'The Big Broadcast!' Celebrates 21st Year

South Hadley, MA- “The Big Broadcast!,” a popular musical tradition and signature Mount Holyoke College event, will present its 21st anniversary concert Saturday, March 7 in Chapin Auditorium on the college’s campus. There will be two performances — 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Snow date is March 8.

 

“The Big Broadcast!” is a unique recreation of a 1940s-style radio show, complete with news, commercials, popular songs, and a radio play in the old Western serial style.  

 

Sponsors are Mount Holyoke College, Loomis Communities, 22News, PeoplesBank, NEPM, Reminder Publications, The Republican and MassLive.

 

22News meteorologist Brian Lapis returns to “The Big Broadcast!” in his role as the show’s host, Fred Kelley. Mark Gionfriddo, director of the Mount Holyoke College Jazz Ensembles, is the show’s creative director. “The Big Broadcast” is a production of the Mount Holyoke College Big Band, Vocal Jazz, and Chamber Jazz ensembles. Part concert, part theater, the show is produced by students with Gionfriddo playing the role of band leader Matt Morgan.

Some of this year’s musical selections include "One Night Stand"  by Artie Shaw; "Nice Work If You Can Get It" from George and Ira Gershwin; "Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)" from Irving Berlin, made famous by Bing Crosby, Dick Haymes and the Andrews Sisters; and Glenn Miller's "A String Of Pearls."

“One of the amazing secrets of Chapin Auditorium is that Miller and his orchestra appeared there at an MHC Senior Ball in February of 1939, three months before they became famous on the radio. We're going to pay tribute by performing one of the songs Marion Hutton sang on stage that night: "But It Didn't Mean A Thing," Gionfriddo said.

 

The event will also feature Gionfriddo's arrangement of the Andrews Sisters hit, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen." as performed by the trio with Miller's band in a special 1940 radio broadcast.

 

Tickets are available at the Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley and online at mhc.ludus.com.