60 years of entertainment celebrated at the IU Auditorium

Alumna Betsy Moore hasn’t sung with the Singing Hoosiers, IU’s show choir, for 47 years. But Saturday, she found herself back on stage for the group’s 60th Anniversary Concert.

“It was fun and exciting,” Moore said.

For the anniversary, the choir performed selections from their extensive repertoire, including show choir standards from George Gershwin and various Broadway musicals. The group even sang a tribute to Michael Jackson.

The concert’s finale was a rendition of “Battle Hymn of the Republic” in which alumni such as Moore were invited to relive their Singing Hoosiers memories.

Moore said she loved returning to the auditorium and enjoyed the show.

“The choreography was great, the harpist was amazing,” she said. “The Singing Hoosiers are so much better. The choreography is more complex than when I did it.”

Although alumni made up a large portion of the audience, there were many students in attendance. Freshman Michael Lathery said this was the first time he had been to a Singing Hoosiers show.

“I loved it,” Lathery said. “I think everyone should see a Singing Hoosiers concert before they leave IU.”

He said his favorite part of the show was the choir’s rendition of “Africa” by Toto.
“It took me by surprise,” Lathery said.

The performance of the song began with flashes of strobe lights, meant to look like lightning, as well as sound effects by the group snapping their fingers and drumming on their legs to mimic the sound of rain.

“The dancing went off without a hitch,” Lathery said. “They looked professional and it was definitely worth the money.”

Ray Fellman, assistant professor of vocal instruction for the Department of Theatre and Drama, was another performing alumni of the Singing Hoosiers.

“Performing really brought me back,” he said. “After all these years, the group has the same spirit — it was great to see.”

Fellman’s favorite part of the show was hearing “Stardust,” one of the several Hoagy Carmichael songs featured in the concert, as well as several songs arranged by Al Cobine, who passed away in 2009 and had arranged more than 150 songs for the group.

“I remember the difficult rehearsals for ‘Stardust,’” Fellman said. “It has real resonance here at IU because one of Indiana’s own wrote it.”

Freshman Laurel Crutchfield said she is enjoying her first year in the show choir. Crutchfield, a choreographer for the choir, credits her involvement in the Singing Hoosiers with enhancing her experience at IU.

“It’s so much fun,” Crutchfield said. “It was hard because I came from a close-knit high school. Singing Hoosiers became my family and I have become obsessed. No one should give up singing and dancing if you did it in high school.”

Crutchfield said she likes the spring concert because “it’s awesome to have a huge crowd at your home town.”

Singing Hoosiers director Dr. Michael Schwartzkopf said the anniversary concert “is a combo of great history of talent and people working together.”

Schwartzkopf thought the concert went very well.

“The students worked very, very hard in preparation,” Schwartzkopf said. “They’re a wonderful bunch; I’m very proud of them. All of it was gorgeous. The students had great energy and precision and sang beautifully.”