The excitement in the air was palpable as the lights dimmed in the Wisconsin Union Theater for the final showing of this year’s edition of Humorology, affectionately known to members of the Greek community as “Humo.”
As the largest student-organized philanthropic event in Wisconsin, Humorology’s annual musical has become a fixture on the Madison campus. The 2011 edition of the show, titled “Better Than Ever,” marks the 65th anniversary of the event, which raises funds for charity by showcasing students’ talents.
The musical consisted of six 20-minute acts, each produced and directed by different Greek organizations from the University of Wisconsin student body. The students are responsible for all stages of production, and all profits from the show go to charity.
The total amount of donations this year was about $20,000, said Roz Thompson, spokesperson for Humorology. The total revenue includes ticket sales from the musical as well as donations from other philanthropy events held throughout the year. All proceeds will be donated to Camp Heartland, a camp for children affected by HIV/AIDS.
For the final showing of Humorology on Saturday, a mixture of excited students, parents and members of the Madison campus community turned out to cheer on the hardworking crew. Various Greek fraternities and sororities staked out their respective spots in the theater to cheer their own cast members to victory and to take in the musical theater show.
When the theater lights were finally extinguished and the live orchestra replaced the piped-in music with the opening number, the cheers from the audience reached a crescendo as the executive producers of the show stepped out to introduce the first mini musical.
Their words could hardly be heard above the roar of the crowd as the audience shouted out the names of their respective Greek organizations.
Joseph Boehrer, a UW freshman who attended the performance, said he had come to cheer for his friends.
“They’ve all worked really hard for this,” he said. “Everyone’s been putting in eight hours of practice a day for their performances.”
As the curtains finally rose for the first stage of the evening, the cheers from the audience died down to scattered whoops and shouts as the first performers took to the stage.
The two hour performance was filled with acting, parodies of popular culture and acrobatics; there were complicated choreographed routines, along with timely jokes about collective bargaining, Lady Gaga’s recent antics and Charlie Sheen’s now infamous “winning” catchphrase.
For the final performance, anonymous judges evaluated each performance and the results were announced immediately after the end of the show. The Delta Gamma sorority and Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity jointly took top honors with their skit “Love Is Blind,” which was about characters from various board games coming to life and solving a mystery in similar fashion to the board game “Clue.”
Finishing second was a group composed of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and Alpha Gamma Rho, Delta Tau Delta and Chi Psi fraternities. Finishing third was Alpha Chi Omega sorority and Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity.
