By Tahnayee Clendinen, Guest Writer
The Parent’s Weekend Variety Show Saturday was a demonstration of artistic flair in the Chris Knutzen Hall of the Anderson University Center.
Geared toward showcasing the various talents of Pacific Lutheran University to the visiting families as well as students, the show was filled with a variety of performing groups. These included the cast of the Night of Musical Theater, HERmonic, the PLU Dance Team, junior Catherine Graham and PLUtonic.
The cast members of the NOMT performed songs from their last performance that took place at the recently opened Karen Hille Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. Based on audience applause, the favorites of the night were “Another Day,” from “Rent” in addition to their performance of “21 Guns” from “American Idiot the Musical.”
When the NOMT performers finished singing, the audience erupted into applause, with even a few audience members giving a standing ovation. There was a break in between their performance, but the applause was equally enthusiastic from the first to the second set.
HERmonic, PLU’s female a cappella group, performed a mix of songs by artists old and new. The singers included hits such as “No Scrubs” by TLC and “Mama Knows Best” by Jessie J. Their rendition of “No Scrubs” had more than just a few people singing along.
The Slovieg family was one of the families singing along. “It is good that they picked songs we actually know, rather than boring classics or something,” they said.
Switching the microphone between different women, most of the singers got the chance to display techniques like old school style beat-boxing. As they walked off stage, the audience showered them with whistles and cheers.
The Dance Team performed two different numbers, and each was synchronized. The first was “Waka Waka” by Shakira, during which the team members performed various moves with fancy footwork.
“I’m gonna try out for the team,” prospective student Jennifer Liu said. “That dance was awesome.”
PLU Dance Team’s second set performed to “I am the Best” by 2NE1. This dance featured lots of spins in addition to lots of layered movements.
Graham performed “Leather Britches,” “Boys My Money’s All Gone” and “Flame Point” on her fiddle for the families and students. Graham’s skill combined with speed was enough to captivate the audience, which sat silently as if in fear of missing something.
Last but not least, was PLUtonic, the male a cappella group, which, according to the PLUtonic Facebook page, is composed of “12 talented goofy guys who come together for the love of a cappella music.”
The group has appeared on “America’s Got Talent” in addition to doing numerous local performances and competitions, yet is never too busy to share its performances with PLU. Spanning the decades, they performed songs from NSYNC like “Here We Go” all the way to more recent hits like “Down” by Jay Sean.
It was all of these acts that made the PLU variety show an event that was a perfect example of the diversity of talents on campus.
