Spring Sing 2018 has come and gone and the show put together by Ju Go Ju and Ko Jo Kai women’s social clubs and Sub-T 16 men’s social club, “Houston, We Have a Problem,” came out on top, winning best entertainment, visuals, music and staging and, most importantly, the John H. Ryan Sweepstakes Award.
“I honestly had decided that we were not even going to win,” the show’s director, sophomore Anna-Grace Shields said. “I was really glad people liked it and I was very proud of it.”
Shields directed the show alongside sophomores Kally Byrd, Kizzie Citty, and Hannah Rushing.
“There is no such thing as a perfect a production, but I thought it was good and very strong representative the students,” Spring Sing’s producer Cindee Stockstill said.
Every year, each show performs for a charity, with the winning show receiving the most money for their charity. “Houston, We Have a Problem” performed for The Sunshine School and awarded the charity $2,000.
“It is always gratifying to see when a club rises and is able to perform on multiple levels, because it means they’ve done a really good job overall, and I think this year was a good example of that,” Spring Sing director Dr. Steve Frye said. “I thought that the show was a very good show.”
Men’s social club TNT and women’s social club Zeta Rho’s “The Tooth, The Whole Tooth & Nothing But The Tooth” placed second overall awarding CASA $1,000, men’s social club Chi Sigma Alpha and women’s social clubs Regina and Sigma Phi Mu’s “Going Home Plane & Simple” won the Spirit Award and placed third overall awarding Habitat for Humanity $800, men’s social club Omega Phi and women’s social club Delta Gamma Rho’s “Cut Loose: The Barbershop Tunes” placed fourth overall awarding Searcy Children’s Homes $600. The four remaining club shows awarded $400 to their charities.
“The higher placed clubs pay more attention to their music selection and their writing of lyrics and that makes a big difference,” Frye said. “Everybody thinks it is easy until you start doing it.”
At the end of the awards ceremony, Frye announced that the theme for Spring Sing 2019 will be “The Greatest Show” and will take place April 20, 2019.
“There are so many good people here and sometimes I think we miss that,” Frye said. “We miss that we are surrounded by people that are really exceptional, and we need to take a pause and realize how fortunate we are and how blessed we are to have this moment in time together.”
Spring Sing 2018 was dedicated to Dr. John (Jack) H. Ryan who died March 14, 2018. He helped start Spring Sing and produced the shows for 34 years.