Town, gown, Yale unite in song to benefit Princeton Girlchoir

On Friday, April 4, the Princeton Girlchoir hosted the Princeton Nassoons and the Yale Whiffenpoofs at the sold-out Nassau Presbyterian Church in a benefit concert called "Spring Sing." The concert aimed to raise money to allow underprivileged girls the chance to participate in the world-touring local girlchoir now in its 14th year.

The Princeton Girlchoir aims to provide girls from eight to 15 the opportunity to both develop their musical ability and to experience the joy of singing. The 160 girls now in the choir represent more than 40 schools in roughly 30 different communities in nearby New Jersey and Pennsylvania, according to Margaret Borah, the President of the Princeton Girlchoir Board of Directors.

The Girlchoir performs biannually in spring and winter concerts — the Annual Spring Concert comes to Richardson Auditorium on May 17 — but "always have guest performers," explained Borah.

The Nassoons were excited to perform with the Whiffenpoofs in addition to their yearly double-concert as well as with the local Girlchoir.

"They seem to be a great group of guys this year," he said. Music Director Zach Augustine '04 added, "The Whiffs always give a highly polished performance, and it was a pleasure to sing with them."

The Whiffenpoofs were equally elated to perform with the Nassoons and the Girlchoir. "It was a wonderful concert overall," said Whiffenpoof Courtney Williams.

The benefit opened with a performance from the Princeton Girlchoir Select Ensemble, 20 smiling middle-schoolers who swung their shoulders in time to the Duke Ellington composition "Don't Get Around Much Anymore." The group incorporated complex jazz harmonies into their innocent sound.

The Princeton Girlchoir Concert Choir followed with a crowd-pleasing a cappella rendition of Amadeus Mozart's "Overture" to the Marriage of Figarro sung only in "doos" and "baas." The piece showcased the choir's blend of pure voices and strength and highlighted numerous emerging classical opera voices.

In their next number, a boogie-woogie version of "A-Tisket, A-Tasket," the Concert Choir demonstrated their control of scoops, close harmonies and call and response.

But the real stars of the night were the college a cappella boys. The tuxedo-clad Nassoons, 10 strong, performed first. The set opened and introduced the freshman, sophomores, juniors and (lack of) seniors with the close barbershop harmonies of the "Tigertown Blues," showcasing Kris Kersey's baritone power.

Zach Augustine's snappy 1940s rendition of "It Had to Be You" was complete with growls, runs and syncopation which highlighted his rich and powerful voice, while Marlo McGriff's '04 hauntingly beautiful "While My Lady Sleeps" wowed the audience.

"The audience was terrific. They were very receptive during the show and eager to talk to us afterwards," Nassoon Chris Steinbaugh '05 said in an email. "Princeton a capella doesn't reach far beyond campus, so we were almost as much of a novelty to many people as the Whiffenpoofs were. We love singing for the community, though, and hope that we have more opportunities like this one."

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Freshman Sean Effinger-Dean drew loud applause as he effortlessly glided through a seamless performance of "Hoja," and Jeff Bullian's '05 soft and slow interpretation of "I Will Be Here" sang to the females in attendance. The oldest Princeton a cappella group closed with "Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes" that ended with contagious percussion and a tight duet between Augustine and McGriff.

Twelve Yale men clad in tails and white ties approached the stage from the back of the church to the tune of "Aj Lucka" for the first of 17 songs.

The Whiffenpoofs, affectionately called the Whiffs for short, claimed a more austere presence on stage in comparison to the laid back Nassoons but performed effortlessly and yet precisely.

The group is the oldest a cappella group in the Ivy League and is comprised entirely of senior males from the undergraduate a cappella groups, approximately half of whom take the year off due to the large time commitment involved in singing with the Whiffs.

The Whiffs showcased almost all of their performers in the course of their set, exhibiting their diversity in songs such as the 1970s' "Eli's Coming," the 1920s' "Toot-Toot Tootsie Goodbye," the big-band "Steppin' Out," and the Irish ballad "Down by the Salley Gardens."

Princeton local and Yalie, Rob Honstein, delivered a smooth folksy rendition of James Taylor's "You Can Close Your Eyes," and Music Director Courtney Williams dazzled the audience with his rich tenor voice and music major charms with "When Sunny Gets Blue."

But it was Talley Lambert, complete with tamed chin-length brown curls, who scored audible screams from the teenage girls when he let loose and unleashed his powerful gospel and blues voice to "Broadway." Balancing the strength with breathy strains for emphasis, he stole the Whiffenpoof show, especially for the young ladies in attendance.

One of the highlights of the show, while not a musical number, was a Whiff skit aimed at the poor souls at Harvard. The gist of the story goes like this: a Yale student is jumping up and down on a manhole in Harvard Square repeating "27, 27, 27 . . . " He is approached by a Harvardite who is convinced to try this bizarre set of actions.

But the Harvard man catapults into space, and when he returns to the manhole, the Yalie has uncovered it, leaving the Harvardite to plummet to his end. The Yalie returns the manhole cover to its original position and resumes his jumping, this time repeating "28, 28, 28 . . . "