Amanda Crouse
A&E Editor
On Sunday, April 13, Scheide Music Center was abuzz with students, faculty and prospective students who gathered in Gault Recital Hall to see the department of music and Ohio Collegiate Music Education Association’s parody recital.
The show began on an aptly silly note — an indication of jokes and gags to come — when emcees Benjamin Low ’26 and Paul Zito ’25 clambered onstage from the front row of the audience, having forgotten that they had agreed to host the recital rather than merely watch it.
The pair’s introduction was cut short by a rogue ship of pirates — horn-playing pirates, that is. The College’s horn choir, conducted by Henry Mattison ’27, cruised onstage in a cardboard ship, donning an array of sea-faring costumes and stick-on beards. Appropriately, the group played a rendition of “Pirates of the Caribbean Medley” by Hanz Zimmer. Halfway through the song, horn player James Harbur ’27 let out a hair-raising “yar-har-har” of a pirate’s cackle, and a dozen music department students rose from their seats in the audience with styrofoam swords in hand, rushing to the stage to engage in thrilling combat.
After the crew of horns had sailed from the docks (or, left the stage), pianist Toni Shreve, along with Anna Puster ’25 and Chelsey Webb ’25 performed “What is this Feeling?” from “Wicked.” Webb, decked in pink, chirped high harmonies while the black-clad Puster sang in a steady alto.
Pianist and violinist Jacob and Noah Hankin ’26 took the stage next to perform a recent pop hit. “You can sing along,” Noah encouraged, poising his violin beneath his chin to begin playing a cover of “HOT TO GO!” by Chappell Roan. Noah was dressed for the part, wearing a Roan-esque red wig and a light blue-green dress. Jacob, meanwhile, was the spitting image of a young Elton John, his sequined blazer and bejewelled spectacles glinting beneath the stage lights. By the time the song reached its bridge, more than half of the audience was singing to the melody.
To keep up with the pop song trend, the COWBelles, dressed up like disheveled bridesmaids after a chaotic bachelorette party, sang Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” to a bride-to-be and her fiance (Emma Barnard and Ryan Yonek ’25), a spoof of the popular Saturday Night Live skit. The lyrics were changed to recount the events of the bachelorette party — including the bride’s one-night-stand with a man named Domingo. At the end of the song, one of the bridesmaids stepped forward and took off a wig to reveal that he was the fabled lover Domingo. The wedding party formed a conga line and danced off stage, with the devastated groom sadly bringing up the caboose.
Trevor’s Terrific Tuba Trio (which was actually composed of four tuba players and one accompanying percussionist) played a musical theatre medley — a preview of their alleged four-hour rock opera, for which they had yet to come up with the remaining three hours and 55 minutes of content. After being interrupted in one of their songs by a clarinet, and in another by the announcement that they had been kicked out of the band, three of the tuba players stormed off stage in anger. They returned moments later with sousaphones to perform a standing rendition of “Can You Hear the People Sing?” from “Les Misérables.” Music department students in the front row of the audience threw rose petals as the medley reached its finale.
Next, emcee Low played “Rainbow Connection,” (from the 1979 film “The Muppet Movie”) on the piano with the vocal accompaniment of seven singers, each of whom sang only one word of the song at a time. This lineup included other emcee Zito, who summoned his best Kermit the Frog impression to accompany his Kermit puppet.
Finally, a smattering of students stood from seats all throughout the audience. The Merry Kuween of Skots singers were dressed in manners of varying eccentricity; some members wore their shirts and ties backward, while others turned pant legs into makeshift arm sleeves and shoved their hands into pairs of shoes. Each Skot was also holding a random object (from boxes of ramen to a folding chair) that they rammed against their forehead to the time of the ominous chant they had begun singing. Once onstage, the group performed a cover of “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” by They Might Be Giants. The Skots danced as they sang, moving into dynamic formations and ending the number by collapsing on the floor in unison.
The Wooster Chorus is holding its spring concert on Friday, May 2, at 7:30 p.m. The Wooster Symphony Orchestra will hold its spring concert on Sunday, May 4, at 3 p.m. Support the College’s music department by attending these end-of-the-year performances!
