What do “Burn” from “Hamilton,” “Killer Queen” from the band Queen, and “What Time Is It?” from “Highschool Musical 2” all have in common? They were just a few of the over 50 songs that the Wisconsin Singers sang on Friday night.
The Wisconsin Singers are a group of young singers, dancers, and band members that bring their show to stages all over Wisconsin.
This year is their 56th season, and the title of this season’s show is “When Opposites Attract.” It features songs from musicals and films as well as pop songs from various decades.
The show had different sections with titles such as “Hot and Cold,” “Original or Remake,” “Good and Evil,” and “Hold On or Let Go.” In between these sections, the band performed. This allowed the singers to change costumes and the band members to be in the spotlight for parts of the show. The titles of those sections were aptly named “Classically Contemporary” and “Complexly Chill” to fit the opposites attract theme.
“Hot and Cold” featured songs such as “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice, “Cold Hearted” by Paula Abdul, and “Cool” from “West Side Story” as its cold section. Interlaced with these songs were tunes with a hot theme such as “Burnin’ Up” by Jessie J, “Some Like it Hot” from the show “Some Like it Hot,” and “Burnin’ Love” by Elvis Presley.
“Original or Remake” were songs that have been famously covered. This section featured “I Will Always Love You” by Dolly Parton, which Whitney Houston then covered. Another song in this category was “I Love Rock N’ Roll,” which was originally by the band Arrows before Joan Jett and the Blackhearts covered it. The section ended with “Proud Mary,” a song written for Creedence Clearwater Revival, which was then covered by Tina Turner.
“Good and Evil” was the section that appeared to be the most fun for the performers. The female singers performed “Killer Queen” by Queen before they were cheekily cut off by the male singers doing “Bad to the Bone” by George Thorogood and The Destroyers. The whole cast then sang “Goo Goo Muck” by The Cramps while dancing like zombies, which further illustrated the evil part of the theme. For the good part, “Holding Out For A Hero” from “Footloose,” “Hero” by Mariah Carey, and “Feeling Good” by Micheal Buble were performed.
The last section before the closer was “Hold On or Let Go.” It featured “Hold On” by Wilson Phillips, “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” from “The Breakfast Club,” and “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley for the hold on portion. The let go part was represented by “Forget You” by CeeLo Green, “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gayner, and “Confident” by Demi Lovato.
The show truly had something for everyone. In just two hours, the Wisconsin Singers managed to captivate the attention of the audience with over 50 songs that were cleverly mashed up and transitioned into each other.
What’s next for the Young Auditorium? The Count Basie Orchestra will perform Feb. 22 at 7:30 p.m. “On Your Feet! The Story of Emilio & Gloria Estefan” will premiere on March 1 at 7:30 p.m. The National Dance Company of Ireland will perform their show entitled “Rhythm of Dance” on March 21 at 7:30 p.m. Click here for more information on events at Young Auditorium.
