Yale's Whiffenpoofs To Perform at Marines' Memorial Theatre 5/27

The Whiffenpoofs - Yale University's famed a cappella group - will make a rare Bay Area appearance at San Francisco's Marines' Memorial Theatre (609 Sutter St.) for one night only on Friday, May 27th at 7 p.m. Tickets range in price from $50 - 100 and are on-sale now at the Marines' Memorial Theatre box office, by phone at 415-771-6900 and on the Web at marinesmemorialtheatre.com.

Recently featured on the second season of the hit NBC show, "The Sing-Off," the Whiffenpoofs are widely recognized as the first college a cappella group and, to this day, are one of the most in-demand a cappella choirs in the world, singing over 200 concerts annually. The Whiffenpoofs have performed in such countries as New Zealand, Kenya, Denmark and India and have been featured on "Saturday Night Live," "Jeopardy!" and "The West Wing."

"We are very excited to once again perform in the San Francisco Bay Area," said Daniel Turcza, Business Manager for the Whiffenpoofs. "Television shows like 'Glee' and 'The Sing-Off,' have reinvigorated America's fascination with a cappella groups, so we look forward to connecting with fans, both old and new!"

Featuring such songs as "Midnight Train to Georgia" (Gladys Knight), "Space Oddity" (David Bowie) and "All in Love is Fair" (Stevie Wonder), the set-list will include everything from pop songs and show tunes to jazz standards and traditional Yale songs, including "The Whiffenpoof Song" - famously recorded by Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Elvis Presley and many more.

The Whiffenpoofs will perform at San Francisco's Marines' Memorial Theatre for one night only on Friday, May 27th at 7 p.m. Tickets range in price from $50 - 100 and are on-sale now at the Marines' Memorial Theatre box office, by phone at 415-771-6900 and on the Web at marinesmemorialtheatre.com.

For more information on the Whiffenpoofs, visit whiffenpoofs.com.

ABOUT THE WHIFFENPOOFS

More than 100 years ago, on a frosty January night in New Haven, Connecticut, five of the Yale Glee Club's best singers convened at Mory's Temple Bar to escape the cold. Louis Linder, the tavern's barkeep and a music aficionado, welcomed them in, beginning an institution that survives to this day.

Of those original five singers, four were members of the Glee Club's prestigious Varsity Quartet, a group that sang together regularly at various alumni events. Unwilling to restrict themselves to performances at public functions, the group began to meet on a weekly basis at Mory's, where they improvised harmonies to the songs they loved so well. These weekly meetings soon became a hallowed tradition amongst the singers.

As their fame on campus grew, the quintet began their search for a name. Denton 'Goat' Fowler, tickled by a joke featuring a mythical dragonfish named the Whiffenpoof, suggested the name to his companions, who found the name an apt reflection of the atmosphere of levity that accompanied the group's gatherings. The word quickly caught on with the group's admirers, and the name stuck.

In the years since, each generation of Whiffenpoofs have taken up the mantle of their forebears. For more than one century of songsters, the name, the song, and the weekly date at Mory's have remained inviolate traditions that continue to bind them together.

Every year, 14 senior Yale men are selected to be in the Whiffenpoofs. Sadly, the Whiffenpoof lifespan is short. Membership lasts one year, and re-auditioning is not permitted.