Third Annual Beaux Eaux Follies Concert

By carolinianweb on April 6, 2016 • ( 0 )

Alexea Brown
Staff Writer

The UNCG Music Department hosted its third annual Beaux Eaux (pronounced “Bo-Zo”) Follies Concert, appropriately so, on the night of Friday, April 1 – April Fool’s Day, in the music building’s Recital Hall. The event was free to attend, asking only that attendees bring canned goods and nonperishable food items that could be donated to the Urban Ministry. Guests of all ages filled the auditorium for a night of music, comedy, games and creativity.

The program consisted of a series of comical skits and springy musical numbers performed by UNCG students and faculty members. At many times throughout the show, audience members were invited to go on stage to participate in funny and family-friendly games and activities. In one of the games, “Name That Tune,” inspired by Ellen DeGeneres’ “Heads Up” game, about 15 attendees came to the stage and formed two teams—each of which took turns choosing cards with the names of the songs that they’d have to play on kazoos, and audience members guessed which tunes were being played. The cards listed popular titles including Rihanna’s “Work” and Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” as well as classics like “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” the theme from “Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony” and “Sweet Caroline.” After the game ended, the two teams were faced with a noise contest where the team who could make the most noise with their kazoos were named the winners. The winning team was given tribal dinosaur hats, and the losing team: a bag of rocks to share. The game was all in good fun, and it was obvious that everyone, both on stage and off, was enjoying themselves.

A second skit involved a faux-presidential election to give the audience candidate options outside of those we’ve been presented with in real life. One of the candidates was a man who was passionately pro-anything-beginning-with-the-letter-“p”—pizza especially. The other was a young, trendy hipster whose speech was centered on explaining his and his crew’s lingo. In the background was a trumpet player and a student waving an American flag.

An event put on by the music program wouldn’t be complete without a few musical numbers. Toward the middle of the show, two students and a faculty member teamed up to perform a song on a single piano. The original piece caused the energy in the room to shift as audience members focused on the three artists, whose pieces all had their own tone.

One of the last acts featured a man who performed a wonderful song about spring as he frolicked around in a black trench coat and twirled an umbrella “Mary Poppins” style. What the audience didn’t expect, though, was his favorite spring pastime—poisoning pigeons in the park. Show-goers laughed heartily as the performer cheerfully sang his morbid song and sprinkled his pigeon poison on the stage.

This hilariously entertaining but simple event was an awesome way for students to get into the light and fun spirit of spring, and those who missed it will likely have the privilege of viewing the fourth annual showing next year.