graciemobile

I sing in a home school choir. This year we were invited to join in a big stage musical called “Amahl and the Night Visitors”. The basic story line is that there is a little crippled boy named “Amahl” who has trouble telling lies. One night he is out playing his pipe and he sees a bright star. He runs home to tell his sleeping mother, but she won’t believe him. Then there is a knock at the door, Amahl opens it to find three magnificent kings and their page. When he tells his mother she won’t believe him, finally she goes to the door and much to her surprise finds the kings. The kings ask to stay and she offers them a place by the fire. Their fierce and protective page brings in three gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The mother hurries out to gather wood for the fire. When she returns she asks Amahl to run to the shepherds and ask them to bring the best food they have got for the kings to eat, as she has nothing in the house. While Amahl is gone she asks the kings about the gifts, they tell her that they are looking for a child, the newborn king. Then the shepherds arrive and bring the best they have got, they even dance for the kings. Later on that night the mother tries to steal some gold to use for her son, she is caught by the page, but the kind kings tell her to keep it. Then they go on to explain that the king they are seeking does not value worldly goods like gold and jewels, but spiritual gifts like love, peace, and joy. The mother is so touched she returns the gold, then says that she would send a gift to the king, poor as she is, if she could. Amahl is touched as well, and out of his heart he offers his crutch, the only thing he has. The mother objects but Amahl insists and  he hands it to the kings, suddenly he takes a step and realizes that he can walk! The kings offer to take Amahl with them so that he can thank the baby king for the miracle he has done.

We were the shepherds, and all of us had fun costumes on. We all had gowns, and then head coverings. A lot of people envied mine, it was pink with mint green edging. Then I had a white linen scarf with silvery threads and purple flowers dyed on the ends. I was thankful that my costume was comfortable, and pretty. It gets very hot under the stage lights. The dressing rooms were cool, they had mirrors and lights all around the room. We had two performances, one in the morning, and one in the evening. We had to be there by 9:00, the curtain went up at 10. We had only had one rehearsal, which was the night before. The performance was GREAT! Everyone did their part well, and it went off without to much trouble. But the night performance, UGH! It was the GROWN-UPS fault. They made us practically run everywhere, around the set, through the door, and back to our family groups. The orchestra was on another part of the stage called the pit. They could lower part of the stage until it was like 15 feet below. So there was a big drop on one side, the conductor was down there. He was MEAN! So the grown-ups were telling us to watch the conductor so we could tell when to start singing. But they were also telling us to look at the kings with awe, and they were on the other end of the stage! So then they would be upset with us if we weren’t watching the conductor, and there were so many people that a lot of the kids couldn’t even see him! They also were herding us like cattle everywhere, there was no time to do anything but run and sing. So on the evening performance Amahl’s microphone fell off and he got tangled in the cord, Kaspar had to untangle him. Then someone knocked something over back stage. We went out and they made us run so fast that it looked really bad, I heard this from my mom who had seen the rehearsal and both performances. The grown-ups sang some of the wrong words really loud, and some people almost knocked the set over. Oh, and did I mention that stage left, my group, were led through the WRONG door to go to the backstage? Then a grown-up yelled down the hall after them, uh, the hallway is RIGHT behind the backstage. Then when we went out to do our bows everyone was out of order and we all bowed at different times. If you have ever been on stage I am sure you are groaning right now. And people were paying like $27.00 to see this 45 minute show! We did our best, but I think that they had a problem. Oh well, it was a LOT OF FUN! I loved my costume, and it was so exciting to be in a real dressing room putting on costumes. The stage was the biggest one in the entire area, and had balconies that went 3 stories high! There were multiple levels, and lot’s of cool stairs. So it was a neat experience, I wasn’t that nervous, and we all sang really well. To God and Miss Krista give the credit. Miss Krista is our choir teacher, boy did we make her proud. And in the middle there was a ballet dance by a troop of home school dancers. One of my acquaintances was in there, and did a small solo part. That was the best thing in the whole performance. Well, hope you enjoyed hearing about my brief theatrical career!