In case you're unfamiliar with the act, Straight No Chaser is made up of former University of Indiana students whose mid-1990s education included belonging to an on-campus a cappella group. When the members returned to campus for a 10-year reunion in 2006, their performance of "The 12 Days of Christmas" was videotaped and posted on YouTube, where it became the very definition of a viral craze, logging millions of online views.
That set the group on its current course, which, in addition to sold-out concerts, includes a recent PBS fund-raiser performance and a record deal with the Atlantic label (its latest CD is "With a Twist").
For its Harrah's summer residency, SNC has opted to expand its normal concert blueprint to present more of a formal revue that's a chronological survey of pop music of the past six decades.
Considering the singers have about 6 trillion tunes from which to choose, it's to their credit that, with two glaring exceptions, they have hit the mark.
The first segment, spotlighting the 1950s, was probably the easiest to put together, as this was the decade when doo-wop was king. The troupe cruises through such harmony-dripping standards as the Chords' "Sh-boom," the Coasters' "Get a Job," and the Flamingos' take on the Harry Warren-Al Dubin classic "I Only Have Eyes for You," all of which play to SNC's many vocal strengths.
The rest of the program follows a similar tack as the group applies its singular treatment to a bunch of a decade's signature hits. That not only involves shimmering, lush vocalizing marked by intricate harmony work but also updating the chestnuts with "human beat box" tricks as certain members use their voices to re-create percussive and bass sounds.
More than one unsuspecting reviewer at a recent media night performance was led to believe there was either a band hiding backstage or that SNC was singing to recorded instrumental tracks.
