Look who’s here! Holy crow I can’t believe it. You think you’re surprised? Allen’s letting me post this. My name is Crazy Chase. That’s not my real name. It’s just what everybody called me. I can’t remember my real name. I’ve been dead for fifty years and sadly my memory isn’t what it use to be. But little by little stuff has been coming back on account of Allen. He heard about me somewhere and he kept on asking folks what they remembered. The more they remembered the more he asked and visa versa. All that asking and remembering brought me back in some way. It’s beyond passing strange but I like it. Partly because folks are saying the kindest things about me and maybe I get to hear some stomping on the floor.
Allen started keeping track of what people said. He got all inspired by my story and using what he learned and making up the rest he wrote a play, 2 plays actually; a one man mini-musical, and a big folk fiddle musical, both about me. Now he’s more or less done. It’s a work in progress but we’ve had 6 performances and I’ve loved coming back for each one and I think the audience did too. just the way it use to be.
CrAZY
In this performance I bring back the legendary fiddler and wonderful Vermont character Alfred “Crazy” Chase and a time of neighborhood cake parties and seasonal barn dances. It’s a show that honors northeast fiddling, and the independent spirit of both Crazy and the state where he was born and brought joy to so many.
During the past year I’ve done eight performances that I felt were well received but no reviews until Howard Mosher and his wife attended the last performance I had booked. Here’s what he said:
Allen Church’s one-man presentation “The Return of Crazy Chase,” brilliantly and hilariously revives one of Vermont’s least-known and most fascinating individualists. At a time when “the village was the world” for most Vermonters, Alfred “Crazy” Chase made his life into a work of art. Cross-dresser, musical savant, entertainer, and piano tuner extraordinaire, Chase was literally one in a million. With great insight, humor, and empathy, Mr. Church catches perfectly the wonderful talent, strangeness, and humanity of one of Vermont’s last self styled characters. ”The Return of Crazy Chase” abounds with music, laughter, anecdotes, and history. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Howard Mosher, July 30, 2010
I continue to perform “The Return of Crazy Chase” and add new stories as they come my way. My most recent performance was in the Esther Mesh room of the Chandler Music Hall in Randolph Vt. If you’re interested in the show, please contact me.
