Wednesday, December 13, 2006
christmas is a place (part 2)
The show was a tremendous success considering we only had five or six weeks of rehearsals. It was a huge undertaking because most of the cast had no previous stage experience whatsoever and little to no musical background. What they had was the heart for it. And it was enough. It was our church's best Christmas concert ever!
I played the very hip and naughty, spray paint wielding teenage Virgin Mary sporting goth fashion and an iPod! It was great. The kids thought I looked really scary. And most people just didn't recognise me until I spoke. What fun!
The carolling after went very well, too. Every year, the carolling group gets bigger and bigger. This year, we had almost thirty! The bulk of these were from the musical. We also expanded our repertoire, doing four traditional songs in four-part harmony. Again, this was a phenomenal feat as most of them don't read music! And we only had two or three hours over a period of five weeks to get through it all. The choir performed admirably well. I was proud to be the conductor.
As with any stage production, it's always sad when it ends. After all those hours of rehearsals, one show just isn't enough to absorb all that stage-induced adrenaline.
Luckily, I'm carolling with the Hong Kong Singers, too. Our big event will be at St. John's Cathedral on the 19th of December. It's the annual Christmas lunch-time concert and a public affair. There are many private gigs in between, the biggest ones are this weekend at the Shek-O Country Club and on Christmas Eve at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club. I wish December never ends!
I played the very hip and naughty, spray paint wielding teenage Virgin Mary sporting goth fashion and an iPod! It was great. The kids thought I looked really scary. And most people just didn't recognise me until I spoke. What fun!The carolling after went very well, too. Every year, the carolling group gets bigger and bigger. This year, we had almost thirty! The bulk of these were from the musical. We also expanded our repertoire, doing four traditional songs in four-part harmony. Again, this was a phenomenal feat as most of them don't read music! And we only had two or three hours over a period of five weeks to get through it all. The choir performed admirably well. I was proud to be the conductor.
As with any stage production, it's always sad when it ends. After all those hours of rehearsals, one show just isn't enough to absorb all that stage-induced adrenaline.Luckily, I'm carolling with the Hong Kong Singers, too. Our big event will be at St. John's Cathedral on the 19th of December. It's the annual Christmas lunch-time concert and a public affair. There are many private gigs in between, the biggest ones are this weekend at the Shek-O Country Club and on Christmas Eve at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club. I wish December never ends!
