....make a good talent show piece? Or is it not showy enough? Would I be better off playing something like a really fast Flight of the Bumblebee or something??

Embraceable You

Talent show? I'm sure that would be spectacular.

If you're talking about the average talent show, Flight of the Bumblebee would be better. Sad but true.

How old are the judges? If they are over 55, I'd go with the Wild transcription.

Sometimes these kinds of audiences are really weird to deal with. I've played a transcription of Rachmaninoff's Vocalise to a lukewarm response, but people really seem to like Ravel's Une Barque sur l'ocean.

Regardless of other factors (judges' ages, etc.), I'd go for the Gershwin-Wild. It fits under the fingers very well, and it has an effect on listeners that I doubt you'd come anywhere near with "Flight of the Bumblebee" -- unless you play the Cziffra version, which is mostly in octaves alternating between the hands.

I played this piece some years ago, shortly after it was completed. (At least I think so; I got it from Earl's manager, Michael Davis, and the manuscript was written out by hand rather than notated by a PC program.) After the performance, a couple of people told me it brought tears to their eyes. I doubt seriously that was because of my playing. More likely, it was a musical key that unlocked some nice memories from another time in their lives. Even if you didn't know the lyrics, the music itself says everything that needs to be said. Go for it.

Earl wild gershwin etude!! Go for it! My friend played one of them (I've got rhythm) as a prelude for an orchestra concert and it was a huge hit. This one is great too!

Yes. I think my piano teacher would prefer me to play I Got Rhythm but I think Embraceable You fits me as a pianist more.

My vote: Prefer this over Flight, much more sensitivity and musicality. Flight is just bunch of fast notes!

It depends on your audience.

If the audience is high school students or even mostly under 30, I'd guess most wouldn't like it, be familiar with the song, or even have heard of Gershwin.

IF the audience is young this piece will win the contest:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dqH7TQePyI

Even I like it and I've never played Final Fantasy. PM me if you want the score.

Edit: I just found the website where the above pianist has tons of piano arrangements for video game music.
http://www.gamemusicthemes.com/index.html

I agree with ploverus on this one. If your audience is a relatively young audience, this piece might not work very well..

I agree with Pianoloverus--your choice of selection would depend upon the setting,
the audience, etc. In an effort to update myself, I surfed Youtube and found
several clips by Martin Leung who is called the "videogame pianist." Well, that he is, indeed. Zelda's Theme is appealing, doesn't appear to be too difficult.
Fans go crazy for this guy. Funny, but whatever-floats-your-boat...
Meanwhile I am going to search for these sheets. Gotta have some loud crowd-pleasers, esp.for the younger set. Who knows, someday this genre will have an official definition like "salon" music of yesteryear. This genre will be known as "videogame" music.

The audience is mixed. It's a high school talent show but also a huge community event where lots of people from babies to people in their eighties come. The award is given to the most "professional" group (a few years ago a classical trio won too). I'm not looking for any awards, though. I just want to pick something likable. Oh, and there's a 3 min time limit, too.

There already is a genre called video game music and it's incredibly popular.

The pianist whose video I posted is a classically trained pianist and posted some highly advanced classical repertoire on his site.