Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.
Whispers of “Pitch Perfect” filled Dinkelspiel Auditorium as anticipation grew in seeing Barden University’s popular a cappella battle come to life on Stanford’s campus. The Mendicants, Stanford’s original all-male a cappella group, hosted their first-ever a cappella showcase titled the A Cappella Riff Off on Sunday evening, featuring six other campus a cappella groups: Mixed Company (MixedCo), Fleet Street Singers, O-Tone, Counterpoint, The Harmonics and Everyday People.
Skimming through the line-up before the lights dimmed, I was intrigued by Fleet Street’s “Situationship,” as I predicted the comedy a cappella group’s humor would draw wide appreciation from the audience. The sparsely-populated auditorium seemed bound with enough energy and excitement to make up for the seats left empty, due to what I guessed were pre-finals jitters.
The ensembles hyped themselves up by displaying their awards in the program. The Mendicants reminded listeners that they were the most-streamed college a cappella group nationally. Harmonics introduced themselves as the university’s award-winning rock and experimental ensemble, and MixedCo’s brief background let their “two-time International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) semifinalist” status do the talking — or singing. Other groups noted the exclusivity of their genre, with Counterpoint being Stanford’s only soprano/alto a cappella, O-Tone as the East Asian interest group and Everyday People (EP) featuring the only hip hop, R&B repertoire. Fleet Street boasted their all-original, comedic compositions.
A wheel was projected on-stage and spun before each ensemble performed, tasked with singing pieces related to the selected word.
The wheel toggled to the first category of the night: “a place.” The Mendicants put a spin on the theme by opening with a mash-up of “Alone” and “Somewhere Only We Know,” projecting their powerful vocals. It was hard for me to believe that background beats were produced by human voices, not percussion instruments.
Having had years of dance-adjacent training, I found the offset spacing of some group formations to be awkward as the singers traversed across stage. Even so, I had to give the Mendicants credit for being the only group of the evening that choreographed complete routines to their songs. This first piece was probably my favorite of the set, as soloists held high notes, vocally and visually supported by the ensemble’s pyramid-like arrangement. With little more than a moment’s silence, the group transitioned into “(Nice Dream)” and their closing act, “Sunny.”
Significantly more upbeat and jazzy than the a cappella groups’ preceding songs, “Sunny” featured even more impressive choreography without infringing upon the members’ vocal delivery. One member opened the piece with a straddle jump, two singers dueted each other in passe turns. When singing about making someone feel “10-feet tall,” the group members measured the height of their tallest member, drawing audience laughter.
Continuing with their comedy, the Mendicants concluded their set and introduced The Harmonics, saying a wig-wearing Mendicant “could never” be like The Harmonics. Prompted with “well” from a quick spin of the wheel, the second a cappella group delivered higher-pitch melodies and more static formations in “Well.” The singers paused to regroup before “Agua Regia,” which I appreciated for its well-timed syncopations. It was tough to hear the soloist during certain vocalized phrases, but I could confidently say this song is joining my study playlist for its strong, metronomic beat that the singers maintained very well.
MixedCo followed as the wheel spun to “say.” The singers presented “Geronimo,” with the members maintaining a steady, cheerful beat that drove the song, following more laid-back, organic movements from one formation to the next. My favorite moment arrived when the singers delivered a crescendoing beat, building to the song’s climax. “And So It Goes” featured a perfect group rest after the students sang “but if my silence,” and the ensemble closed with their most choreographed performance, “What If.” Though the soloist’s voice was breathier than expected in certain moments, the high soprano notes were quite impressive.
A “midnight” prompt brought Counterpoint to the stage with percussive beat boxing, audience engagement and a nice crescendo when they sang “what about when it’s just the three of us, me myself and I” in a song titled “The Feeling.” The singers displayed their versatility in “Blue,” passing melodies between each other and taking turns beat boxing. I was most excited for their closing medley of “Gimme Gimmie Gimme” and “Voulez-Vous” by ABBA. Perhaps most importantly, I could see the singers were having a blast on-stage.
With their song titles listed in English, I couldn’t tell what languages O-Tone would use in their East Asian performances for their prompt, “careless.” Clad in black sweaters embroidered with intricate cultural patterns, the performers established textbook melody-harmony balance as the soloist swiftly transitioned between chest and head voice throughout the Mandarin song, “I Understand.” Their next song, “Manila,” pleasantly surprised me, featuring one of their performers vocalizing like a trumpet — who did so with high accuracy.
Then, the wheel selected the prompt, “songs that you listen to while you pee in the shower,” that could belong only to one group. Likely referencing the ensemble’s album titled “Everyone Pees in the Shower,” the theme brought Fleet Street’s members screaming and running on stage. The group called out Stanford’s grade inflation with “Better Than Average,” with lyrics declaring, “I’m just so-so but if the bar is low, then jumping above it isn’t hard to do.” The ensemble then described an “insignificant other friend that’s just like a brother” in their song, “Situationship,” with well-coordinated vocal syllables and impressive high notes by their soloist.
The seventh riff-off contender was prompted with “together,” as Everyday People brought the evening’s sets to a close, showcasing a soloist with vocal control as they fluctuated between different notes in “Let’s Stay Together.” They concluded the riff off with a remarkable Whitney Houston medley, with stanzas from “I Will Always Love You” that book-ended lines from “I Have Nothing.” The closing soloist put her own twists and turns on Houston’s classic melody, eliciting cheers from the audience.
The Mendicants hosts gave audience members minutes to cast their votes for the riff off winner. As the audience drum-rolled against their legs, paper programs in hand, the winner was declared: Everyday People.
The group was presented with a gold-plated, “dry-erase” trophy, declaring them “riff-off champions.” The audience chanted for an encore, and the ensemble responded cleverly. Hastily rearranging themselves in a semi-circle as the Mendicants scattered to side-stage, the hip hop and R&B singers expressed gratitude for the audience’s votes with “Thank You” by Boyz II Men.