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May 21, 2022 at 7:30 PM
Upper Larimer
3034 Larimer Street
Denver, CO 80205

Whiffs & Wizards: An Evening of A Cappella Music

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The 50th Anniversary Yale Whiffenpoofs



Founded in 1909, the Yale Whiffenpoofs is the oldest college a cappella singing group in the nation. Launched by a talented quartet from the Yale Glee Club, they quickly established a unique singing style and met religiously every week to sing at Mory’s, a century-old Yale watering hole.

Cole Porter was the most famous Whiffenpoof, but it was Rudy Vallee who made the group famous with his 1927 recording of the Whiffenpoof Song.  Written in 1907, the song is a humorous adaptation of a Rudyard Kipling poem, and the Whiffenpoof is a mythical dragon-fish that appeared in Little Nemo, a Victor Herbert play on Broadway.

Over the years, the Yale Whiffenpoofs expanded from four to fourteen members who typically sing in four parts – first and second tenor, baritone, and bass.  The repertoire consists entirely of songs written and arranged by the group’s members.  A new class of Whiffs is “tapped” every year, so the group is constantly refreshed by new voices and styles.  Growing demand has resulted in numerous television appearances and an expansive tour schedule that has taken the group around the world, singing for POTUS in the White House, the Dalai Lama in Tibet, and penguins in Antarctica.
The 50th Anniversary Whiffenpoofs of 1971 is one of the most cohesive and active Whiff groups, singing together at reunions, charity concerts, and family milestone events. At Yale, they sang regularly at Mory’s, gave concerts on football weekends and at other campus events, sang spontaneously in dining halls, and toured the US and Bermuda.  Their mellow sound, tight harmonies, and fun arrangements are a testament to over a century of Whiff tradition.

 

The New Wizard Oil Combination



In the early 1970s, Wally Collins, Associate Dean of the University of Colorado’s College of Music, was wandering through a sheet music store in Boulder when he found an old songbook written in 1889 called “Hamlin’s Wizard Oil Combination Songbook.”  Wizard Oil was one of many cure-all elixirs prevalent at the time.  It was first produced in 1861 in Chicago by former magician John Austin Hamlin and his brother Lysander Hamlin and sold as a topical liniment for rheumatic pain and sore muscles.  But the Hamlins also sold Wizard Oil as a cure for pneumonia, cancer, diphtheria, earache, toothache, headache, and hydrophobia. Since it was 50%-70% alcohol, along with camphor, ammonia, chloroform, sassafras, cloves, and turpentine, after downing a spoonful or two, you didn’t much care what ailed you.

In the 1880s and 1890s, the Hamlins used traveling performance troupes to advertise Wizard Oil in medicine shows across the Midwest and West. Members of these “Wizard Oil Combinations” included the poet James Whitcomb Riley, one of whose poems inspired the comic strip Little Orphan Annie, Paul Dresser, singer and composer of "On the Banks of the Wabash," Indiana’s State song, and southern gospel music composer Charlie Tillman.

The Combinations traveled in horse-drawn wagons, dressed in silk top hats, frock coats, pinstriped trousers, and patent leather shoes with spats, and they sold songbooks at their shows and in pharmacies.  (The Hamlins used the profits from Wizard Oil to build and manage Chicago's Grand Opera House, home of the original productions of L. Frank Baum’s “The Wizard of Oz” and Victor Herbert’s “Babes in Toyland” at the turn of the century, but that’s another story.)

When Wally Collins found that century-old songbook, he decided to form an a cappella group to recapture the magic of the old Wizard Oil Combinations.  The group first came together in 1972 – 50 years ago – and became the New Wizard Oil Combination, a 14-member, all male a cappella group, affectionately known as “The Wizards.”  Today, the Wizards perform a variety of songs, from classic rock to jazz to easy listening.  But they still perform the “Wizard Oil” medley from the songbook, and they will make you forget about any ailment you have with their impressive melodies and intoxicating sound.


 

The Lion Project      

The Lion Project is a Denver-based not-for-profit company that helps other nonprofits grow through video creation and production and service projects. Its vision is to change lives through video story-telling, and this year it is raising funds to help place foster children in homes where they can thrive.

General Terms

All items are non-refundable, all sales are final.

Refund Policy

All items are non-refundable under any circumstances.

Item Transfer Policy

Non-Transferable ticket.

Age Restriction
Drink coupons are only available to audience members age 21 and older.