Curtain Catches Fire
At ‘Brigadoon’ Rehearsal

A small but smoky fire on the stage of Chandler Music Hall led to the quick evacuation of the hall by the 100-plus members of the cast that was rehearsing "Brigadoon" for the annual youth musical that begins production Thursday.

The 100 or so youth and children, plus staff and technical crew, evacuated first to the auditorium and then out of the hall to the front steps, according to Charlie McMeekin, who is directing the musical.

The evacuation took about two minutes and was "remarkably calm and order was displayed by both the cast and the crew," McMeekin said. The managers then did a quick sweep of the building to make sure everyone was out, he said.

He said that the fire started when a curtain became wrapped around a "lighting instrument" on the stage right side. "Several people noticed smoke and alerted the stage manager. Kathy Nowlan was the first to see that there was actually a flame, and (tech specialist) Joe Gasque grabbed a fire extinguisher and put the whole thing to rest."

McMeekin said the fire damaged the curtain, burning through several pleats, so that it was unusable.

The decision was quickly made to cancel the remainder of rehearsal. McMeekin said the smoke was not dense, but the decision "was made out of a sensitivity to possible allergies, and to give the tech crew time to remove the burned drape and clean up the fire extinguisher residue."

Rehearsal was rescheduled for Tuesday afternoon, and the show will go on as scheduled, with performances Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening and a Sunday matinee.

This year’s cast totals something like 114 young people, including teens from a dozen high schools and a special chorus of about 30 younger children.

"Brigadoon" tells the story of an enchanted, and enchanting, Scottish town that comes to life only once every 100 years. It is an obvious choice for this year’s production, because Chandler is celebrating its 100th anniversary, and because "Brigadoon" was the show that kicked off 37 straight years of musicals at the Music Hall, leading to the restoration of the building in the 1970s and later.

Members of the original cast have been invited to the production.