Stanford Gaieties

Gaieties is an annual, student-written musical extravaganza tradition dating back to 1911. This year marks the 108th anniversary of Gaieties! Performed the week leading up to Big Game, Gaieties is the ultimate celebration of how proud, ridiculous, and clever we are as Stanford students. When Ram’s Head Theatrical Society was founded in 1911, Gaieties was born with it. That year, the group produced the first rendition of the show, known then as the “Football Follies,” a performance to rally students for the Stanford-Cal rugby game. The name was soon changed to the current “Big Game Gaieties.” From the 1920s ‘til the mid-1950s, the show was a revue of unrelated songs and sketches, sometimes three or more hours in length! In 1968, a misunderstanding between producers and writers led to the show not being produced. Gaieties returned to Stanford in 1976 as a staple of Big Game Week. The 1970s introduced the now-familiar plot and theme of “Beat Cal!” What you witness tonight is 108 years in the making: the alchemy of blood, sweat, tears, and above all else, laughter. Interested in purchasing group tickets? Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please do not hesitate to reach out to the producer Sam Duke at sduke2@stanford.edu.