Once in 100 Years!

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What a Celebration!

It actually happened!

An improbable idea about how to celebrate Chandler Music Hall’s 100th birthday became reality last Saturday, Sept. 15, when "101 Premieres—Albert’s Big Bash" hit the stage.

Directed by its creator, Tony Keller of Braintree, and 10 "decade directors" the event lasted (as planned) from 3 p.m. to midnight, at which time the nearly-forgotten bell in the back of the Chandler Gallery was rung in celebration.

"Just show me one other town in the whole wide world that would do such a thing," wrote Keller after the eveng. "You have an extraordinary community in which people do love their arts center sufficiently to compel them happily to sign up to participate in such a madcap experience and to work their tails off to make it as good as it could possibly be. For me it was a wonderful high to be able to work in such a remarkable environment brimming with positive energy."

Wrote Decade Director Kep Taylor of Bethel: "I don’t think I honestly ‘got it’ until Saturday night. The whole concept, the ‘aura’ of the show…All these communities, all these performers and the community at large together as a celebration of Thanksgiving. What a divinely generous gift to all."

Besty Cantlin, assisttant director for the show, gave special credit to the young tech crew, under the direction of Mimi Burstein. The crew members put in a 16-hour day Saturday in staging an event that had never had a dress rehearsal. Two tech program graduates, Tanner Lake and Joe Gasque, drove back to Randolph from college to help, and Jessica LaRocque stage managed the whole thing, while Tom Harty managed the incredible audio-visual component.

A (rather small)parade from Mari-Castle got to the hall about the time that a visit was paid by Congressman Peter Welch, who stayed to chat with Co. Albert Chandler and organizers, as well as take in part of Decade I. Travellin’ Willy B’s kept busy around the dinner hour with wraps and dinners.

Keller chose the perfect ending for the show—a rippling, seemingly static but ever-changing new composition for piano by New York City’s new wunderkind composer/conductor, Nico Muhly, who was born at Gifford and spent much of his young life here. After nine hours of auditory stimulation, "A Hudson Cycle" was delightfully kind to the ears and was beautifully played by Cynthia Huard. —MDD

Albert’s Big Bash—

By the Numbers

Premieres performed 101

Backstage crises (according to tech crew) 101

Performers 150

People paid to perform 0

Production Crew 43

Length of event, in hours 9

Average audience at any one time 150

Decade directors 10

Tech crew tembers 8

Tech hours worked Saturday 16

Tech Tuesday hours for takedown 3

Sandwiches served 150

Antique bikes in parade 1

Hours that make-up was available 10

Pages in program 32

Words in Program (est.) 20,000

Congressmen attending 1

State legislators attending 5

State legislators presenting 2

Still images scanned for slides 1,200

Hours spent scanning images 100

Videos prepared for use 24

Sound files 60

Video and Sound files, in gigabytes 120