Siobhan Magnus Sisters : the homemade sign outside the Falmouth Cinema Pub theater said it all: “Go On Siobhan.’’ Inside the theater, the crowd watching “American Idol’’ on a movie screen said it even more succinctly when contestant Siobhan Magnus walked onstage and began singing Chaka Khan’s “Through the Fire.’’ Cheers and screams arose from an audience that included the singer’s father, four of her siblings, and many of her closest friends.
Magnus, the 20-year-old Marstons Mills native who’s making a name for herself nationally as an “Idol’’ finalist, would go on to place among the top nine last week, after delivering what many felt was her least impressive performance to date. “Idol’’ judges were notably harsh on Magnus Tuesday, calling her effort weak and uneven. Stephanie Gianno, Magnus’s best friend, who was sitting at the VIP table, stated what seemed obvious, if momentarily disconcerting, following Magnus’s subpar performance. “It wasn’t Siobhan’s best night,’’ said Gianno. “But she’ll be back. Besides, she can’t steal the show every week.’’
Maybe not. But all over Cape Cod these days, in pizza joints, post offices, and pet stores, Siobhan-o-mania has erupted in full force. Down here, she is the show.
Bumper stickers on cars from Chatham to Mashpee urge fans to cast a supportive vote for Magnus. The marquee at the Cape Cod Melody Tent boasts a similar message, as does a sign outside Cape Maid Farms, a Hyannis pet supply store. Manager Kelley King said the store often posts topical messages, usually with a patriotic or sports theme. Saluting Magnus was only natural, said King, not just because Magnus’s father, Alan, once worked at the store but because she’s “part of this community, someone we’re all proud of.’’
Magnus is very much known as a local girl around here, having graduated from Barnstable High School, where she starred in numerous theatrical and musical productions, and having performed with Cape-based rock bands like Lunar Valve. Many who saw her sing “Tomorrow’’ from the musical “Annie’’ as a grade-schooler predicted future stardom for her, and now that scenario grows more plausible with each passing week.
A fresh generation of grade-schoolers certainly seems to think so. At the West Village Elementary School in Marstons Mills, the entranceway has been lined with pro-Siobhan posters for weeks. Students, teachers, and staffers all wore blue tops to school Tuesday — blue being the official “Idol’’ color — and posed for a group picture they’re sending Magnus as a good-luck totem. According to school administrator Ellen MacDonald, on the mornings after “Idol’’ airs, “everyone here is exhausted from staying up watching.’’ That includes many of the youngest children, she added, two of whom are Magnus’s sisters.
West Village students also made a collage of “Go Siobhan!’’ signs that hangs in the Marstons Mills post office, where postmaster Mary Beth O’Brien has been collecting townspeoples’ signatures on a scroll, a future Siobhan keepsake. “This is a small town, and it’s a real positive for something like this to be happening,’’ said O’Brien, noting that she’s already voted “multiple times’’ herself for the hometown favorite.
