AUBURN, Ala. (EETV) - Last Friday the Jay and Susie Gogue Performing Arts Center continued its 2024-2025 season with Voctave, The Corner of Broadway & Main Street. It was a show performed by the a cappella group Voctave that ran for two hours, and featured songs from several Broadway and Disney musicals.
A cappella is an entirely vocal style of musical performance that uses no instrumental accompaniment, similar to choir. Each member of the group must contribute to the music by singing only, whether that be as the main voice or as a melody. Each of Voctave’s eleven members were incredibly talented with their own unique sound.
The show covered a surprisingly wide range of musical numbers, from Broadway famous songs such as Pure Imagination (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) to iconic Disney songs such as Feed the Birds (Mary Poppins), and even a few themes from TV shows like The Jetsons. Each was well presented and memorable.
Instead of trying to simply perform songs better than the originals, Voctave builds off of them, introducing their own unique spin on how the numbers can be performed while still preserving their original charm. One example of this was how they introduced comedic bits into a few of their songs, such as in Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (also Mary Poppins) when they sang it “backwards” by turning away from the audience and singing it normally. However, the greatest example of Voctave's unique performances was when they sang the second to last song of the evening, which was Somewhere (West Side Story). For this number, each member sang one at a time, while the rest provided a melody. This really highlighted each member’s distinct style and resulted in a very memorable experience.
Voctave, The Corner of Broadway & Main Street was an entertaining, well executed, and unforgettable show featuring a group of eleven talented performers.
