Once Again, Our School Is Alive With the Sounds of V-Show

The Varsity Show, one of Columbia’s oldest traditions, is intended to be a satire on student life. Every year since 1894, a team of Columbia and Barnard students has created an entirely original musical about life at Columbia during the past year—including news events, student issues, and neighborhood changes. While the show always boasts talented cast members, writers, and directors, the Varsity Show is first and foremost a musical. In order for the show to be successful on this level, it needs a pair of dedicated and exceptionally talented composers.

This year, two of the most talented undergraduate musicians have taken on this job: Benjamin Velez, CC ’10, and Katie Hathaway, BC ’10, are the Varsity Show’s composers and lyricists. Benjamin spends most of his time immersed in music, whether it be singing in the on-campus a cappella group Nonsequitur, starring in campus musicals, or writing songs to give as presents to his friends and family. Katie Hathaway, who is looking to double major in music and English, participates in the Columbia University Jazz Ensemble and plays the piano for various productions on campus.

But writing for the Varsity Show is a difficult endeavor even for the experienced. There are many constraints that leave the composers/lyricists scrambling to create new and interesting ideas for each song. “It’s especially hard for the theme that we have,” Hathaway explained. “You basically can’t have too many of the same words, and you have to avoid using the same things in every song. So it’s a challenge to come up with songs that are different enough that all have to do with the same theme that aren’t all about the same thing.” Aside from the fact that each song must stick to a strict topic, “Varsity Show is not a normal musical,” Velez said. “It would be so much easier if we could write stuff as if it was a normal musical, but there’s no room for serious stuff. Everything has to be funny when you’re working to please a crowd of 4,000 people.”

Because they are challenged daily to develop captivating, funny, and topical songs about Columbia, it is important that Velez and Hathaway not only work well together, but also that they develop creative ways to approach their writing process. “We met up one morning in Elliot lounge,” Velez said, describing his first experience playing with Hathaway, “and there was just this connection and it was magical. I couldn’t have been happier to find a person I like writing [music] with so well.” Though there have always been teams of music writers working on the Varsity Show, this year’s process is even more collaborative than usual. “Since we both write lyrics and music ... the music and lyrics sound organic together, rather than like we’re trying to fit something to them,” Velez said.

Because the creative team is chosen during fall term and the show’s plot is not determined until at least a month into spring term, Velez and Hathaway chose to write music without any lyrics over winter break. “And thank God we did,” Hathaway said, “because basically all the ideas we came up with over break, we’ve used.” This reflects possibly the greatest challenge of writing for the Varsity Show—time constraints. “Because the time frame is so short we really need to just churn out the songs. We don’t have the luxury of being able to scrap it,” Hathaway said.

It is clear that such a strict time constraint is an enormous issue when composing an entirely original musical, and because of this, the Varsity Show has taken over the young composers’ lives. Hathaway and Velez estimated that they spend about 50 to 60 hours per week working on the music for the Varsity Show. “If I have free time I work on Varsity Show rather than homework because I feel it’s more important,” Velez said. While Hathaway said that she “didn’t feel exactly the same,” she later divulged that she “obviously can’t do all my homework, but I do some of it.”

“I care about Varsity Show more than I care about anything else at this school,” Velez went on to explain. “If you don’t feel that way, you won’t feel like you’re doing the best work you can.”
The 114th annual Varsity Show will run May 2-4.