Wycliffe Community Comes Together To Host Visiting Spizzwinks Singers Story by Jessica Gregoire Photos by Abner Pedraza and Jessica Gregoire
Helene Weiss is a proud grandmother who will do anything for her grandson Jeremy Weiss — even get 19 men from his a cappella group, Yale University’s Spizzwinks, accepted as guests in the homes of friends and neighbors in the Wycliffe Golf & Country Club. The high-spirited singers perform throughout the world, from the White House to as far away as Asia, turning traditional and contemporary songs into quirky a cappella performances that captivate audiences. The Spizzwinks, who perform only during school breaks, were coming down to Florida for their annual spring tour. They had a few performances throughout the state, including at Disney World, and needed places to stay. Jeremy, who knows that his grandmother is resourceful and good at organizing events, asked her for help. “He’s very busy with school, and he
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thought that grandma could help him,” Weiss recalled. “Since I sell group tickets for a lot of performances like the Palm Beach Pops and at the Lake Worth Playhouse, he thought with all my contacts, I would be a good person to help with this tour.” Weiss then got to work and did about three months of full-time planning. She sold tickets to Spizzwinks shows and even booked them a few performances at schools, temples and local venues such as the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center. She also got them a performance at Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas. “Wellington was wonderful. The equestrian center went head over heels
over them, and they got a standing ovation,” Weiss said. The Spizzwinks also performed at Temple Beth Torah in Wellington. “I’ve been getting calls and e-mails about how much people enjoyed their performance there, too,” she said. All of this would not have been possible without the help of Diane and Dan Gower, Ingrid Fishman, Judy and Art Garcia, Elise and Leon Nagler, Sharon and Marty Richmond, Carol and Michael Molack, and Susan and Paul Brenner. These friends and neighbors each hosted several of the Spizzwinks in their home for about a week. They treated them like their own family and