Some days, being students at the Professional Performing Arts School means working on a laptop in a typical high school classroom. On others, it means belting out Broadway tunes in front of the mayor, civic leaders and the press corps.

Zaheerah Duncan and her classmate and friend Carly Gendell got a chance to show off their skills as performers at this year’s Inner Circle Show, an annual gala where reporters stage a two-act parody musical.

The high school seniors, decidedly more talented than most of the press corps, were part of the mayor’s rebuttal show — and sang “Take Me Or Leave Me,” from the hit musical "Rent."

“It felt natural. It just felt like me and my friend singing together, the same song,” Duncan, a senior, told NY1.

The mayor's rebuttal also featured two Tony nominees: Norm Lewis and Jeannette Bayardelle.

“I loved being able to talk to Mayor Adams and Norm Lewis and just be able to perform with so many crazy talented, cool people," said Gendell, who herself has performed on Broadway, as part of the original Broadway cast of "School of Rock: The Musical."

The students played the roles of Maureen, a flirtatious performance artist, and her girlfriend Joanne, a more buttoned-up attorney, in their school’s main stage production of "Rent" this spring.

They reprised those roles for the first time at the annual Schubert Foundation High School Theater Festival earlier this year, which highlights student performers from around the city. That’s where a city staffer approached them about joining the mayor’s Inner Circle rebuttal for another curtain call.

After they sang, they got a surprise visit from Anthony Rapp, one of the star’s of the original cast of "Rent."

“It was an honor that he got to see this performance, especially decades, years later, how this piece is still important to society," Duncan said.

The students say it’s just an example of the kinds of opportunities their high school — which prioritizes partnerships with professional arts organizations — offers students.

“It's been amazing because I'm getting conservatory style training in high school from people who have worked in the professional field that show me a dose of what it's like to be in what I'm getting into," Duncan said.

"I performed on a Broadway stage because of this school and I got to do the inner circle because this school has connections and it knows the industry inside and out. And it's a really, really special place," Gendell added.

Next year, they'll both study musical theater at Pace University, where they'll no doubt continue singing together.