New Canaan There & Then: ‘Live from New Canaan, It’s Paul Simon and Harry Connick Jr.!’

‘New Canaan There & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Bettina Hegel, Joanne Santulli and Dawn Sterner. 

Let’s be honest. No one would ever mistake the New Canaan High School Auditorium for Carnegie Hall. Yet at 4 pm on Sunday, September 29^th, 2013, the venue was transformed for one magical night when music legends Paul Simon and Harry Connick put on a concert, a concert that proved to be a major historic event even for a 282-year-old town.

The idea for the performance came from the late Pat Stoddard, a New Canaan citizen-stalwart and one of the founders of Staying Put in New Canaan, a much-admired nonprofit organization that assists local seniors in continuing to live in their own homes in town.

Stoddard suggested that while the benefit proceeds would support Staying Put, the concert itself should be dedicated to honor New Canaan’s first responders (Fire, Police, EMT and CERT personnel). In retrospect the decision to honor first responders in 2013 turned out to be both retrospective (9/11) and prescient (COVID-19).

Stoddard organized a small army of volunteers (as former Staying Put President Lynn Chivvis puts it, “You didn’t say no to Pat”) and things were off and running. To secure talent for the concert, Stoddard enlisted a local first responder she knew fairly well – her son-in-law, long-time New Canaan resident and legendary news anchor Brian Williams. At that time Brian was a member of New Canaan‘s all-volunteer Fire Company No. 1, and in his earlier years was a volunteer fireman in his boyhood home of Middletown Township, N.J.

Stoddard requested that Williams reach out to then-New Canaan residents Simon and Connick and ask them if would participate. Williams complied with his mother-in-law’s request (Chivvis again: “When Pat asked you something you simply said aye-aye and then went and did it”) and, thankfully for the 1100 New Canaanites who ended up attending the concert (in both the capacity-filled auditorium and the adjacent packed Wagner Room), they both said yes.

Stoddard had a few more cards to play. After convincing Williams to serve as the de facto MC of the event, the two of them prevailed upon granddaughter/daughter Allison Williams to assist her father in that role.

And thus the Murderer’s Row lineup for the concert: Paul Frederic Simon, one of the greatest singer-songwriters in the history of American music; Joseph Harry Fowler Connick Jr., worldwide top-selling jazz artist, movie star, TV star (and all-around heartthrob); Brian Douglas Williams, long-time and top-rated NBC anchor, managing editor, and one of the witty favored guests of the likes of David Letterman and Jay Leno; and the talented lithesome beauty Allison Howell Williams, recent graduate of New Canaan Country School, Greenwich Academy and Yale University, and at that time starring in Judd Apatow’s hit HBO comedy series “Girls.”

The concert was sold out in less than three days, with tickets selling for $100 and premium seating available at $250. The money was needed. At the tender age of five years Staying Put was successful but faced significant annual operating expenses that precluded the establishment of any sort of reserve fund. The concert would rectify that situation.

There is no videotape or other recording of the 2013 concert. This was deliberate, and a decision made not by the performers but the organizers themselves. “Because [Simon and Connick] were who were they were, we were concerned about someone doing a video that would go viral without anybody’s approval and then pissing off the principals. So we purposely verbalized a no-video policy,” says Gary Russo, long-time New Canan resident and veteran producer/director who was brought in to helm the event.

While Russo oversaw a seasoned team of professionals, who also liaised with Simon’s and Connick’s own personal teams (“our people had to run all of the sound stuff by their people; the mikes were especially important – we ended up using their mikes of course”), the concert ended up having an educational benefit, at least for several lucky New Canaan High School students.

“The High School had a TV/video production curriculum. What we did – very New Canaan-like – was to allow students to work on the production,” said Russo. “They helped with the load-in, do the set-up and even helped crew it. I brought in a professional stage manager, but there was a student on a headset that shadowed the manager. There was a remote camera on stage for reverse angle shots and a camera operator to run that station, but right next to him was a student who could help ride the controls. The experience for them was incredible.”

Was there a “green room” for the talent? “Yes indeed,” said Russo. “Some unused room not too far from the stage – I can’t remember where exactly,” he laughed. All of the performers were “friendly” and “professional,” with everyone working together in the spirit of the moment. Any particular asks? “Well, Paul Simon made a specific request for coconut water. I didn’t know if it was supposed to be some special kind of coconut water, like from France or wherever, but I just gave one of the high school kids ten bucks to go down to Walter Stewarts and buy whatever they had.”

As described by Darien News reporter Meg Spicer, after brief welcoming remarks by Staying Put President Tom Ferguson, the Williamses took the stage. Before they introduced Connick, Brian admitted to his daughter that “I still can’t believe this is happening tonight.”

Sitting down at the piano on stage, Connick leaned into one of his quintessential New Orleans jazz pieces in his classic stride piano style (the musical savant learned the instrument at three, played it publicly at five, and recorded at ten).

He next took the microphone and announced: “It’s really weird to be on this stage – I hardly ever play piano at home, let alone in New Canaan.” And he then brought the house down by admitting that: “The real reason I’m here is to make sure I that I will never get a parking or speeding ticket. We can make that work. We don’t have to go over the details right now, but that would be great.”

Following Connick’s 40-minute set and plea for leniency, Williams returned to the stage to remind the audience of the critical roles of both Staying Put and first responders in his adopted town. Simon – Connick’s senior by 26 years – then took the stage to a standing ovation.

After playing “Sound of Silence” and “Slip Sliding Away,” Simon, a former New Canaan T-ball coach, welcomed everyone, ending with the throwaway line, “And go Rams – at least against Darien.” Simon then played for another 20 minutes, including “Mrs. Robinson,” before inviting Connick to join him for two final songs, culminating in one final, thunderous standing ovation.

In addition to being a cultural grand slam, the event proved to be a financial bonanza as well, grossing nearly $100,000 for the charity. And the 189 first responders in attendance not only were able to enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime show, but were also able to do so gratis, compliments of the generosity of Brian and Jane Williams.

Stoddard never minced words when she talked about death. “It’s fairly simple,” she said. “How do you want to be remembered?” With the enduring legacy of her exceptional family, the outstanding organization she helped build in Staying Put, and the legendary Concert of 2013, the answer is, in her case, quite well.