The Varsity Show

The Varsity Show this year was AMAZING!!!!!!!!

For those unacquainted with the concept, The V Show is one of Columbia’s more amusing campus traditions, an original student musical performed every Spring. This year marked the 114th year of the V Show, and if I may say so, the best one ever (including the time a young Rogers and Hammerstein wrote it– not kidding about that, they actually did).

I have the pleasure of knowing a number of people involved in the show, so you can rest assured that my opinions are totally unbiased. I would mainly like to send a shout out to Katie Hathaway, who composed/lyricized this amazingness. I would also like to point out to all you newly-accepted Barnard women that Katie is a sophomore. She is a sophomore. And she is the composer/lyricist of the largest production on campus (she may have had some help from her co-composer/lyricist, also a sophomore). That should pretty much warm the cockles of any theatre/music student’s heart. Or at least I think its amazing.

Also, because Katie is awesome, and a number of other Barnard women participated in the writing/acting/performing/dancing, etc, this years’ show was completely Barnard-centric. Last year, the V Show acted like Barnard didn’t even exist, and it was disappointing. This year’s was amazingly empoweringly Barnard, partly because I knew most of the jokes about us were made by my friends and in the spirit of good collegiate fun. If you’re in NYC this weekend, SEE ITTTTTTTTTT.

If you’re not, here are some spoilers that will make you weep with amazingness:

Judith Shapiro, outgoing Barnard President, was one of the principle characters. She was played by a Barnard Junior, who got J Shap exactly right. She was “larger than life,” and amazing! Also, J Shap attended the show at the same time as me, and she was reportedly laughing hysterically at herself. I also overheard her tell a friend “that was a lot of fun” after the show. They also referred to her dog as “my majestic ebony poodle, Nora,” and she was referred to as a “cruel and pretty dictator” by the head of CU Security (a shout out to CU President Bollinger’s comments to the President of Iran).

Whenever someone blew their rape whistle, EVERY SINGLE Barnard woman in the cast came running to her aid, including President Shapiro (who apparently keeps a spare whistle in her bra).

The song “Strong Beautiful,” which includes the line “Raise your Barnard Bear (raise your bear!)!!!” (an homage to the mini Barnard bears each student gets at commencement). This is also a rousing Barnard-pride anthem. (Katie wrote it!!!!!)

A giant paper mache Barnard bear.

The principle Barnard student being thrown into the Nexus hole, and then being rescued by J Shap.

And finally……. the principle Columbia student announcing that she’s planning on transferring to Barnard, which was met with a roar of spontaneous cheering from the audience.

It was awesome. And you can check out more here: http://www.thevarsityshow.com/v114/