Words by Francesca Ionescu
How many Pitch Perfect jokes can I fit in an A Cappella show review? Not many, haven’t seen the film in years.
Since watching it however, the CUAC Winter Showcase was my first interaction with acapella groups, and I went in unsure of what to expect. For the next one, I’d know to expect a lot of young talented students, an inflatable boob for charity, making friends with strangers around you and trying not to cry as a girl dressed in green channels Alicia Keys in her rendition of ÔÇÿIf I Aint Got You’.
The show feels intimate and comforting from the second you turn right and away from The Taf into the Y Plas, with a few faces you’ll recognise later on stage welcoming you in, in their blazers and colourful ties. The room is lit up, with rows of chair by which you can balance beer in a plastic cup while watching snow projected on a backdrop of the CUAC logo. The hosts come on and tell us a bit about the society and the showcase, and they introduce the first group, which each time gets a chant of ÔÇÿlads lads lads’ from everyone on the chairs.
The Acapellads ÔÇô which I have to applaud for the name- come on in matching black shirts with orange ties and shoelaces, and their opening song of Cinema by Harry Styles sets the tone, for a soft night with powerful voices. Each group has their spotlight, the Decibelles accurately introducing their music choices as ÔÇÿsongs by depressed women who can’t find someone to love them’. The stage gets covered in pink lighting, splashing into the audience, the following flashes covering my hands white and purple, making you feel part of the show.
The night is interactive, the mixed group Vox getting the audience to join in for ÔÇÿWalking in a Winter Wonderland’, clapping and singing along. The solos get high reactions, giggles in the audience as the music cuts out and the boy stood on stage decides to go acapella once again. The front row cheers as he is introduced as part of five different societies and as he self-proclaims as a theatre kid before his rendition of ÔÇÿShe used to be mine’ from The Waitress.
The show fills up, with Inner Voices, a group made up of graduates, looking to recruit more members and transitioning into a harmony of voices for ÔÇÿSilent Night’, using the range of voices to create dissonance, fizz out on only a few voices.
As the girl in the center belts the climax of Ceilings by Lizzy McAlpine, it is easy to forget that everyone that travels across this stage is a student, balancing deadlines and uni plays alongside organising hums, clicks and shared lyrics for the night.
The two presenters come back on, tell us they’ll keep the goodbyes short and sweet and for those interested, they will be back in March. The show ends with the Decibelles’ energetic version of ÔÇÿ8 Days of Christmas’, and as the lights come back on everyone seems to linger, chatting and drinking alongside the performers, celebrating a form of music that often gets overlooked, yet entertains just as much as its instrument-based counterpart.
