“No Day But Today,” the Singarama act composed of members of Delta Omega, Delta Xi, Gambda Lambda, Kappa Xi, Sigma Iota Delta and friends, swept this year’s competition awards, including claiming the highly coveted sweepstakes award.
In its fiftieth year, Singarama took on the Timeless theme, with Yesterday, Today and Forever as the show’s group themes. The Today group took home the program’s top prize.
During their Thursday, Friday and Saturday shows, the act, directed by senior David Grayson, won the theme, music and staging prizes before taking overall sweepstakes award on Saturday night.
The winning act followed a family of four on a detoured vacation into a Southern town celebrating the arrival of a famous basketball player. The performance featured the group’s renditions of “Perfect Day,” “Mountain Music,” “Bring Me to Life,” “Payphone,” “Larger than Life,” “Seize the Day,” “Jailhouse Rock,” and “Finale B.”
Grayson shared his excitement in the group’s big sweepstakes win Saturday evening.
“We’re all pretty excited,” Grayson said. “We worked really hard to put the show together, and it’s had a great outcome.”
The director of the winning show said he felt that the musical selection stood out.
“I think the song selection was the best part of our show,” Grayson said. “Just the songs, and the quality and how our songs told a story is what I was most proud of from our show.”
On Friday night, Grayson shared some thoughts about the group’s win in the music category, saying that the crowd’s reaction meant more to him than the awards.
“I thought our energy maybe wasn’t as much as we could’ve given during the run, but it was a great show and the crowd loves it. And that’s what I care about more,” Grayson said. “The crowd was laughing the whole time, they were clapping at the end. And, that’s more important to me than even winning.”
The other two acts, “A Day To Remember” and “Reach for the Stars,” were also crowd-pleasers.
“A Day to Remember,” featuring members of Delta Sigma, Phi Nu, Pi Delta, Tau Phi and friends, followed an amnesia-stricken man trying to find his memory at a hospital alongside a humorous cast of fellow patients.
Directed by sophomore Maggie Clements, a member of Pi Delta, the show featured “Wake me Up Before You Go Go,” “Country Roads,” “We Are Family,” “Call Me Maybe,” “Beauty and Beat,” “I’m a Believer,” “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” and “Sweet Child O’ Mine.
“Reach for the Stars,” featuring members Delta Nu, Delta Tau, Phi Sigma, Sigma Omega Sigma and friends took a high-spirited look at an early sixties romance.
Directed by senior Corley Major, the show featured “Reach for the Stars,” “Somebody to Love,” “As Long As You Love Me,” “Singing In The Rain/Umbrella,” “Say A Little Prayer For Me,” “Suit and Tie,” “Sweet Dreams,” “Take A Chance On Me,” and “Everlasting Love.”
This year’s hosts and hostesses were Kelsea Ballerini, Muriel Epling, McKenna Smith, Rainey Lankford, Michael Oruma and Adam Sain. As a group, they performed “Some Nights,” “Tonight, Tonight,” “Home,” “Can’t Go Back,” “Something in the Water,” and “We Are Young.”
Alongside the group sets, each host and hostess got a chance to perform their own song.
Smith performed “Titanium,” Oruma performed “Love is a Verb,” Sain performed “Love Me Some Home,” Epling performed “When The Right One Comes Along,” Ballerini performed “Mama’s Broken Heart” and Lankford performed “Everybody Talks.”
Towards the end of the show, the hosts did a rendition of “This Life,” while the hostesses performed “Long Live.”
To Grayson, the entire show was very worthwhile, and the prizes were anyone’s to take home.
“All three shows are great, and the hosts and hostesses are great. It’s just a solid show, and it’s anyone’s game in the competition,” Grayson said.
Those interested in purchasing any memorabilia from the show, including a DVD copy of the performance, go to http://www.lipscomb.edu/campuslife/Singarama-Merchandise
Quotes obtained by Kyrsten Turner and Sydney Poe
Photo credit: Whitney Jarreld