By Piper Rutherford | Staff Writer
The tradition of All-University Sing has a long history at Baylor, dating back to 1953 when eight acts would perform three songs in front of a 13-person audience.
Fast forward to the present day. Sing now features 20 acts, which are performed in front of a crowd of 2,000 people, according to Waco Hall’s Ticket Office.
“Sing is one of the most unique traditions at Baylor where students can bring their artistic and musical collaborations to the stage in creative ways,” Sarah Patterson, associate director for student union and campus programs said. “At one point in time, an organization’s act can have up to 200 members on stage, which shows how much of a group effort it is.”
Long Island, N.Y. senior Anthony Amesti is a former Sing co-chair for his fraternity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, and the current executive student producer of Sing. Amesti said the organizations competing this February include all Panhellenic sororities, as well as some fraternities. The playbill includes last year’s winner, Kappa Omega Tau, whose act, “Sweet Gingerbread Man,” received the highest tabulation score from a panel of judges.
“The organizations are almost like sports teams who want to continue winning not only for the sake of their legacy, but also to beat other fraternities and sororities,” Amesti said. “This is done by getting the highest marks in the judges’ categories.”
Patterson said some of these categories include entertainment value, creativity, theme development, choreography, backdrop and energy.
“There are typically 12 to 16 judges each year,” Patterson said. “They represent professionals in different industries like dance, theater, vocals and higher education student life.”
In addition to the competition aspect of Sing that fills Waco Hall’s seats, many alumni and former Sing performers flock to Waco during this time to show their respect and appreciation for the months of preparation that lead up to the two weekends of performances.
Amesti said that the preparation process is about nine months long, starting in June of the prior year.
“My job is to approve and deny organizations based on eligibility rules and requirements that June, closely followed by examining costumes, props and songs,” Amesti said. “Later in the fall, I start putting together budgets for the acts, while the organizations begin creating choreography for rehearsals after students arrive back on campus from winter break.”
Amesti said from the outside looking in, Sing is the largest non-Broadway performance at this scale, but behind the scenes, it is a chance for students to get closer to one another by forming bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood, which makes the hard work worth it.
“One of my favorite memories from Sing was doing SAE’s ‘Night Shift,’” Amesti said. “Through practicing we discovered that a couple of us could sing like famous artists, and we had to then learn together how to do these artists justice in such a short matter of time, often practicing nearly 14 hours a week.”
What this year’s audience can expect to see is a wide range of shows and performances, Amesti said.
“In years’ past, some of the acts are similar in a lot of ways,” Amesti said. “But this year, a lot of the show from what I have seen is widespread, featuring a lot of diversity.”
This year’s show takes the stage from Feb. 20 through March 1, and tickets are available for purchase at Baylor Tickets starting at 4 p.m. Jan. 21 for students and at 10 a.m. on Jan. 22 for the public.
