The Wapatusset Middle
School enjoyed one of the longest musical concerts in recent memory this
Wednesday night. Although several Type A fathers claimed it was the longest in
history (due in part to 90 degree temperatures in the non-air conditioned
gymnasium), our research staff has debunked this. It turns out one of our twin
sister cities—Winnetuxet, Wisconsin—broke the record last week with a spring
concert running just under 3 hours and 10 minutes.
The Winnetuxet Middle School concert featured selections by
five choral groups (including 17 soloists), two concert bands, a jazz/rock
combo, a polka band/dance troupe, Irish step dancers, and a kazoo band. Administrators
explained that with such a packed school and sports calendar for May and June,
they’d had to combine several of the arts group performances.
Unusually long numbers included the kazoo band’s rendition of “American Pie” (all 21 verses) and a medley of “In-a-Gadda-Ya-Vida” mixed with “My Funny Valentine” by the jazz/rock combo.
Since three of the school choruses wanted to sing “Defying Gravity,” the hit from the musical Wicked, a decision was made to have each group sing the song in its entirety and then have the audience vote on the best performance. Defying belief, the back-to-back songs ran 17.5 minutes.
The evening was capped off with a rousing performance of the
1812 Overture, which brought the audience to their feet with loud applause.
(Parents with older children are looking forward to tonight’s Winnetuxet High School concert, featuring Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, a medley of Pink Floyd and Rush instrumentals, and two-thirds of the songbook from “Cats.”)
Feedback after the concert was somewhat split along gender lines.
“You’d need an astronaut-grade Depends to get through that
concert,” remarked one father.
“I thought it was lovely,” said his wife. “My favorite song was the one from that Disney movie… Something about self-esteem. I’m not sure, but I feel better about myself already.”
One overworked music teacher made a quick exit, explaining he had to attend his own two children’s band concerts the following two nights.
It was hard to find people to comment, as they frantically checked their Blackberries and raced to their cars in the parking lot.“I support the arts,” said one parent. “But I have to go home and make 40 pounds of potato salad for a graduation party.”
[Stay tuned for TMG coverage of World’s Longest Graduation Speech.]
– reported by TMG staff, Midwest Bureau