Crete-Monee Show Choir Spectacular Preview

The Illinois show choir season is in full swing with the Crete-Monee Show Choir Spectacular! Several debuts of programs big and small headline the Spectacular lineup.

While Crete-Monee has featured a wide variety of divisions over the past few years, this year features a relatively standard mix of divisions. Groups will compete in middle school, womens, varsity (lower mixed) and championship (upper mixed) divisions.

The Lineup

Championship: Waubonsie Valley “Sound Check”, Alan B. Shepard “Nova”, Dwight D. Eisenhower “Express” and Wheaton North “Flight”

Varsity: Peotone “Powerhouse”, Herscher “Class Act”, Watseka “Sensations”, Sullivan “Singers” and Unity “Vocal Rush”

Womens: Waubonsie Valley “Resonance”

Middle School: Sullivan Middle School “Singers Jr.”

With an all-Illinois line-up, and a confirmed five-slot finals, it's anyone's guess as to how this competition will play out. The judging panel includes Lafayette Jefferson director (and former Waubonsie Valley director) Mark Myers, former Cedar Rapids Kennedy and Crete-Monee director Kevin Bedford, North Ridge Middle director Jennifer Woodrow and Jeffery Grosso, a regular on the Spectacular judging panel for the last several years.

CM Spectacular has always held an interesting relationship with crosstown rivals Wheaton Warrenville South and Wheaton North. In 2018, Wheaton Warrenville South’s mixed group, The Classics, won Grand Champion, with their treble group, Esprit, placing just under them, 1st Runner-Up in finals. Could Wheaton North continue the great Wheaton tradition and sweep again? Flight is coming off a remarkable season, completely sweeping three out of their five competitions, losing only to The Classics and Clinton Attaché. With the departure of Stephen Todd, one of their two choreographers, the returning April James could be a grounding force for Flight. 

They will have to go through Sound Check, who placed three spots lower than Flight at least year's Clash of the Sequins. With Danville cancelled this year, Crete-Monee has become Waubonsie's season-opening competition.

As Dwight D. Eisenhower Express comes off of a year hiatus of a non-competitive season, the group is coming back with a vengeance. With choreography by Sam Mulligan, their show is bound to have high-energy dance numbers. They secured a 6th-place finals result at Milton Rock the Rock against an array of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois groups. Notably, they beat out Oswego Commotion for a finals spot. Express will be looking to move up placements, possibly disrupting what others may be assumed to be an easily predicted competition. 

Sam Mulligan, choreography king of central Illinois, not only choreographs Express but Alan B. Shepard Nova as well. In what many assume will be the fight for 2nd and 3rd runner-up, Express may have the upper hand considering no other Championship groups have made a competition debut. 

With a packed Championship division, there is still a spot in a five-group finals situation. In the Varsity division, Herscher Class Act is the only group that has made their 2023-2024 competition debut. They placed third in lower mixed at the Mt. Zion Midwest Invitational earlier this January. With inconsistent past seasons from many of the other Varsity groups, the last spot in the finals is truly anyone's game. 

Sitting in the lone treble division is Waubonsie Valley Resonance also making this year's competitive debut. They only previously performed in a community show at the DuPage Valley Conference Clinic in December along with their large mixed group, Sound Check. With a public performance already under their belt and a lonely treble division, Resonance could also be reaching for a finals spot. 

With former directors galore, a finals spot up for grabs, and enough Illinois show choir debuts for one weekend the Crete-Monee Show Choir Spectacular is sure to not disappoint!