Waa-Mu is Northwestern University's own original musical revue written, performed, and presented by Northwestern students. It's quirky name stands for the two organizations that banded together to present the first show in 1929, the W.A.A. or the Women's Athletic Association and the M.U. or the Men's Union. Since then, Waa-Mu has become a virtual institution for budding young theatrical talent. As one of the founder's Joe Miller once said, "Waa-Mu gives students the biggest musical revue challenge this side of Broadway. That's not bragging...that's what the show is and has to be." Pulitzer Prize Winner and Lyricist of "Fiddler on the Roof" as well as an accomplished Waa-Mu alum Sheldon Harnick wrote:

"Any young writer who would like to write for theatre should take advantage of the opportunity afforded by the Waa-Mu Show. Not only will his material be set, costumed, and orchestrated in a professional manner, but even more importantly it will be performed in front of large audiences...Whether the experience is exhilarating or depressing, it's bound to be enlightening."

Splashy sets, elaborate chorus numbers, amazing young talent, and well-written material are a hallmark of Waa-Mu. It is a show that has spawned the likes of such talents as Warren Beatty, Paul Lynde, Walter Kerr, Gregg Edelman, Cloris Leachman and many more. As Mr. Lynde wrote to Joe Miller from New York in 1956, "The Three Waa-Mu shows I did with you at NU still rank above anything I have done or seen in this town." To sum up the old cliche, you have to see it to believe it, certainly rings true for what the Associated Press once called "the greatest college show in America."

The earliest account of an original theatrical production at Northwestern dates back to the late 1800s and was described as: "Mustached freshman in peg-leg trousers and turtle-necked sweaters burned their trigonometry books each spring on the athletic field. The attending ceremonies became more elaborate until in 1896 nine cents was charged for admission to the festivities. From that time on, the "Trig Shows" were presented on the chapel stage or in whatever theatres Evanston of the 1890s and early 1900s offered." It was the playful burning of math books at the close of the last century that first established the tradition of an all campus theatrical event at Northwestern each Spring.

The Formation of W.A.A. A group of undergraduate women banded together to form the Women's Athletic Association, "to bring out" according to their by-laws, "the pep and push which is the first necessity in the so-called 'Greater Northwestern'." They opened membership to all NU coeds, based on participation in intramural or varsity sports. From 1912 through 1915, the W.A.A. staged a minstrel show billed as a Frolic, at Ravinia Park north of the city of Chicago. In 1916, the W.A.A. Frolic became the W.A.A County Fair, a festival and small show held off campus. In 1920 and '21 it moved on campus and was held in the gym.

Six more W.A.A. shows followed up to the 1928 show "Sea Plus" which first boasted a 9 piece all woman orchestra. The show revolved around the adventures of college students on a floating university making exotic ports of call around the world.

While the W.A.A. flourished with its all female show, male undergraduates had their own production, Hermit and Crow shows. Original comic operas with all male casts and librettos, lyrics, and music composed by both male and female students. Unlike the W.A.A. shows, the Hermit and Crow struggled to break even. Nineteen Twenty-Six marked the last production as half the football team joined the cast to prove that it was a "man's show." In the final cast was a man named Joe Miller who would eventually inspire a greater production.

Eventually two senior men conceived an idea that would come to incur a skirmish of the sexes at Northwestern, help erect a campus center called Scott Hall, and create a student show that would touch the lives of thousands for decades to come.

Late in 1928 two senior males rooming together at the Phi Delta Theta fraternity formulated an idea. The W.A.A. had a successful show, they reasoned, and the M.U. wanted to be a part of one. Why not bring the two together? The names behind the bright idea were Joe Miller and Darrell Ware.

The W.A.A. was furious. Why should it let bankrupt men into its thriving show? Ware and Miller argued that profits weren't the important thing, that a boy-girl show would reap much greater rewards, and that if profits were the women's chief concern, the two of them would run out and raise enough money in advance to guarantee the W.A.A. a profit. Finally the W.A.A. relented and agreed to join the men of the M.U. in producing the country's first ever coed collegiate musical revue. The women's surrender shook the news as Chicago Examiner headlines in March of 1929 shouted, "Coeds Go Ziegfield- N.U. Plans Own Show!"

The Women's Athletic Association and the Men's Union joined hands and Waa-Mu was born. To symbolize joint authority, Waa-Mu co-chairs were chosen. For 49 shows thereafter, two students, one male and one female were chosen in the tradition as co-chairs.

Joe Miller, a senior in the School of Journalism directed the show and Darrell Ware wrote the show's book. Finally the big day arrived as the campus and a nervous cast and crew counted the hours before the shows opening. The Daily Northwestern read "Ring up Curtain on Show Tonight." The costumes were ready, sets had been built, final touches on the orchestra and dances were complete.

Chicago critics, attending under pressure and not too happy about it, promptly got into the spirit of the show and ate it up, amazed at the professional polish Joe Miller had achieved.

The result: WAA-MU critics silenced...the coed musical comedy was gloriously launched!