Bringing ‘World Famous’ to Harvard

The 300 very vocal students and visitors who filed into Lowell Lecture Hall on Friday night buzzing with excitement were quite a departure from the room’s usual bleary-eyed inhabitants—but then again, the night ahead of them was a far cry from lecture.

Apollo Night, hosted by the Black Students Association (BSA), is a nod to the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, where audience members take control of the show during amateur nights. The crowd’s reaction dictates all—offending acts are booed off-stage, and the winner is voted in by enthusiastic cheers.

The show’s acts varied in genre as well as skill, including dance performances, a vocalist, a spoken-word artist, a guitarist, and—of course—several requisite references to Soulja Boy.

Rejection wasn’t always determined by talent: the undergraduate dance group Expressions kicked off the night with a high-tech display, and the audience was quick to boo a glitch in the sound system.

“When there are a lot of good acts in a row, the audience waits for someone to boo,” BSA president Sarah O. Lockridge-Steckel ’09 says.

The Brothers of Chocolate Temptation ensured they didn’t have to wait for long: unable to endure the duo’s musings on drugs and pimps, the audience quickly cleared the stage. According to spectator Sophia C. Paraschos, the Brothers were “absolutely ridiculous.”

Producer Brittany J. Walker-Meade ’10 confesses that they “put in a couple of intentional ‘boo’ acts so the audience can get it out of their systems.”

In the end, Diane N. Ghogomu ’09 made away with the $400 prize. Ghogomu sang and accompanied herself on piano, commanding a standing ovation.

“She was like Alicia Keys,” says Brittany L. Turner ’10.

But never fear—even after shaking the walls with the force of its deafening screams and thundering feet, the gracious audience still had plenty of energy to unleash at the after party.