Merrimack College Marching Band Appears In Whitney Houston Biopic

NORTH ANDOVER, MA — The Merrimack College Marching Band made its big screen debut last week.

Forty members of the band — now in just its second year — appear in a scene in the Whitney Houston biopic "I Wanna Dance with Somebody," which opened last Wednesday.

The scene depicts the singer's legendary performance of the "Star-Spangled Banner" at Super Bowl XXV in 1991. Band members, with their instruments and clad in their Merrimack band uniforms, are the backing band for Naomie Ackie, the actress playing Houston.

The band also appears in a scene where the musicians are making their way to the field, according to the school.

"It meant a lot to me and our students to get to do this," said Paul Geresy, Merrimack's director of bands. "This is one of those things our students are still talking about a year later."

Though the Super Bowl in the movie was played in Tampa, Florida, the scenes were shot at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro in November 2021.

A few months earlier, Boston Casting, a talent agency, reached out to Geresy to say it was looking for a marching band for a movie. The agency did not say which movie.

At the time, Geresy still was in the process of forming Merrimack's first-ever marching band, which debuted during the 2021 college football season.

Geresy said he sent photos and video of the band's first performance to the casting agency, which later decided that the Merrimack Marching Band got the part.

The band was bussed to Foxboro and participated in two late-night/early-morning shoots at Gillette Stadium.

The only issue, band leaders said, was that despite the scenes taking place in warm Florida, the November weather in Massachusetts was frigid.

"It was really cold ... it was maybe five or ten degrees," marching band captain Sean Kelley said. "Our uniforms are wool and super heavy, so it wasn't really a big deal. Our hands were pretty cold. I do think it's funny, in the trailer, you can see people's breath."

Merrimack officials said the school's now second-year band continues to grow.

Previously, the school had a pep band that played at hockey and basketball games. But a move to Division I football in 2019 led to the establishment of a marching band in 2021.

After starting with 40 members last year, the band has grown to 70 in 2022.

"The fact that we have a marching band, we're holding auditions for scholarships and we're getting the word out that we have this great new ensemble — it's all contributing to our rapid growth," Geresy said.