continued…from part one.
So what does John do to lift the spirits of the choir?
During the lyrical “Sing Noel,” when some in the choir might be reacing an exhaustion point after 13 songs, he simply asks the ushers for a card or two…with a torn corner.
Keep reading →
I’m back from the stroke suffered Thursday afternoon (two days ago as I write this). I’m fully conversant, lost only 25% of my vision, and am fairly close to where I was before it hit me. Well, I could use this now as an excuse to cover my personal goofs (”oh, I”m sorry, did I forget something?” “no problem, Andy, it must be residual loss from your stroke.”)
Thanks to all my friends, coworkers, choir and music ministry cohorts, “fellow cast members of “An Evening in December,” and those countless prayer warriors who put out the word that I was out of commission.
Today (Saturday), I joined the cast of “An Evening in December” on stage for the final three numbers. “When I Call On Jesus, All Things are Possible””Sing Noel.” and our finale.
I celebrated what miracles God has done in my life. I celebrated the friends and coworkers who wrote, called, sent flowers, or prayed for me.
I’ll be back soon, up to my usual “no good.” I promise.
So, tonight before you fall asleep, hug a child a little tighter, and give an extra measure of thanks to God.
GeeWhiz
Related posts
For more journal entries during the recovery week, see my other blog: geewhiz.wordpress.com.)
John, our director, doesn’t direct the choir during any of the 17 songs in the musical.
When he reveals this information at his workshops at worship ministry music conferences, other choir directors think that John must be insane.
He has many excellent reasons for doing that. Just one reason is that he doesn’t want to get in the way of an audience receiving the message from the music, by distracting their gaze to the director’s arm movements.
But let me say that he can direct us without directing us. I will reveal one technique that he uses.
During “Sing Noel,” the lyrical piece just following Pastor Ted’s invitation, and 16 songs into the performance, John knows that the energy in the choir might start to sag.
.
Whoa, wait, I can’t reveal his technique yet. Stay tuned for part two of this blog entry after Dec. 10!
Caleb, the tiny soloist on “All is Well” has laryngitis. Denise, quartet in the finale, has throat problems and is chugging every known remedy. Kevin’s wife Megan just had their little baby on 11/19. Some of the dancers are coming down with their pre-show stresses and injuries that have to heal in time for the intense performance schedule ahead.
I’ve also got an “…itis” and would love to stop coughing long enough to take a full breath. Beside breathing problems, I’ve lost my tenor range and can only croak out bass notes. That won’t cut it for the high tenor ensemble for “Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet.”
So, the entire cast and crew would ask that you pray for health, recovery, and strengthening of their bodies, voices, dance muscles, lungs, and brain cells as we all head into the final week of dress rehearsals before opening night, November 30, 2006.
Incredible moments await the audience. At Saturday’s full-cast run through, John had just half a dozen pages of notes for the cast to work on. But, even withthat long dark list of things that aren’t performance ready, we are starting to see a glimmer of light at key moments.
And that’s just barely getting into the 2nd half of the story!
Pray for continued focus for the cast, especially for those new kids in LightForce, that some of them start to really SMILE and get into their character. Right now during rehearsals, while they’re in the aisles a mere inches from the audience, some look like they’re being held against their will to do this. They can save that for a future not-yet-written “An Evening in December” when we do a prison scene.
You ought to give the stage a try, just once. If you do, besides the obvious memorization of lines and following directions, actors have to keep remembering the fundamentals of stage acting.
I use the acronym SOFA to remind myself of the four things John has directed the actors to remember during these first weeks of rehearsal:
[S]tay in character. Once you’re in view of the audience, you are no longer “you;” you are the character. In facial expression, mannerisms, body movement, action and reaction, you cannot let your usual self be seen.
[O]pen your body to both audiences, stage left and stage right. Don’t fall into the trap of conversing with a character, turning toward them, and showing half of the audience your back. The trick is foot position, keeping them open to both audience halves.
[F]ill the room. With your voice, your movement, and your character. The person sitting in the back row must hear you, see you, feel you.
[A]wareness of your upstage, downstage position relative to the key actor. Know the directions “upstage” and “downstage.” Don’t force the key actor to turn upstage to talk to you, exposing their back to the audience.
Wow, just seven weeks to opening night. We’d better get off the SOFA pretty soon!
Summer hasn’t officially ended, the coals are still glowing in my barbecue pit, and I’m still lathering a good coating of sunscreen on my wrinkling skin.
But the sounds of Christmas 2006 started echoing through the choir rehearsal room. The choir came back from summer break on August 16. Together John had us dive into the high-energy opening number and equally roof-raising finale, and the beautiful ballad that first introduces the characters’ conflict.
The Web site says this year to expect an “Extreme Makeover.” John is not kidding.
Stay tuned.
Don’t you love the sounds of Christmas?
One sound I love is the excited squeal of little kids’ voices as they discover: “look what Santa brought!”
One sound heard in my family: the little kid’s voice (mine) as I discover: “look what John brought!…the CDs for next year’s show!”
Our director John introduced the praise choir to the music this week! I brought home CDs of course, one for Lisa, one for me.
Now the annual tradition begins: the peculiar sound of Christmas music coming from our cars in late May through the hot summer.
Pam and Bobby are already rolling their eyeballs upwards.
I’ve already listened to show three times through and have picked out my favorites.
Stay tuned!
The webmaster has just updated the photo gallery page on the An Evening in December site.
If you notice a Chinese guy wearing a construction-type costume with toolbet, that’s not me, it’s my twin brother, Gary Lee.
Gary, Bob Chow and I make up the unofficial “we three kings of Orient are….”
not to be confused with the three “Sacramento Kings” in the first photo
(That’s a yo-yo-yo, not a ho-ho-ho).
In no particular order, a list of things I’ll miss, now that the 2005 show is over…
Behind the Scenes
