By Debbie Gardner
dgardner@thereminder.com
“This is the 17th year … that’s hard to believe,” Mark Gionfriddo, director of Jazz Ensembles at Mount Holyoke College said of his creation, “The Big Broadcast.” “We started this in 2006 and little by little it kind of became ingrained in people’s minds that [the show] happens in March, which is wonderful.
“It’s not the same as the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, but people kind of know that in the first weekend in March that the show is going to be going on,” he said. “I still have people asking me about it [every year].”
A modern tradition with a historical twist, Mount Holyoke’s “Big Broadcast” invites audiences to the recreation of a 1940s-style radio broadcast, complete with era-accurate news, commercials, popular songs and most years, a radio play in the old soap-opera serial style. The show is a cooperative production between the college’s big band, Jazz vocal and Chamber Jazz ensembles.
And after COVID-19 restrictions required an all-virtual show in 2021, this year’s production is returning in a hybrid format, with a live performance being recorded before a Mount Holyoke student audience to be streamed on Zoom for “Big Broadcast” fans for a nominal fee.
Information on how to get tickets for the March 11, 7:30 p.m. streaming of” The Big Broadcast” is available on the Facebook page of the Jazz Ensembles of Mount Holyoke College and on their web page at www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/music/big-broadcast
“The Big Broadcast” isn’t just unique to colleges in the Pioneer Valley, it seems, according to Gionfriddo, the show is somewhat of a unicorn.
“I looked around on the internet and tried to see if there was anything remotely similar,” Gionfriddo shared. He couldn’t find anything.
“It’s certainly unique to this area, and it seems its unique to all over,” he added.” It’s a concert, but it’s also a theater piece… it’s also a historical reenactment so to say; even though it’s fictitious, it’s what we expect [it to be for the era].
“It’s also a role-playing genre,” Gionfriddo continued. “The student producers choose names for all the performers, and they play a character in the show. Then there’s the unusual entertainment … we do period commercials and a newscast that’s called “News of the Times” and we try to keep it fresh every year.”
“I try to pick music that’s interesting for the students” – the newscast, commercials and other bits are all student-created, he said.
This year those musical numbers will include Gershwin’s “S’ Wonderful;” “I’ve Heard That Song Before,” made famous by Harry James and Helen Forrest; Etta James’ “At Last;” and as always, a selection made popular by The Andrews Sisters.
“We always have a trio that presents an Andrew Sisters number,” Gionfriddo shared, adding that in his character of “Matt Morgan” he also does a song with that group in the show. “This year they’re doing ‘Bounce Me Brother with A Solid Four’ and I get to join with then for ‘Pistol Packin’ Mama’ – I get to do the Bing Crosby part.
“The students love it,” Gionfriddo continued. “They are so invested in [this show], and as the students get older and become upperclassmen, they really feel invested in trying to keep the traditions alive and showing the newcomers to the ensembles what a special event this is.”
Re-imagining “The Big Broadcast” for production under continuing COVID-19 considerations – and other factors including a spring semester that started like most colleges, remotely for Mount Holyoke – has had Gionfriddo reworking the show to keep what audiences love while making some necessary adjustments.
“This year we are back to doing it live, but I believe we aren’t going to have a live community [audience] again. We can have a Mount Holyoke audience – because we are all getting tested regularly,” Gionfriddo explained, adding the plan is to do a live recording of the college performance on March 6 and stream it to the rest of the community through a link on March 11.
“The show is also going to be one longer piece – about 75 minutes in length, kind of in keeping with the [holiday] Vespers performance – that way we can prepare material in the time we have,” Gionfriddo said. The traditional “Big Broadcast” is about 115 minutes, he noted, split into two acts with a 15-minute intermission. Shortening the 2022 show, Gionfriddo said, made sense both from the recording plan – capturing it live – and the shortened rehearsal time.
“We basically have four weeks to put it together instead of six [because of the remote start],” he shared.
But one of the biggest changes will be in one of the faces of the show that audiences have come to know and love over the years.
“Brian Lapis is not going to be with us this year. Brenda Garton[-Sjoberg] is going to be our emcee,” Gionfriddo explained.
Gionfriddo said Lapis came to him as he was beginning to plan this year’s “Big Broadcast “ and asked if he could have this year off for a college reunion.
He said, “I never get to go, because it’s always on the same weekend as the show,” Gionfriddo said. “He’s been doing [“The Big Broadcast”] for 15 years … [ I said] ‘of course, if that’s something you want to do, go’ … and then I started to think about who we could get that would be an interesting addition … we never had a female announcer, and I thought it would be really cool.”
When Prime reached out to Garton-Sjoberg about taking on the mantle of “Big Broadcast” emcee, the former 22News anchor – now a professor of communications, media and the arts at Western New England University (WNEU) – said Gionfriddo approached her with the hosting offer in early January through a mutual friend, Mark Auerbach. She quickly agreed to “pinch hit” for Lapis.
Though Garton-Sjoberg admitted she hadn’t attended past “Big Broadcasts,” she said she was “well-aware of the outstanding production – and excellent performance by my friend, Brian Lapis, as host over the past 15 years.
“I look forward to being part of this popular annual performance and I’m happy to fill in as the show’s host this year,” she shared.
“I’m studying the role now and just received the script,” Garton-Sjoberg continued during an early February email exchange about her appearance. “I’ve done my fair share of Google searches after being asked to play this important role for the show.”
As the emcee, Garton-Sjoberg said her role is to “weave in and out of the show” as needed. “I have the pleasure of introducing the bands, singing acts, even the commercials, which of course were all performed live back then.
“I’m really the student here on this major production, and I’ll be learning from the cast when I go into rehearsals before the live performance,” Garton-Sjoberg admitted. “Mark and his players have been producing “The Big Broadcast” for a long time. I’m honored to be a part of it.”
Garton-Sjoberg said she was also planning to have some members of her WNEU journalism classes – especially the radio production class – attend the live performance as part of the student audience.
“It will be a great learning opportunity for them to see what an entertainment radio broadcast show sounded like back in the ‘40s. And, they get the added benefit of seeing it as a live performance on stage. There’s something very special about the Golden Age of Radio and getting a glimpse into what life was like then provides a unique learning experience.
“It’s a great history lesson for them to see,” she continued. “I’m pleased the younger generation [of students at Mt. Holyoke] enjoys revisiting the past every year through this popular production.”
Gionfriddo said though audiences will see most of a traditional “Big Broadcast” production in the 75-minute broadcast, one popular element would be missing – the annual radio play that re-created the serials of the 1940s through student-written skits with titles such as “A Blaze of Justice” or “Life on Honeysuckle Hill.”
“The main reason for this decision was because we lost my colleague Cheryl Cobb, who used to do all the sound effects [for the play]. She was our foley artist,” Gionfriddo explained. Cobb, who had been a professor of voice at Mt. Holyoke college for decades, passed away a few months before rehearsals were to start. “She was still working for us… she worked right up to a few months before her passing,” Gionfriddo said.
“I didn’t know who would fill her shoes [so] we are actually dedicating the [2022] show to her memory,” Gionfriddo shared.
He added he plans to have “The Big Broadcast” revisit the radio play portion of the production “next year when we decide which direction to go with it.”
