he actually mean that?

"Is he just trying to get the point across like "that we annunciate?"

- [David] Spit!

Spit!

- But no, I actually saw a Broadway show and the actor, the famous like lead role was like, spitting when he was singing and I was like, "Okay, wow, he was serious.

"Like, he was for real, like this is the real deals of what "a professional does."

- You gotta sing here, breathe!

♪ Please let me be And make connection there with each other.

- I came in here and I was probably the worst dancer in the history of Attaché.

I was athletic but I could not move in rhythm.

To this day, I still find myself getting a little bit ahead of the beat.

That's always been a struggle for me.

- Three years ago, when I got in, like if somebody had told me I was-- would be having-- doing dance solos and be dancing like I am today, I would've said, "Hecks no, I don't dance like that."

But by watching other people before me and by learning from the other people before me, I've been able to bring my skills to the next level.

- Heck, you want it one more time?

Beginning, one more time.

Come on.

[carnival music piano intro] ♪ ♪ The midway and the fun, the kewpie dolls we won ♪ ♪ The bell I rang to prove that I was strong ♪ - They've already seen Burroughs, yes?

They have already seen Burroughs they have to love you here.

At this moment, they have got to love you.

Let them.

You got five days, down to almost four days.

Come on.

Now straight.

One, two, three.

♪ Ba da dum ya ♪ Ain't nothing but this carnival ♪ ♪ of rust This is your chance, absolutely.

Put 'em away.

♪ Do do do Five, six.

♪ Do do do do do do do ♪ Do do do do do do [cheering] ♪ Every bit more of energy you got, give it, give it!

Taylor, you're not giving energy!

You're not giving it!

No!

New people, you're not understanding what it's gonna take.

We will take it all night long if that's what it takes.

Two, three, four.

[band upbeat music] [cheering] ♪ ♪ Now turn it on again!

Turn it on, turn it on, turn it on.

And work it, and work it, and work it, and work it.

All right, back out.

[David clears throat] Tomorrow, we're gonna hit it one time.

I can't motivate you.

You gotta do it on your own and then that's it.

That's basically it.

Seniors, you're down to one.

One basically 25 minute rehearsal tomorrow.

Everybody else, you owe it to the seniors.

Every year, they have given three, four years.

Some one but they've given everything.

Thank you, new seniors.

Appreciate that.

[applause] - We put about five hours in.

This is about the usual, sometimes nights are longer but it's really worth it especially for what we're trying to do for our last competition.

- This is pretty much the last working rehearsal.

Tomorrow, we'll just run it at the start of class and then we have to pack all this stuff up.

You know, put it in the cases, wrap it, do all that to get ready to go in the semi which we do tomorrow night at six o'clock.

- Today, we're running the show for the last time before we go to California so it's a really big deal.

♪ Ahh ♪ Ahh - Okay, let's go.

[band playing music] - We're going good.

[band playing music] - Hey, one more time before we pack up, yes?

One more time.

I want it closer to a prelim than we did last night, okay?

- Waiting on you over there.

Get focused, everybody.

You get one shot at this.

Who's making noise?

[carnival music intro] ♪ Ooh ♪ Yeah yeah yeah - It's made me a better man.

I learned responsibility and how to give my time like, everything in my schedule and how to just be a leader.

♪ May we sing and dance 'til we lose our minds ♪ ♪ We are only young if we seize the night ♪ ♪ Tonight we own the night ♪ Tonight we own the night - We just did our last run through and it really wasn't for me, it's for the kids.

'Cause it's their show now.

- Last practice went well.

I'm still nervous, honestly just because this is so important but I think that we're ready.

You can feel like the underdog 'cause everybody else has more.

More money, more people, more resources, anything like that but the biggest thing we have that they do not have is Mr. Fehr, Miss Fehr, Mr. Allen-- - It's like if you have not put all this work into all this or all this like, screaming and yelling at you, all this, like it is all for this.

You can't hold back at all, y'all.

They are so crazy.

Have y'all seen their show?

Like, they are like freaky.

For real, like-- - They're kinda scary.

- Yeah, so like-- - They're not holding anything back, they're trying to like freak you out.

- Like, they're trying to scare you.

- Don't be scared.

- Do not be scared.

Do not be scared of them.

[chatter] - Be ready to go.

- Right now we are loading the trucks.

The trucks are headed to California.

- Your actual instrument, pass that up.

Got anymore guitar cases?

- 18 plastic racks, six z racks, which are what the boys use.

All of the shoes, all of the set pieces, part of our risers switch, the boys carry on during the setup time and so those are on the truck.

Everything that we need to make this performance work is on the truck.

- Double check, triple check, quadruple check and make sure we have everything 'cause without it, one little thing missing can make the whole show go wrong.

- Make sure it's tied down.

Who's up there with Amber?

- I actually tried out as a singer/dancer but I didn't make it but I'm a big believer in the being a part of something makes you special so I was like, "Well, if I can't be a singer/dancer, I'll be in crew."

- Stack this three high right here.

I have a son that was in Attaché, graduated in 2004, got his degree in Dance Performance and he is also a choreographer for Attaché so it's gonna be a part of my life since he started in 2002.

Get those cardboard boxes with the shoes and all that.

- We all work together, like we have pit people helping us out sometimes.

And even with the quick changes like, the singer/dancers help us as much as we help them.

It's all teamwork.

- Get out here and untangle these bungees and have 'em ready.

I don't want anybody screaming for a bungee or a ratchet.

- There are times where people step back and they're like, "Hey, we need to thank the crew," and that's the moments where we're like, "This is our time."

- I run a pretty tight ship.

I like to see everyone working.

No hands in your pocket, no one standing around, or playing.

You playing hide and go seek again, little fellow?

My friends, they always say they don't call me Captain for nothing.

I will not be able to rest, probably not even sleep, until I see this truck on Friday.

- We flew in this morning and went straight here from the airport.

I don't even know what time it is, honestly.

The pressure's been on but yeah, it's definitely a lot more real now that we're here.

- Go to the sides you change on.

Assimilate it.

- [Boy] There's not a lot of room.

- Everybody got it, where you're changing.

Let's just move these to the back for right now just so they're out of the way.

It seems a little tight up here, doesn't it?

You got about eight feet in the wings on each side and that's it.

And then there's a couple little hallways that go out so the girls are having to go down those hallways to change.

You're used to, oh, 16 to 30 feet and we have eight.

so why don't we push 'em back.

Stop.

We drew it out the best we could at home on our stage and assimilated it but it's not the same as at least they got to walk on the space and actually see it so hopefully that'll help 'cause there's no prelim and final here, it's just one shot.

Going on, get ready for the closer.

You're standing where the car is.

You can't be where the car is, Robby.

Don't let him get where the car is.

You understand what we're doing, people, yet?

- [Boy] Yep.

- Come on, think!

14 and 15 year-olds, they don't quite understand how important these details are because you only get one chance.

Ready, five, six, seven.

You've got really about 10, 11 minutes to get it on then do the show and that leaves you about maybe five minutes to get off.

It's a huge job and that's why we get here a day early and go through all this preparation.

End of the number and... [piano playing] ♪ May our hearts be full like our dreams tonight ♪ ♪ May we sing and dance 'til we lose our minds ♪ ♪ We are only young if we seize the night ♪ ♪ Tonight we own the night ♪ Tonight we own the night You guys all good?

- [Students] Yeah.

- [David] Thank you, everybody.

- [Students] Thank you.

- It felt good in there.

I mean, there's always room for improvement.

It was good but I try not to be satisfied with what I do so I keep improving.

- I'm so glad and relieved that the tournament's here.

It took about a few days to get here.

- What happens from here is we will move these costumes to a homeroom once they get us one and they're putting the pit together.

- Clothes rack broke.

But we're trying to put it back together.

I have a junior that's working with the crew.

I have two ninth graders that are singer/dancers.

It teaches 'em a whole lot more than what school teaches 'em.

Working together, being a part of a big program.

There's nothing I wouldn't do to help this program succeed.

- It's a huge job but as you can see, our kids do most of the work.

We've got some good dads that help supervise and do stuff but the kids, the kids do everything.

Look at these things.

We don't have trucks like this in Mississippi.

Is that awesome or what?

One will be the pit and one will be all the big stuff.

How great is this?

Does he need to come this way?

He's got a foot.

Just a little this way.

Now turn the other way, the other way.

No, no, no, no.

Pull the cars out of the cases.

- Listen to me!

I want the bumper cars to the front and cases in the back.

Take that out of the way, hello?

You wanna eat you better hurry.

- I feel like we've been up for about 14 hours and then we come back and lose two more hours.

So that's, I guess, 16 straight hours we've been up.

Actually, I'm looking forward to going to bed tonight.

- The more we can get done tonight, the more they can just sleep in tomorrow, relax, and not worry for 12 hours.

- We are all the way in California.

- [Boy] I'm about ready to get on back, get to bed.

- At this point, the kids deserve to kick back and just relax for a little while.

Tomorrow, it'll be game on.

You know, it's not as much competing against another group.

At this point, it's almost competing with this persona of Attaché.

And they feel pressure because of what Attaché's become.

Every year, we collectively in Clinton, we say, "There's no way you can be better," and each year, you know, the talent changes, and he's able to grab these kids and just do so much with 'em, and it's just... Again, to see your own up there, it's just, you know, it's neat.

And it's something you get emotional about.

[laughs] Sorry.

- Now we get to go relax.

Thank goodness that the day is over but everything is accomplished.

Getting on the stage, walking through the space, taking care of the costumes, the sets, putting the pit together so we don't do much tomorrow.

Like I said, they know what to do.

Tomorrow's the fun day.

Ready?

- We're ready.

- We're ready.

[mellow piano music] [chatter] - We had a good night's sleep last night.

We were all exhausted from the trip yesterday.

- I ate about 40 pieces of bacon and an omelet.

- After the long day we had, it was not that bad trying to fall asleep.

- I'm charged up, ready to go.

- I'm thinking about everything.

Just every song, every costume change, every moment.

- I'm ready to get my hair done and feel ready at least.

- Okay, when we get there, first thing we do is we put the risers together.

Anybody got any questions?

Have you got it all figured out?

♪ Ah ah ♪ Oh yeah Two, three.

♪ We're a thousand miles from comfort ♪ ♪ We have traveled land and sea ♪ ♪ But as long as you are with me ♪ ♪ There's no place I'd rather be ♪ - Everybody ready, everybody good?

- [Students] Yeah.

- Let's go.

- The guys are about to go back to sleep after working so hard yesterday.

The girls are gonna go get their poof done.

A poof is the front of their hair is about two inches tall and it's pretty much what you can see from really far away on stage.

The guys have no clue how the girls get their poof.

They have like, little meetings and stuff to get it done.

I definitely wish I could be a fly on the wall in those meetings.

I bet it'd be funny.

- Mom, make sure not to mess up my poof.

'Cause I worked on it for a while.

- This is our fourth year doing this.

I think I've got it.

Ask her if she needs my help.

- Hey.

My mom just wanted me to check and make sure you were good on your hair.

So what room are you in?

They're rolling it right now, Mom, but she said that if you could help that'd be good.

- Tell her I'll be there in a minute.

- Who's helping Robby push his box?

- One, two, go team.

- We're going to 708 so I can help another little girl, her mama's not here and she needs me to roll her hair 'cause not everybody's mama gets to come.

And I've been in that spot.

Now Casey's been plenty of times when I haven't been there and I had to get another mother to roll her hair so we try to help each other.

Is everybody dressed?

- [Girls] Yes.

- Are y'all excited?

- I'm really excited.

I'm ready to go in and kill.

- I like the older girls and like guys too, but I feel like they like, prepared us really well for this.

The only thing that like, I feel nervous for is like, just making costume changes but other than that, like I just feel totally prepared.

And we're just getting ready.

'Cause they really don't have anything to do but just iron a shirt and pants.

- You iron your shirt?

- It's 11 o'clock and you're still asleep.

What is this?

It's time to get up.

It's important to dress up on competition day because we've been taught to believe that when you look good, you feel good and when you feel good about yourself, that tends to translate to the stage.

So that way, our overall performance level will increase.

- What do you wanna do, Morgan?

You wanna leave it and then separate it later?

- What about that piece right there?

- Yeah, this one's gonna have to have a curl.

Okay.

Bye, you're welcome.

[laughter] The higher the hair, closer to God.

- The higher the hair, what?

- Closer to God.

- Today is bittersweet because it's weird to think about not being a part of it anymore.

Yeah, just the next... Life I guess without Attaché.

- This is her last competition so she's been doing this since ninth grade.

So excited, sad, you know, nervous.

Everything has to come to an end at some point.

We have to do side kisses.

Or we'll mess up our makeup.

All right, you ready, girl?

- We won't ever compete together on a stage again.

- Emotional.

[laughter] - I'm feeling the tears.

- [Mom] You need a tissue?

[somber music] - These girls love each other.

They've had each others' backs, you know, through everything, not just Attaché stuff.

Just life, school, they love each other and I think it's a friendship they'll have for the rest of their life.

It's just genuine love.

- It creates like, a bond that's like incredible.

Like, we're like family, we're not friends.

Like, we spend more time with each other than we do with our actual family.

When we got in this, we were like 13 years old and we're like, 18 now and about to graduate high school and it's just like surreal that that time went by so fast.

[mellow music] - How you doing?

We got all the shoes, everything we need?

All right, ladies, thank you, go.

There's not near as much time as you think.

Check 'em, double check 'em, triple check 'em.

- So right now we're just setting up clothes 'cause we don't know if we have enough time to set up after we set up risers.

And so we're just trying to get as much-- use as much time as we can now so we don't have to stress later.

- The pressure is really on for my first competition.

This is something that we've been working for since I've got added to the roster.

I'm feeling anxious, I'm not really nervous because I've been taught everything I need to know and I'm ready to go.

- Can we just go that way a little more?

We're like caught in the middle of the road here.

- It's intimidating to see the other groups around 'cause then it gets a little more real, you know, that you're actually competing against these other really good groups and the pressure is definitely on.

- This is our first Los Alamitos competition.

But we're definitely gonna do our best to make our seniors proud.

The nerves are for sure getting worse the closer we get to competing.

- This is like pre-game now.

We're about to go to warm-up.

This is gonna be just as nerve-wracking as the championship football game.

My nerves right now, they're pretty mellow.

I've been trying to breathe and focus but about two minutes before we're on stage, I'm gonna be like a wired goose.

- Your collar's kinda messed up.

- Thank you.

- Details, details.

- Honestly, I'm feeling a tad bit sentimental.

I mean, I was only in here three years and it was probably the best three years of my life.

It's flown by and like, seeing these guys especially them kicking a basketball, even though that's not what you're supposed to do with a basketball, I'm gonna miss it honestly.

I'm an only child and these are the closest things to brothers that I've ever had.

- Tonight's gonna be probably one of my happiest but saddest nights of the past four years.

This is pretty much what I worked for and how I became me today.

I made my best friends in this.

The traveling, I never went out of Mississippi before Attaché and I've been all across the world.

If we win, I'm gonna be relieved, and stand up, and hug the people beside me, handshakes.

If we lose, I'm gonna stand up and cheer for the winners that they worked just as hard.

- Biggest competition, John Burroughs is on stage performing now.

And Mr. Fehr is actually watching them so he can come and tell us what we need to work on in order to be able to secure a victory tonight.

- [Girl] Does everyone have earrings in?

- [Girls] Yes.

- I just didn't wanna like, go out there without y'all knowing that we were like, proud of y'all.

- We are proud of y'all and we love y'all.

- And how far y'all have come.

[vocal warmups] - Okay, Burroughs was really good but sorta really safe so make sure you sing, make sure you sing really well, and you know, don't shout, blend balance, but don't be scared to put it straight out there right away.

Just like we've been doing, yes?

- [Students] Yes.

- Sing like you talk, talk like you sing.

Say it.

- [Students] Sing like you talk, talk like you sing.

- Tell the story with passion.

Come on, ladies.

♪ When you go down when you go down down ♪ [piano outro] Are you scared, Morgan?

You scared to lose, Morgan?

Don't be scared to lose.

We're gonna take 'em to the carnival.

We're gonna take 'em to a fun house.

And guess what.

It's not even gonna cost you any money tonight.

♪ Yeah yeah ♪ If you gave me a chance I would take it ♪ ♪ It's a shot in the dark but I'll make it ♪ - You don't love that as much as I do.

[excited] "If you gave me a chance, I'll take it!!"

Then what is it?

- [Students] "It's a shot in the dark."

- [excited] "It's a shot in the dark" "but I'll make it!!

"I'll make it!!"

Boom!!

- [Students] Boom!!

- "Shot in the dark but I'll make it!"

There's a story with that.

There's a story with that.

Took 'em in the gym, half court, done this through the years.

P.E.

kids sitting there, it's like, "Can we use the gym for just a minute?"

They're like, "Pfft, we're playing basketball, we're playing basketball."

Thank you.

And then what?

Get the ball.

- [Boy] Get the ball.

- Get the ball and the guy's going, finally everybody's looking at him, he's like, gives me the ball, I get the ball, what'd I do?

About two and then what did I know at this point?

What did I know about anything else in the world?

- [Students] Nothing.

- Nothing.

Nothing.

Psh.

And where'd it go.

Psh!

- [All] Boom!

- And what did the whole gym all do?

[screams] It's a shot in the dark but I'll take it.

Then what is it?

Knowing with all of your?

- [Students] Heart.

- Heart!

Give 'em all of your heart.

You can't shame me.

When I'm with you, there's no place I'd rather be.

And that is exactly how I feel with you right here right now.

And I know you feel it-- shh!

Don't even go there.

I know you feel the same way but, but, you have to make that crowd understand that's why we're here.

That's why we're here tonight.

Are we ready?

- [Students] We're ready.

- Shake it off.

You know how to do it.

♪ Ahh ♪ And girls on the street ♪ And girls, they're like, "shh" ♪ ♪ And girls dance around the block ♪ ♪ And girls sing it real high ♪ A A A A Attaché Attaché ♪ Oh Attaché Attaché uh-huh - [Boys] Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Hoo ha, hoo ha!

Throw your hands up!

Throw your hands up!

Throw your hands up!

Throw your hands up!

- Showtime, let's go.

- Here, here, so I can hear it.

And we gotta get the big stuff!

Costumes coming through.

Fortune teller's gotta go right up against the car.

Double check everything.

Hurry up, get that done.

Keep playing.

[band warmup] We are good.

All right, thank you.

Have a good show everybody!

- [Female Announcer] All the way from Clinton, Mississippi.

[audience cheering] Directed by Dave and Mary Fehr.

- [Male Announcer] The crew directed by Debra Morgan and the pit directed by Robert Allen.

- [Female Announcer] Choreographed by April James, Steven Todd, Dexter Bishop, and Kellis Oldenberg.

- Ladies and gentlemen... - [All] Clinton Attaché!

[audience cheering] [carnival music] ♪ The midway and the fun ♪ The kewpie dolls we won ♪ The bell I rang to prove that I was strong ♪ ♪ The things we did last summer ♪ ♪ I'll remember all night long ♪ When I am with you there's no place I'd rather be ♪ ♪ If you gave me a chance I would take it ♪ ♪ It's a shot in the dark but I'll make it ♪ ♪ Know with all of your heart you can't shame me ♪ ♪ When I am with you there's no place I would rather be ♪ ♪ 'Cause I'm thirsty for your love ♪ ♪ Dancing underneath the skies of lust ♪ ♪ 'Cause without my love ♪ aint' nothing but this carnival of rust.

♪ ♪ Oh ♪ May your hearts be full like our dreams tonight ♪ ♪ May we sing and dance til we lose our minds ♪ ♪ We are only young if we seize the night ♪ ♪ Tonight we own the night ♪ But you're no real good for me ♪ [cheering] [band music] ♪ [audience cheering] ♪ You know who I am ♪ You know I can't let you ♪ Just slide through my hands ♪ Enjoy the ride Wooo!

[cheering] [upbeat band music] ♪ ♪ Enjoy the ride [upbeat band music] ♪ ♪ Rollercoaster ♪ Of love ♪ Rollercoaster ♪ Oooh ooh ooh [cheering] [upbeat band music] ♪ ♪ You spin my head right round right round ♪ ♪ When you go down when you go down down ♪ ♪ You spin my head right round right round ♪ ♪ When you go down when you go down down ♪ ♪ [audience cheering] ♪ I think I'm falling for you ♪ Someone should tell you the truth ♪ ♪ You see perfection ♪ In your reflection ♪ Trouble's coming for you ♪ Fun house Woo!

♪ But now it's full of evil clowns ♪ Woo!

♪ It's time to start the countdown ♪ Woo!

♪ I'm gonna burn it down down down ♪ ♪ I'm gonna burn it down [cheering] [upbeat band music] ♪ [audience cheering] [upbeat band music] ♪ ♪ [audience cheering] - When you can, start going.

- We just come off the stage and you know, we had a couple mistakes but overall, we all put out our best out there.

We all gave it 100% and I think we'll see if we did well.

And depending on the results when it gets there.

- And everyone had little mess ups, me included, but we tried our best and whatever happens, happens.

I'm nervous, I guess.

It's my first really big competition but I just don't know what to expect but I'm hopeful, I guess I should say.

I just don't wanna let these guys down.

- No, I know whatever he did, he didn't show his mistakes, I know that.

And that's all that matters.

- We spun around a lot, we danced hard, and we sang good.

I think it was a pretty good show.

- I thought the performance was great.

I'm in the back corner, I can't see a thing, so I'm the last person to ask but the pit was tight and I could feel the singer/dancers, we were with 'em all the way.

I couldn't be any prouder of this bunch of kids.

They gave everything they have.

Now it's just wait and see.

Just stand here and help us get everything off this dock so they can get on.

- [Announcer] Best Performer Awards for all of our performers.

From Clinton Attaché, Casey Collier.

[cheering] [clock ticking] Best Tech Crew goes to John Burroughs Powerhouse.

[cheering] [clock ticking] Best A Cappella goes to John Burroughs Powerhouse.

[clock ticking] Best Soloist Awards were decided by our American Idol judge.

Best Female Soloist is from John Burroughs Powerhouse, Vadeen Itsuth.

[cheering] [clock ticking] Great and then the Best Male Soloist comes from Mount Zion High School, Sam Mulligan.

[clock ticking] In fourth place, all the way from Ohio.

Twinsburg Great Expectations.

[clock ticking] In third place, all the way from Illinois, Mount Zion Swingsation.

[clock ticking] In second place.

In second place, from Burbank, California, John Burroughs Powerhouse.

[cheering] [clock ticking] And winning Best Musicianship, Best Showmanship, and Grand Champions of the Los Alamitos Extravaganza 2016, Clinton Attaché!

[audience cheering] [triumphant piano music] ♪ Congratulations.

Once again, thank you for being a great group of performers and have a safe, safe trip home.

Thank you.

♪ - I'm so glad that I did this with y'all.

- Amazing.

Unreal.

So proud.

- Yeah, absolutely.

We feel great right now.

It feels good to put all this work in and finally get what we deserve.

- I'm really humbled, you know what I'm saying?

After we win, it was really not known.

Cheering, and jumping, and all that.

They didn't take it very serious but at the same time, a win's a win.

- We still gotta be polite to everybody else.

- Don't start screaming and all that kinda stuff.

We'll have some fun later.

[cheering] [triumphant piano music] - [Boy] Girls first.

- I was just praying that it would be us, like I mean, I don't know.

- Very nerve-wracking.

- Yeah, very nerve-wracking.

It's just the best feeling.

- I'm so proud.

- Congratulations.

- Oh, oh.

[laughs] - My wife and I don't have kids of our own.

We decided long ago to do this that these were gonna be our kids.

People would always say, "How do you top that?

"Well you'll never have a show that good next year," and the answer to that is, "No, we won't.

"Because we're gonna do something different," because every year is unique.

The nature of Attaché is as long as we got kids that wanna work and wanna develop their natural ability, we'll just keep it rolling.

[mellow piano music] ♪ ♪ [laid-back blues music] ["Man Done Wrong" by Valerie June] ♪