With the rousing success of the hit television show “Glee,” show choir mania has hit our public schools. Although Newbury Park and Westlake High School both have well-established show choirs, Thousand Oaks High School did not—until now. This semester, choir director Gary Fritzen introduced the show choir format (which adds choreography and costumes to performances) to TOHS, and although the presentation is not yet as polished as those of the more established units across town, much promise and talent were evident in the school’s annual Winter Concert last Thursday night at the school’s performing arts center.

The show was actually a mixed bag of performances, combining Thousand Oaks High School’s concert, show and chamber choirs with its brand-new chamber orchestra and Redwood Middle School’s own show choir.

Redwood’s unit led off the program with a nice combination of choreographed tunes and solo vocals. “Ragtime Holiday” is a zestful piece that combines elements of “Pat-a-Pan” and “Deck the Halls” with an original ragtime-influenced melody; the song is performed canon-style by the choir. Juliette Stappard sang a sweet version of “When Christmas Comes to Town” from “The Polar Express” while Carlee Gilbert (“Silver Bells”) and Carly Brown (“White Horse”) also sang solos. The Redwood segment featured the “Chorus Line” standard, “One,” which showed how much you can do with only glittery hats as props.

The TOHS Show Choir likewise featured an array of solos and choral numbers. Solos by Brooke Bowers and Makenna Farkas alternated with the 5th Dimension’s arrangement of “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” from “Hair” and John Fogerty’s “Proud Mary,” the latter in a version inspired by Ike and Tina Turner’s incendiary rendition.

A set by the Concert Choir rounded out the first half, beginning with the fiery “Salmo 150,” a relatively recent composition (1993) by the Brazilian chorister Ernani Aguiar. Other highlights from this section included the ever-popular “Sleigh Ride” and “Jingle Bell Variations,” which uses the venerable holiday song as a basis for a variety of vocal machinations and styles, including using the syncopated rhythm of “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from “Funny Girl.” Also in this section were solos by Jaci Diggs and Christopher O’Shea and a duet of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” by Lucas Clifford and Ally Phillips.

The Chamber Orchestra, which is actually an all-string ensemble, started out the second half of the show, performing two sequences from Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker” plus themes from Antonio Vivaldi’s choral masterpiece, “Gloria.” As with the high school show choir, the Chamber Orchestra is a new addition to the school curriculum, and it is heartening that despite staggering cuts in the arts in California’s public schools, Thousand Oaks High School is actually expanding its program to include two entirely new groups.

The set by the Chamber Choir featured a mixture of traditional and contemporary numbers, most notably the popular and rhythmic “Jamaican Noel,” the late Natalie Sleeth’s “Jazz Gloria” and the Hanukkah song “S’vivon.” Solos were sung by Lillian Wiley, Stephanie Demirjian and Jessica Kudlinski.

Pianist Kevin Su Fukugawa was the enthusiastic accompanist for many of the performances, sharing duties with Fritzen, who played on many of the songs as well.

All choirs combined for the finale, featuring “Carol of the Bells” and “Silent Night,” which had the audience, consisting mostly of parents and friends of the choir members, singing along.