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What is Waa-Mu?
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 oppurtunity 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 exhilirating 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 Beaty, 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."
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