Andrew M. Wiswell, 1927

Our brothers careers have been productive, constructive, spirited, and prosaic. They displayed impressive skills, talents, and abilities They were, and we continue to be, a beautiful and lively expression of our enduring fraternal beliefs, and that underlying harmony is far-reaching in expectation for all brothers’, undergraduate and graduate. It is the core of what our fraternal founders asserted in 1848 and 1874 and 1899: to live active, commendable, and responsible lives, and to build up community. Clearly and compellingly, they added, and continue to add, positive value at the local, state, national, global, and fraternal level because they engaged life fully and responsibly. In short, they were authoritative pillars throughout life. They were-are exemplary in their citizenship, character, and their sense of dutiful responsibility, and, in many instances, they were leading voices in their career fields. They prove that success of any kind does not occur by luck or accident, and we remember them because they continue to provide that message for our time. Their spirit permeates our brotherhood, and it always will. 

We have long been, from one generation to the next, proud to be Omega Mu Fijis. We continue to cherish our fraternal friendships, our shared memories, and our evolving, forward-focused history at the University of Maine. These things, above and beyond everything else, are the underlying rooted connections that make us proud to be Omega Mu Fijis. Why, after all, should we believe otherwise? We have always exhibited a can-do fraternal spirit since 1874. And, to be sure, all present and future generations of Omega Mu Fijis will continue to do the same, with fraternal enthusiasm and commitment. As a brotherhood, we always see the path behind us and the way forward with equal clarity, and our future remains bright at 79 College Avenue because we fearlessly move forward, always guided by sound fraternal principles, and because of that we are an exceptional brotherhood because we remain committed and hardworking to assure that our Omega Mu brotherhood will continue to be the jewel at the University of Maine. Perge.

Omega Mu Portrait
Andrew M. Wiswell, 
​1927

Omega Mu Years

University of Maine Glee Club
Andrew Wisell, second row, second one in from the right.

Andrew M. Wiswell, fourth one in from the right.

​To this day, I remember every play that I attended with my mother at the Lakewood Summer Theater, the theater at Bowdoin College, the Shakespearian Theater in Monmouth, Maine. Parenthetically, theater played an important roll in my Mom’s life. As a student at the University of Maine, she acted in many Maine Masque plays, and she continued to attend many plays until she died in 2003. Consequently, ever week during the summer, we saw many wonderful plays at the aforementioned theaters. To name just a few, I saw “Auntie Mame,” “The Man Who Came to Dinner,” “The Sound of Music,” “Godspell,” “MyFair Lady,” “Count Dracula,” “Fidler on the Rood,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “The Unsinkable Molly Brown,” “Shenandoah,” and “Hair.” It was hugely enjoyable. All of the plays were great performances, and there were many others. The combined chemistry and charm of live theater is always outstanding, and I particularly loved the graceful setting of the Lakewood Theater in Madison, Maine. 

​It was at Lakewood that I saw the critically acclaimed “Hair,” a legendary play. Although it debuted in 1967, in an off-Broadway theater, it would achieve heroic theater acclaim when it appeared on Broadway in 1968. It was a play of rare order due to its revolutionary feeling, outstanding music, and thematic directness. The play raised the consciousness of audience, and the various messages are still relevant today. I can still see myself staring at all the nude bodies at the conclusion of the first-act of “Hair,” and I am sitting next to my mother. Wow. As I recall, we were in the second or third row, and I absorbed the moment, and it was a beautiful, sincere theatrical moment, but with motherly assurance she had forewarned me and explained the symbolic meaning of it; which, indeed, the meaning reached me with absorbing, attentive authority. In image and sound, they were enriching musicals of a different era, and who can ever forget the emotional power of some of the songs in each o them: “Easy to be Hard,” “Aquarius,” “Good Morning Starshine,” “Where do I Go,” and “Let the Sun Shine In.” The songs worked in the play, and they still have driving emotional force today: timeless.
 
What was extraordinary was discovering, just this past week, that our Omega Mu brother, Andrew M, Wiswell, ’27, won a Grammy Award as the producer of the original cast album of “Hair” in 1968, and that he was nominated for the Grammy Award five additional times. 

Grammy Award Winning Producer

​Andrew’s success continued as a producer of the Broadway musical albums with “The Music Man,” “Hello, Dolly,” “Kismet,” “Coco,” “Purlie,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd,” and “I do! I do!”

"Andy Wiswell,
​producer"

​However, his work as a musical producer did not simply focus on Broadway. He also produced albums for a diverse group of  musicians: Cannonball Adderley, Judy Garland, Kate Smith, Harry Belafonte, Perry Como, Chet Atkins, Barry Sadler, and many others. 

For his dedicated efforts, Andrew M. Wiswell was the recipient of 18 gold records. 

“What if the space be long and wide,
That parts us from our brother’s side
A soul-joined chain unites our band,
And memory links us hand in hand.”
​(Phi Gamma Delta fraternity song)

​Fraternally,
Chip Chapman, ’82
Perge!