A buzz was emanating from the Dublin High School theater Monday night as students and teachers watched senior Noah Mac take the TV stage in front of millions worldwide on NBC's "The Voice."
The 17-year-old's supporters not only included classmates and teachers, but also his first musical director.
"He wowed me, and now I see him wow the world," music director Brian Olkowski said. "So it's really cool to see this."
Classmate Becky Polcyn remembered Noah in early grade school.
"In elementary school, you always saw him singing in the talent show and everything, but who would think it's gonna go to this," she said. "It's insane."
Noah's singing stemmed from tragedy, as he performed at his older sister's funeral when he was just 7 years old.
"We were all crying because it was sad, but we were all crying because it was also something really beautiful," Noah's mother Gina Gabriell said. "We weren't expecting that."
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Today, Noah is living his dream, trying to make the top 12 in "The Voice." But it was a dream that almost never happened. When the casting director called, his mother thought it was a relative pranking them.
"I went, 'Yeah right,' and then I said a few naughty words and basically hung up on her," Gabriell recalled. "She called back and said 'Go to the website, there's my name; call, I will pick up.'"
With his proud mother watching Monday night, Noah performed Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight" and received high praise from the judges.
"You just took the lead," judge Adam Levine said.
Noah advanced to the live shows next week.
"I came undone," Gabriell said. "I was there in the audience. I came absolutely undone."
