The Naugatuck Community Band's 'Trick or Treat' Concert

The Naugatuck Community Band, under the direction of Charles Marenghi, presented Trick or Treat on Saturday at the Strand Theater in downtown Seymour. The free concert was brought to the Strand by Seymour Arts and featured some favorite Halloween tunes. 

Many of the members of the Community Band dressed in costume for the performance. Waldo (as in "Where's Waldo) played clarinet. A female Edward Scissorhands was in the brass section, as was Count Dracula. There was a young wizard, a Vulcan from Star Trek, a Heineken bottle, a Santa, and a slice of bacon and they all were the talented musicians in the NCB.

Mr. Marenghi took to the stage dressed a Mickey Mouse and welcomed the crowd in a high-pitched Mickey voice. He opened the concert with "Night on Bald Mountain (Mussorgsky) arranged by Mark Williams. "Funeral March of a Marionette," originally written to poke fun at a music critic, is now synonymous with Alfred Hitchcock. "Music for a Darkened Theater is a medley of music by Danny Elfman and had a great percussion solo. We then move on to Broadway with a medley of pieces from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera.

Music from Pirates of the Caribbean by Klaus Badelt had plenty of "arrgs." The conductor put his Mickey ears up for a medley of "Disney at the Movies" arranged by John Higgins. "Star Wars Episode III" by the maestro John Williams was followed by "Harry at Hogwarts" by Patrick Doyle and arranged by Jack Bullock. The final piece was a medley of more John Williams songs arranged by John Moss. Then Mr. Marenghi shed his Mickey Mouse costume to reveal a Mr. Incredible uniform and the band played the awesome theme from the movie "The Incredibles." The drummer and my son, C.J. Janis, was pretty incredible himself as he played three solos during the encore.

A food drive for the Food Bank was part of the event and an entire table full of non-perishable food items was donated by those who came to the concert. There was a "trick or treat" after the performance and many children in their Halloween costume collected treats from members of the band. Mrs. Marenghi was dressed as Minnie Mouse and three of the Marenghi children were just as cute.

The Naugatuck Community Band is a volunteer, non-profit organization consisting of musicians from throughout the Naugatuck Valley area and beyond.  They enjoy and take pride in performing music at various events throughout the year. 

Save the date: Saturday, December 14 at 7:00pm
The NCB returns to the Strand Theater with a holiday concert.