Cream of a Capella Society

The cream of Harvard a capella society turned out at Sanders Theater last Saturday night to watch the Radcliffe Pitches and the Harvard Krokodiloes perform the thoroughly enjoyable "Why Not" jam.

Polite applause, dainty stomps and restrained hoots provided appropriate punctuation for this traditional a capella program. The two groups sang with enough polish and skill to impress even the most discriminating friend, relative, love interest or club mate in the crowd.

The Pitches headlined the show, and after two all-male opening groups performed, the audience eagerly awaited some singing by sopranos and altos. A rather lengthy opening humor sketch took some of the punch away from musical side of the group's program. But when the Pitches invited Archie Epps on stage to sing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" with them, this move replenished the flagging energy of the audience--the electricity was palpable.

The opening number, "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," featured strong solos and harmonies from Alexandra Picard, Alissa Kingsbury and Clancy Drake. While the solos were substantial, the background ensemble seemed airy and without an a capella anchor.

This contrast between solo and ensemble continued throughout the night. Although none of the flighty background vocals gave audience members motion sickness, perhaps the group should work on fuller arrangements and a thicker alto section.

Despite this problem, the soloists who performed showcased great talent and vocal versatility. They gave a plethora of notable performances during the course of the0 night. Valerie Anderson served up a forceful, albeit politically incorrect, rendition of "Peel Me a Grape"--she was not honoring any boycotts--and her two other solos of the night were equally impressive. Katie Guillory's solos in "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" and "Don't Tell Mama" deserved highest praise, and Clancy Drake's smoother than smooth performance in "Scotch 'n' Soda" provided a delightful encore for the audience to savor.

The Pitches showed that they overflow with talent. And while the group needs to experiment with their overall sound, the audience, as always, was as pleased as punch to hear their musical stylings.

The Krokodiloes opened for the Pitches with style and grace. Their sets have started the same way for the past four-and-a-half decades--two members of the group came onto the stage and explained why the rest of the group could not join them. Traditions can be nice, but this opening bit was so poorly written and humorless that perhaps the Kroks should consider scrapping it.

In spite of this and other inconsistent attempts at humor--including a "Lucky Charms" commercial conceived in very poor taste--the rest of the set provided, as a chewing tobacco commercial once proudly stated, "all pleasure." The arrangements and performances of every song roused the audience and left this reviewer warm all over.

Near the top of their set, "Take the A-Train," featuring Eric Pitt, was snappy as can be. "The Kroks' Swing Medley" followed, taking the audience back to a time before either rock 'n' roll or the Leverett Towers existed. In the medley, David Kim's crooning lead for "Moonlight Serenade" was more romantic than a moonlit night in May.

Kim sang the lead in "Serenade in Blue" after the medley, and his restrained polish combined with a wonderfully textured ensemble to create that delicate balance between soloist and group which makes a capella great.

Other numbers--including that paragon of male bonding, "Johnny O'Connor," and a powerful "Walk Between the Raindrops"--followed like clockwork, and the set reached a climax with a riveting rendition of William Blake's "Jerusalem," featuring a rich solo from Ignatius Wu.

The group finished with a real serenade when Brandon Lucas charmed the pants off his grandmother in "What's Your Name."

The New Hampshire Gentlemen began the night with simple, uninspired arrangements of lame songs, and their attempts at humor failed. It is a sad thing when a capella groups have to steal humor sketches from other groups, but the Gents could have at least borrowed humor sketches that were funny. Their lack of humor was only matched by Jonathan Aibel's hideous performance as Master of Ceremonies. He should keep his day job.

Stay tuned for more probing reviews by a capella guru Dan Sharfstein.