Spring Fling features new takes on TV shows

By Sam Wilson

Published April 20, 2007

Lucy Ricardo learning a hip-hop dance. A FOX News team resembling White Goodman's crew in the movie "Dodgeball" attempting a take-over of KOMU/Channel 8 and kidnapping Mary Tyler Moore in the process. A modern-day teenage girl enters the world of "Leave it to Beaver."

This is not some multi-generation dream, but instead a few highlights from preliminary performances in Greek Week's Fling event.

The event features skits from groups of sorority and fraternity pairings. Each skit must be 13 minutes in length. The skit must have singing, acting and dancing. For the first time, this year's skits also must have an introduction video, which will be an interpretation of the introduction for the old television show the group is performing.

All preliminary skits must end with a cliffhanger so as to garner suspense leading into the act's performance at finals, should it qualify. The act will then have five minutes to settle the cliffhanger.

Tickets for Fling preliminaries were $9 in advance and $10 at the door. Most of the money will go toward organizations that are Greek Week beneficiaries. A portion of the ticket revenue is saved for the top four groups in the competition to donate to another charity organization that is not a Greek Week beneficiary.

Robert Muench, a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity, performed as a Russian bat in "A Magical Source, Of Course, Of Course," an interpretation of the TV show "Mr. Ed." His band of animals attempts to steal Mr. Ed's magical horseshoes, so they can communicate with humans.

"It means a whole lot to me," Muench said. "Because I'm actually giving back to my house in some way."

Muench said it is a thrill to perform on the stage.

"It's great," he said. "Heart pumping, energy going, great feeling."

Eric Javorsky, a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity, attended Wednesday night's preliminaries to support his chapter.

"It's a chance to show Greektown what our house can do," Javorsky said. "What our house is made of."

Jessie Lewis is on the Fling Steering Committee and is one of the emcees of the event.

"I think it's a fun part," she said. "It's a chance for all the chapters to get together, group up and then show everyone what they've got. They work really hard for this for three months, and then they get to be up on stage for 13 minutes. So it's fun for them because it gets to show kind of the more comedic side of everyone."

Alysa Tarantino of Pi Beta Phi sorority said she has worked for two to three hours every night for three weeks preparing for her role in "We're Gonna Make It After All," a take on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." Despite the hard work, she said the final product is "the best feeling in the world."

Josh Vonder Haar is a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and performed as a dancer on Tuesday night. He said the event was one of the best parts of Greek Week, but it did not come without hard work.

"It was great," he said. "Actually, a lot of these people put in a lot of effort."

Vonder Haar said he loves the feeling of performing in the event.

"The amount of energy that's going through is amazing," he said.

Lewis said donating extra proceeds to a charity of a chapter's choice is not the only benefit of winning the competition.

"They also get bragging rights," she said. "To win something like this that you've worked so hard for is just like a relief, an adrenaline rush, because you are the best of the best. You did the best on your props, on your costumes, your acting and singing and everything."

Thursday night's performances were also not lacking in comedic value. Some of the funnier shows that were recreated were "The Partidge Family", "The Little Rascals," and "I Dream of Jeanie".

Kappa Delta sorority, Kappa Alpha Order fraternity, and Delta Sigma Phi fraternity received copious amounts of laughter for their rendition of "The Partridge Family." The family is taking a trip in their bus, when the driver accidentally shifts the car into 'time travel mode.' The family is then thrust into 2007 where they learn that their music is no longer hip.

Participants said this event is a great moral booster for everyone involved. It gets the audience laughing and brings to mind those who are in need. It opened with a video showing people who belong to the various charities that will be benefited by this event, talking about how much they are helped by Greek Week after the emcee asked for a moment of silence to commemorate those people who lost their lives in the Virginia Tech shooting.