On March 15, Carnegie Mellon’s Greek life organizations gave the people what they wanted — musical theater — fed to the audience for 20 minutes at a time. As a former Texan theatre kid, I know a thing or two about short-form contest-devised theater with strict time constraints. This is due fully to the UIL One Act Play Contest. Greek Sing reminded me a lot of that. I will thus approach this write-up the way I approached the between performance debriefs with the booster club parents as an eighth grader during my brother’s contest days. The only difference between these two events is that Greek Sing is done for a much better cause, as it is primarily a fundraiser for charity. Good on you, Greek life, good on you…
“Legally Blonde”
“Legally Blonde” is a musical that has my entire heart. In the Broadway production, my favorite thing is the utter lack of nuance and care in Vivienne’s character arc and how she immediately goes from accusing Elle of sleeping with Professor Callahan to saying that she broke up with Warner and is now supporting Elle for the sake of plot and belting out an F5. All this is to say, “Legally Blonde” is fun. And what makes a production of “Legally Blonde” better than being devised by Delta Delta Delta and Sigma Nu? Heartbroken by the lack of Kyle the Mailman and Paulette, but it’s all the more impressive that Elle was able to save the day without any female support from her Greek Chorus. I guess this is remedied by the fact that the chorus was nevertheless very Greek. My only complaint is that Elle wasn’t the one who got on her knees to propose to Emmett. Splendid job to all involved! Standout performances from Elle and Emmett.
“High School Musical”
Wildcat pride has never looked better. Everything about this production was sleek and clean. The ensemble of this production was so engaged. My favorite thing to do watching any performance is to look at who isn’t at the front of the dance formation, and everyone was so in it. The choreography was great and I was delighted to see them commit to basketball choreography, which is no easy feat to accomplish. “High School Musical” is such a well-known musical where the audience has high expectations going in, and Kappa Kappa Gamma and Sigma Alpha Epsilon managed to put on a great performance that didn’t disappoint. The standout performances were the jorts worn by the basketball team.
“Barbie”
“Barbie” had big shoes to fill. The memory of the 2024 Orientation Counselors performing “Dance the Night Away” as if it was the air that kept them breathing won’t leave my mind anytime soon. It was adapted from the 2023 Greta Gerwig film, which was not a musical, but it’s an easy mistake to make. It’s not every day that a movie has a soundtrack now! There was much room for creative liberties, leading to a trip to the Phi Delta Theta basement, where Ken discovered his love for Greek life. “I’m Just Ken” was highly anticipated and I’m happy to say it completely surpassed my expectations. It was everything I wanted and more. This production was unique in that they had plenty of freedom to build it into a musical rather than taking an existing musical and struggling to cut out an existing narrative. Standout performances from Ken and the Barbies from Kappa Alpha Theta! I will be looking to this show for fashion inspiration as the weather gets warmer.
“Mean Girls”
The performers were Pi Kappa Alpha and Alpha Phi, and I had to give them five big booms for the bus sequence. There was nothing more enjoyable than watching a school bus cut-out crash into Regina. I would be remiss if I didn’t note that I wasn’t disappointed by the missed opportunity for the bus to be a PRT 61C bus. “Mean Girls” is a fun musical, but like much theater, I think it is made better by being performed by college students as a sub-20 minute production. This is what Tina Fey failed to realize in adapting her movie for Broadway. Standout performance from the bus.
“Grease”
It must be noted this was, by far, my favorite production of the night. Delta Gamma and Sigma Phi Epsilon’s “Grease” had me hooting and hollering. The lightning? Greased. The devotion? Hopeless. Elvis? Was there. The performances from everyone on stage were excellent and energetic. I was a fan of the way the show was adapted to meet the 20-minute constraint. It was like “Grease: Oops All Greatest Hits!” Not only was the choreography exciting and fun with lifts galore, but the performers excelled at belting out through the chaos that is “Grease.” Standout performances from the morph suit guys and our pillbox editors. #Biased.
“Tangled”
This production, brought to us by Alpha Epsilon Pi, Alpha Chi Omega, and Kappa Phi Lambda, was very darling and charming. The “Kingdom Dance” sequence and “I Have a Dream” were both very fun to watch. Rapunzel’s costume was to die for and she quite literally had the voice of a princess. A standout performance from Mother Gothel. Easily.
After seeing this year’s performances and how the bar has been raised, I am excited to see what everyone involved comes up with next year. Congratulations to everyone involved on a job well done!
