MADISON, Wis. — A Broadway-caliber entertainment group is getting ready to tour Wisconsin and the Midwest.

What You Need To Know

  • The Wisconsin Singers is a decades-old performance group at UW-Madison

  • Nearly every person involved in the production is a student, and not all of them are performing arts majors

  • The group sings and dances to popular songs accompanied by a live band

  • The group tours Wisconsin and the Midwest each year

The Wisconsin Singers is a decades-old tradition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Nearly every person involved in the production is a student, and not all of them are arts, music or theater majors.

Erin Ranum is a member of the Wisconsin Singers. She’s a graduate student pursuing a master’s degree in education.

“I’m balancing working eight-hour days in a school, and then coming to Wisconsin Singers performances, shows and meetings in the evenings,” she said.

Senior Malik Epps didn’t know about the Wisconsin Singers when he first started at UW-Madison.

“I did musical theater, choir and dance all throughout middle and high school,” he said. “Then when I got to college, I had this mindset that I wouldn’t really get to do that anymore.”

He was happy to learn that wasn’t true.

The Wisconsin Singers group has been a staple on UW-Madison’s campus since 1967. Not only are all the singers and dancers UW students, but so are the musicians in the live band and the technical workers in charge of things like lighting and sound. A team of students even runs the business, advertising and planning side of things.

A group of professionals helps guide them in every facet of production and performance.

“For the arts, it’s really rare to get this professional opportunity,” said Abby Pritzl, who is an alum of the Wisconsin Singers and is now the executive producer of the group. “We show up in a theater, we make it our own for those six hours that we’re there. And then we pack it all up and we go home.”

In every city they perform in, the Wisconsin Singers provide a free clinic for young people in grades 5 through 12.

“For me, knowing that I’m a part of that and I’m really influencing someone to really want to continue to perform, really matters to me,” said Epps.

Pritzl said being in the Wisconsin Singers teaches UW students so much more than how to perform for a crowd.

“They’ll come back and say, ‘Wow, I learned professionalism in Singers even though it was about being on the stage’,” she said.

Ranum said it’s a special experience to be a part of the group.

“There’s nothing like hearing the crowd roar and see the smiles when we take the stage and when we exit the stage,” she said.

You can find more information on how to see the Wisconsin Singers, here.

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