Behind the Screens

It was an unforgettable music experience that almost didn’t happen. Producer ELI GERSTNER admits he was initially skeptical about producing a virtual HASC concert this year. “We did a tremendous Chol Hamoed Pesach virtual event last year, but as the pandemic stretched on ten months later and everyone experiencing ‘Zoom fatigue,’ yet another online event didn’t seem enticing. My feeling was that people have seen so much already, let’s just leave it for this year.” He was also aware that if HASC did go with a virtual show, the concert would have to be “the biggest event ever.”

The HASC board met. Other options were raised. But in the end, the answer was, in a sense, a foregone conclusion. Camp HASC needed to go ahead and create another summer of magic for its campers. And how would salaries and expenses be paid without A TIME FOR MUSIC?

A Time For Music, Camp HASC’s iconic annual show, has traditionally had a live audience of 3,000 in the auditorium, at an average ticket price of $500. Opening it up to a virtual audience — which included 500,000 viewers on the night — was a one-time opportunity to widen the scope of HASC’s reach. Families who could never have afforded the experience would now join the HASC family. At the same time, though, HASC’s directors had to keep the camp and their ultimate fundraising goal in mind. They were determined to raise $3 million.

Eli felt strongly about having a live audience present, to provide that incomparable energy and emotion. With all theaters and venues closed due to COVID though, finding a suitably large location was a major hurdle. The American Dream Mall, in East Rutherford, New Jersey, was raised as a possibility, since its size enabled the required social distancing for those few hundred who would be in the live audience. Eli is indebted to the Ghermezian family for their openness to fulfilling HASC’s dream.