A little bit of everything in a tidy 45-minute package.
 
With a roster three times the size of the group that took the GCU Thunderground stage last April, the Grand Canyon University Club A Cappella group saw every couch and chair filled in front of them, and wowed the audience with a festive nine-song set at the GCU Fall Showcase Wednesday night on the GCU campus. The event displayed a growing versatility for the group that now counts themselves two-dozen strong after having to rebuild the program from the ground up last year.
 
"The high point of the night? Just performing together and bonding as a team," said GCU Club A Cappella Head Coach Jackie Paul, who resurrected the program 14 months ago. "It was hard to fit on the stage with the group being so big now, so we had to maneuver and figure things out a little differently. We would think of new, cool ideas, though, when we went through practice and dress rehearsal."
 
Calling themselves the 'Canyon Crescendos', the group gave a quick welcome, and delved right into a harmony-filled medley of the Bill Withers classic "Lean on Me" coupled with Pink's "So What".
 

After being introduced individually, the next part of the set went acoustic guitar, with Jacob Shipley playing and singing Nothing but Thieves "Lover, Please Stay"; Paul and GCU Club A Cappella Assistant Coach Savannah Robinson combining for a medley of Nick Jonas' "Chains" and One Direction's "Drag Me Down"; and Ben Boehm finishing off the set with a moody rendition of Gregory Alan Isakov's "Big Black Car".
 

Lopes' junior newcomer Cal Swift then galvanized the crowd when he came up to the stage for a six-part all-guys medley, and directed the audience to go on the group's social media accounts and vote in the "who's better" competition of the male versus the female singers. He, Shipley, Boehm, Matt Aguilar, Gabriel Romero and Kevin Galicia then broke into Chris Stapleton's "Tennessee Whiskey" and Avicii's "Wake Me Up". The women then took the stage, and Paul, Robinson, Jocelyn Bradfute, Taylor Jackson, Emma Milton, Sarah Garrett, Melanie Hreha and Becca Rupe belted out a layered version of Britney Spears' "Toxic".
 
Finally, the group tested the dimensions of the small stage by joining forces for the final tune of the night, "You Are The Music In Me" from High School Musical, with Robinson, Swift, Aguilar and Addy Avery providing solos during the multilayered and satisfying finale.
 
"Honestly, we were scared about the transitions, the stands, the stools, and the fillers with guitars," said Robinson. "We practiced on stage just once before tonight, but the whole team pulled it off. It was all of them. It was teamwork, and it was WORTH the work."