A painted piece of cardboard with a hole in it became a magical flying carpet last night as members of Alpha Chi Omega and Pi Kappa Alpha, 417 E. Prospect Ave., sang and dance to songs from Disney's Aladdin, just one of 21 performances at Penn State's 21st annual Greek Sing competition.

This year's event, "Making Musical Magic," brought fraternities and sororities together to present their own abbreviated renditions of popular musicals.

The overall winners of Greek Sing were the Kappa Alpha fraternity, 234 E. Beaver Ave., and Kappa Alpha Theta sorority for their performance of songs from Smokey Joe's Café.

After the winner was announced, members of Kappa Alpha chanted "Smokey Joe's! Smokey Joes!" in celebration.

"After our performance I knew we won," John Bean, a member of Kappa Alpha, said. "The crowd was into it, we were all into it, it paid off."

The acts featured elaborate costumes, live singing and choreographed dances.

Greek Sing public relations captain Paul Russell said each of the 21 performances was prepared by a fraternity and sorority that were paired together for the event.

"Each pairing interprets their play differently," Russell said. "You have a lot of freedom to do what you want."

This marks Kappa Alpha's fourth first-place win in a row at Greek Sing.

"Kappa Alpha is a dynasty," Bean said.

Gretchen Lawson, a member of Delta Zeta sorority, danced in an adaptation of Jersey Boys with Sigma Chi, 400 E. Prospect Ave. She said she felt their performance went well but was disappointed that her sorority didn't place.

"After coming in second place last year, it was hard to take not coming in at all this year," she said.

Lawson said Greek Sing is still a good way to get freshman fraternity and sorority members to work together toward a common goal.

"It's a good bonding experience for them," she said.

Sean Shapiro, a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity, 429 E. Hamilton Ave., participated in a performance of songs from the musical Tarzan with Alpha Xi Delta sorority.

He said preparations for Greek Sing take a lot of time.

"This past week we had a practice every single night. It was a lot of hard work," he said.

Jen Williams, overall chairwoman for the event, said she felt the performances this year were better than ever.

"All the organizations did an amazing job," she said.

Williams said all the money raised through admission costs would benefit the Gayle Beyers Scholarship Fund as well as the Outstanding Interfraternity Council member awards, which recognized deserving members of the greek community during the event.