Bow ties at the ready, nearly 75 former members of the Stanford Fleet Street Singers returned to campus February 18 for the a cappella group’s 25th anniversary concert. Founded in 1981 by Chris Tucci, ’82, MS ’84, Kyle Kashima, ’82, MS ’85, and Timothy Biglow, ’82, Fleet Street is the University’s third-oldest singing group—and one known almost as much for their comedy as their close harmony.
Songs like “Everyone Pees in the Shower” are standards for the men, and alumni braved Northeast ice storms and endured flights from as far away as Switzerland to be able to sing “Prayer to the God of Partial Credit” again.
In just 48 hours, alumni reunited, rehearsed songs and skits, and performed 20 songs in Dinkelspiel Auditorium before 750 concert attendees. “It wasn’t just about the show,” director Sawyer Cohen, ’08, said. “A lot of the reunion was about coming together as a group, meeting all the older members, and giving older members a chance to catch up with each other.”
Current singers opened the concert with “Come Join the Band” before the evening progressed to songs like a Jekyll-and-Hyde interpretation of “Psycho Killer,” performed by Ben Evans, ’92, and Chad Dyer, ’93, MA ’94. “The show is something we work toward during the weekend, but it’s not the same kind of show that you go to in the spring,” said Michael Bernstein, ’06, one of the concert coordinators. “The reunion show is almost more of a cabaret.”
Bernstein added that songs like “Masochism Tango” benefited from solo reinterpretation by alumni. “They were trading off, singing things in chords; they were taking the song to a new level,” he said.
The show also featured comedic skits: for “Floor Magnet,” a tin foil-wrapped Tim Cochran, ’88, was sucked to the floor of the stage. As Cohen noted, some things don’t change, even after a quarter century. “The slightly quirky and zany sense of humor—it was there at the beginning, and it has stayed the same.”
JULIE YEN, ’07, is a former Stanford intern.
