Into the Sing of things

Among the framed art and chandeliers in the basement of the Phi Mu house Tuesday, city slickers, orphans and Superman rocked out to a live band.

Police officers even showed up to arrest the “bad guy.”

But this wasn’t a domestic disturbance or a noise complaint. This was IU Sing rehearsal.

The new members of Phi Mu sorority and Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity are preparing for this weekend’s IU Sing, which will take place at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the IU Auditorium.

Phi Mu and Phi Sigma Kappa’s performance is titled “Superman Remix.”

Each year, new members from paired fraternities and sororities perform a short musical skit created and directed by older songleaders.

One of Phi Mu’s songleaders, sophomore Chelsey Stegmaier, said the songleaders have been working since November to select songs, change lyrics to fit their assigned theme and design choreography.

The pair’s skit shows Superman’s voyage from his parents’ home on the planet Krypton to an orphanage on Earth, where he meets his arch-nemesis, another orphan named Kryptonite. The two skirmish over Lois Lane.

In addition to singing and choreographed dancing, Phi Mu and Phi Sigma Kappa’s skit includes a rhythmic section with brushes.

Freshman Taylor Weis, who plays Superman, said he has enjoyed practicing for the show so far.

“Practices have been getting more fun as we go along,” Weis said. “It’s a good experience.”

Weis’ role involves rapping to a rewritten version of Jay-Z’s “It’s A Hard-Knock Life” and singing 3 Doors Down’s “Kryptonite.” He said he has never done anything like IU Sing before.

“Before this, all I’ve done was just lip-sync Backstreet Boys,” Weis said.

Performers have been practicing since mid-January, Stegmaier said.

During Tuesday’s two-hour practice, performers were constantly reminded by Stegmaier and her co-songleader, sophomore Adrienne Kaplan, to smile.

“Smile your face off,” Stegmaier said to the group. “Your cheeks should be hurting.”
Kaplan told the performers they needed to “bring it.”

For the songleaders, the transformation from where the group started to now has been impressive, they said.

“At the beginning, I didn’t even know how I was going to get them in a formation,” Kaplan said. “I get really excited for practices every night. It’s a sense of accomplishment from scratch until now.”

Stegmaier said the ultimate goal would be to place in this weekend’s competition so performers could see all their hard work pay off.

For the past two weeks, Phi Mu and Phi Sigma Kappa have been practicing for two hours Monday through Thursday.

Freshman Heather Gershon said practices have been fun because she has gotten to know people in another house and in her pledge class.

“By the end of practice, you can tell we’ve gotten so much better,” Gershon said.

Kaplan said the fun part of practices is just one of the reasons she has enjoyed being a songleader.

“On the weekend, I still look forward to practice,” Kaplan said.

For Stegmaier, the opportunities new members get to meet each other while practicing for IU Sing is one of the most important reasons for the program.

“Plus, you get to perform on the IU Auditorium stage,” Stegmaier said. “Not a lot of people can say that.”