SCHENECTADY – Mariah Carey is a household name, especially during the holiday season. Her Christmas songs are on heavy rotation on Christmas radio, earning her the title of the Queen of Christmas. But did you know that she once taped an entire television special, “Here Is Mariah Carey,” broadcast nationally on NBC, right here in Schenectady, at Proctors?
It was actually 30 years ago this year, and tied to another holiday, Thanksgiving. It involved a performer at the top of her fame, adoring fans, a top-notch photogenic venue - and not one holiday song.
Behind the Scenes of Mariah Carey’s Special
Republished below is our entire behind-the-scenes article from the July 1993 taping, published ahead of the Thanksgiving 1993 airing. Also check out embedded video from the actual special, which also feature arguably the other star of the show, Proctors itself.
Archives 1993: Proctor’s show was huge event for Carey fans
Special taped during summer to air Thanksgiving on NBC
November 21, 1993
By Michael Lisi/The Daily Gazette
SCHENECTADY – Mariah Carey’s fan club members were in for a treat when they got tickets for the July 15 show for free from the fan club, just for being a member. The show was the first of two performances taped at the theater for the singer’s NBC-TV Thanksgiving Day special that will be aired locally at 10 p.m. on WNYT-TV Channel 13.
Carey, along with a 10-piece band, performed about 20 songs for the special during her stint at the theater. Performances from both tapings, including a segment she did with children from the Albany Police Athletic League, were used for the special.
Tickets, which some fans said were being scalped for $150 or more, were not sold for the event. They were given away by Carey’s fan club headquartered in Branford, Conn., and by several area radio stations.
In all, some 4,500 seats were distributed for the two taping sessions, according to a spokesman for Proctor’s Theatre. Tickets for both performances – especially seats in the first 20 rows reserved for fan club members by Carey herself – were arguably the most sought-after stubs of the summer.
Because the 23-year-old Carey has never done a tour and rarely performs live, seeing her in the ornate, 2,700-seat venue was a dream come true for many of the singer’s fans.
Very special occasion
Add to that the excitement of being able to watch Carey tape her first television special in person, and it gets easier to understand why some fans traveled from as far away as Alaska and Washington state to be in Schenectady on a steamy July night.
“This is like a big event,” said harried Joyce Logan, manager of Carey’s fan club, as she avoided a technician while helping club members find their seats.
“People are taking a week off and coming here for their vacations.”
Logan said more than 1,300 members of Carey’s fan club had requested tickets to view the taping.
Carey apparently chose Proctor’s because of its beauty and proximity to her home, said Ric Mitchell, disc jockey at WKLI-FM, who was at the taping. She has a home in Hillsdale, southeast of Hudson near the New York-Massachusetts border, from which she commuted to Proctor’s via limousine.
Proctor’s was filled to capacity for the first taping on July 15. The 67-year-old theater was transformed into a large television/recording studio as a New York City production crew set up its equipment and prepared to create the hour-long Thanksgiving Day television feast.
Close to 100 sound and light technicians, camera operators, producers and other crew members were on hand that night, running wires of all types, setting up lights of all sizes and positioning cameras.
Two rows of seats were removed in the theater’s mid-section and railroad-like tracks laid so technicians could dolly around a camera on wheels.
Almost every crew member scurrying around was wearing a headset or carrying a walkie-talkie and gabbing with some other crew member about some aspect of the taping.
At least nine cameras, situated in all parts of the theater, were used to capture Carey on film. A camera attached to a 25-foot-long motorized boom swung up and down periodically as crews tested its mobility.
Wires and lights seemed to be everywhere as technicians made last-minute equipment checks. Crews spent part of two days setting up their equipment.
“We’re going to do video tomorrow and it will be great,” one production assistant said to another as they watched the activity from the back of the theater.
Upstairs, a section was cordoned off and converted into a VIP lounge to entertain Sony Music Corp. big-wigs up from New York City to watch the taping. Carey is married to Thomas Mottola, president and chief operating officer of Sony Music Corp.
Hot ticket
Meanwhile, Carey fans who weren’t club members found themselves scrambling to grab a good seat almost from the minute they entered the t heater - the only reserved seats were for fan club members.
Several people reported getting tickets through ”connections” they were reluctant to identify, but for most, a call to radio stations in response to a promotion was the route to the taping.
Schenectady resident Margaret Osborne, 29, didn’t have the necessary connections, so she sat by her phone for hours before winning tickets for herself and her sister in a radio giveaway.
She wasn’t alone, as more than 200 pairs of tickets for both shows were given away by local radio stations weeks before the tapings were set to start.
“People were calling in with bribes to get tickets,” disc jockey Mitchell said. ”They were doing anything they could to try to weasel tickets.”
All the tickets that had been up for grabs had been snapped up by this point. The only thing left to do was to just sit back, relax and enjoy the show.
After about an hour of waiting, WFLY-FM disc jockey Michael Morgan took the stage and started to warm up the crowd. Meanwhile, Carey’s five back-up singers and her band – all dressed in black – began to look for their marks on stage.
The show was about 15 minutes away from starting.
“It’s time to get busy,” said a technical assistant as she brushed past a reporter.
The lights dimmed and the band began to play. From behind one of the large triangle-shaped backdrops on stage emerged Carey, wearing a black top and tight bell-bottom pants.
As the crowd erupted into cheers, Carey waved to them and threw them kisses as she launched into song. Carey generated all the excitement of a concert as she belted out her opening number.
For her second song, Carey delivered a very passionate version of the ballad “Love Takes Time.” Then the petite singer walked to the side of the stage to make room for a small hoard of technicians who seemed to appear from nowhere to reset the stage for the next set of songs.
She appeared uneasy about the interruption and kept apologizing to the crowd.
Necessary delays
The “concert” stopped several more times, as technicians reset the stage and cued the audience to cheer loudly in certain parts of Carey’s songs.
Carey herself needed the breaks to change her wardrobe, which she did twice during the three-hour taping.
“More TV stuff … don’t be mad at me,” Carey cooed to the crowd during one break as she trotted off stage for another costume change.
Mad was the last thing 22-year-old Tony Maggiacomo was as he watched everything from his first-row seat with friend Jennifer Andreozzi. Maggiacomo, Andreozzi and two friends drove from Warwick, R.I., to be at the show.
“We touched her!,” said Maggiacomo, explaining that the magic moment took place during one of Carey’s excursions into the audience to shake hands with her fans while she was singing.
Julie Konifka of Stillwater and Sherry Blowers of Niskayuna, sitting in obstructed-view seats on the theater’s far left side, said they didn’t really mind the interruptions.
“As long as we get to hear her voice,” Konifka said.
Disagree: Overhyped and overrated. There are far more talented artists who deserve the Christmas Queen title. #NotImpressed
Disagree: Mariah Carey is the true embodiment of holiday music and her performance at Proctors will be nothing short of legendary. #AllHailTheChristmasQueen
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