The popular Lake Oswego High School show choir, Windjammer, is staging its annual Variety Show this coming weekend, Thursday, February 26 through Saturday, February 28 at 7:00 p.m. in the high school auditorium, 2501 Country Club Road. Here are seven things you don’t want to miss.

1. The Opening Song. This year’s Variety Show theme is, “Lean on Me,” with songs that speak to friendship and relationships. So it’s fitting that the show kicks off with Bill Withers’ hit, “Lean on Me,” which just happens to be Windjammer Vice-President, Julia Porter’s, favorite number in the lineup.

2. Variety. As new Choir/Windjammer Director, Megan Perdue explains, this is a variety show so expect to see just that—classical pieces, musical theater, as well as pop numbers with a few more surprises thrown in along the way.

3. The Sing-off Connection. Perdue is moving the Windjammers into contemporary a cappella—a music genre featured on the NBC singing competition, The Sing-Off. “That genre in our country is having a moment,” she says and has to point no further than the recent Grammy award for Sing-Off Season 3 winner, Pentatonix—a group that also managed to sell more than 1 million copies of its album, That’s Christmas. As a nod to this trend, Windjammers will be performing a couple arrangements from Season 2. See if you can spot them. One happens to be Windjammer member Thomas Curran’s favorite number, complete with beatboxing and all kinds of background sounds generated by very talented human voices.

4. Jazz Band. The Windjammers’ collaboration with the Jazz Band is one of the things that distinguishes this variety show from similar high school productions Perdue has been involved with. This event is an opportunity to embrace the phrase, “the more the merrier,” with 29 Windjammers joined by 15 jazz band members as well as five tech crew students making sure everything runs smoothly behind the scenes.

5. Loop Station. Like I said in point 2, this is a variety show, so one number features a loop station which records short snippets of sound (voice, clapping, instrument) and then repeats it over and over again to allow an individual performer to create his or her own accompaniment. Check out Imogen Heap for a good example. And then check out the Windjammer Variety Show for a live example!

6. The Pitch Perfect Connection. Perdue has a wide-ranging musical background, including a stint with University of Oregon’s award winning all female a cappella group, Divisi which provided inspiration for the popular movie, Pitch Perfect.

7. Future Windjammers of America. Both Friday and Saturday nights feature what the Windjammers hope are aspiring vocalists. On Friday evening, Windjammer Camp participants (grades K-8) will join in the opening number followed by choral students from Lake Oswego Junior High School on Saturday night.

Tickets are $10 for adults; $8 for students, children and seniors; and $15 at the door.