A capella, comedy combo a tasty treat

On Friday night, two of Boston College's most talented performance groups, My Mother's Fleabag and The Acoustics, joined together in person and name to entertain a packed McGuinn 121. The lecture hall was filled with admiring fans and friends, all highly anticipating the fourth annual "Fleabacoustics" show. The combination of spine-tingling solos and slapstick improv was the perfect way to start the weekend right.

Before jumping right into the performance, Fleabag and the Acoustics joined together to perform a hilarious skit about star-crossed freshman lovers from opposing groups. Narrating this clandestine love affair with witty comments and unharmonious song bits were Clara de Soto, A&S '07, and Janice Pardue, A&S '08, of Fleabag. The groups fought over this love affair and eventually came to a peace agreement.

Peace lasted a few minutes, until the Acoustics decided that this year's show should be called "Acousti-bag" and that they would perform first. And perform they did, as The Acoustics warmed the audience up with an impressive first set. The first song got the audience all riled up as they belted out "All The Things That I've Done" by The Killers. Other stand-out performances were given by Jackie Roche, LSOE '08, who sang "Black Velvet," and Clare Swanson, A&S '07, who had an amazing solo debut.

After an emotional a cappella set, Fleabag took the stage to add some comedy to the mix. As usual, the audience screamed random suggestions to the Fleabaggers, which led to some pretty inane situations. The first game started with an audience member physically molding two actors together, showing off the troupe's ability with both wit and physical comedy. Dusty Moore, A&S '07, kept this game alive, as he was not afraid to put himself into very comprising positions.

Keerror Colquitt, A&S '10, sent the audience into hysterics in the "non-geographical" location skit, which took place in "Candyland." Other high points included the "Famous Death" game, in which Anna Nicole Smith's mysterious Trim-Spa death was acted out and led to an audience chant of "too soon, too soon."

After a brief intermission and a few more improv skits, the groups reconvened for the most entertaining part of the night. Nijah Cunningham, A&S '07, explained the rules to the annual "Doo-Run-Run" Fleabag vs. Acoustics challenge. This game gave the Acoustics the chance to prove they could do more than sing, and unfortunately gave the Fleabaggers a chance to sing. Members of each group were eliminated if they could not keep the rhyme going during the song. In the final rounds, all but one 'Stix member had been eliminated and was competing against three Fleabaggers. Fortunately, this Acoustic, Bob Regan, A&S '09, could rhyme and won the competition against all odds. The highly favored Fleabaggers were disappointed but were happy to see that the underdogs had a sense of humor and were worthy of sharing a stage.

The combination of the two groups kept the energy flowing all night. This successful marriage of Acousti-bag - or Fleabacoustics, whatever their name is - draws the question of why this event doesn't take place more than once a year, and why other performance groups don't get together for a change of pace.

Overall, this was a good way to break away from the Friday night routine. It broke up the waiting time between dinner and going out and left the audience in a good mood, excited for the night to follow. Although the Fleabacoustics will not be performing together until next year, their groups will be performing separately on campus this spring. Give them a chance in your Friday night limbo.