One of my favorite things to do on campus is to attend the many events put on by our student organizations. While this school has no shortage of a cappella groups, I love how each and every show can seem fresh, with each group bringing their own special style and energy to their performance.
The show opened with a short improv skit by the Impro-fessionals, promoting their show the next day. While the skit took a little while to build up steam, there were quite a few zingers that left the audience bubbling with laughter. I appreciated how the cast members built off a single storyline, and it got zanier and funnier as the skit progressed.
Once the show began, what stood out to me was the love and support the audience had for the performers. I’m sure a fair number of the crowd were family members, friends,”prior Friars,” and significant others of the guys on stage, with the friendly way that that they interacted with the crowd was a direct reflection of that. As an observer this creates a really fun and lively atmosphere that compliments the performances themselves.
As for the song selection itself, I thought the group did a good job mixing serious songs with funnier, peppier tunes. They also did a good job matching solos to voice parts, and the amount of time they spent preparing for this was immediately obvious.
One of the most memorable moments of the show was when the current members of the Friars invited future Friars onto stage to play a game they call “spill your guts or fill your guts” as a type of hazing ritual. They pulled out a variety of disgusting objects, including raw egg, a live worm, a horseradish mixture, and more, and then asked each other difficult or embarrassing questions. If the Friar didn’t want to answer the question they were forced to eat one of the disgusting objects. The most shocking moment was when one of the friar’s was asked to name their least favorite aspect of their girlfriend, who was presumably in the audience, and then with no hesitation gulped down the worm to screams and cheers of applause.
Near the end of the show the Friars invited “prior friars” onto stage to sing “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” It was touching to see some of the senior members, for whom which this would be their last show, tearing up during the song.
They ended the show with a humorous rendition of “Sexual Healing” by Marvin Gaye, which couldn’t help but remind me that one of the Friar’s had made a shoutout to his grandma in the audience earlier. It was a fantastically fun night, and I hope attend both their next show and other similar a cappella shows in the near future. You can follow the Friars on their facebook page or their website https://ummgc.org/friars/index.html
