Several months ago at church they announced that the stake would be putting on a production of Savior of the World, the play that runs annually at the Conference Center. I was pretty familiar with the music of the show, though I had never seen it, and something about the way they were saying they really needed a lot of men to participate made me think I should maybe just audition and show my support in this way. So I did, and I was cast as Joseph! (More accurately, I later learned they decided to double-cast Mary and Joseph, so I was
a Joseph. It was actually kind of nice sometimes to be one of two, then I could watch half the time and see what looks good and what doesn't and get ideas and feedback.) The full show is two acts -- the first is the Christmas story and the second is the Easter -- but we just did the first half surrounding the Nativity.
We rehearsed for several months and a lot of people worked really hard and spent countless hours working toward our finished goal, which was presented last weekend. I performed as Joseph on Thursday and Saturday night, watched with Julie on Friday night, and participated in the Angel Chorus for the Saturday afternoon show, and it was just a really nice experience. I was the only one in the cast with a real beard, and it was interesting getting used to walking in long burlap robes. I relearned that I'm not really much of an actor, but I think I made some progress by the end (I hope!). It was great to do a little musical theater too, whenever I do I usually quite enjoy it. I know the show is produced by the Church, and it's very sweet and means a lot, but some of that dialogue was just, erm, really hard to communicate... (That's my nice way of saying I had some issues with the script.) I kept looking in the audience to see if Mr. Guffman had come to see the show... Anyway, thanks to everyone who could make it to see the show, but for those who were unable for whatever reason, I have some pictures and videos! Showing here:
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| Getting ready for our matinee (I had to make do with whatever Angel Chorus robe I could find). |
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| Me and the other Joseph! Great beard, Chuck. (Yes, see how humongous my robe is? It did the trick.) |
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| Here we have the other Mary and Joseph. |
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| Mary and Joseph sing Look On Me This Day (Duet). Come on, Joe, exercise some faith! |
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| Getting ready for the wedding |
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| Greeting the shepherds who came looking for the child. |
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| The finale at the manger! It rather glows (technical difficulty, but it's a fitting effect, right?). |
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| The entire cast |
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| Friends! |
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| This is actually my wife, in case there was any confusion due to the events that took place on stage. |
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| There was a display of Nativities and artwork, and I contributed a couple of pieces. |
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| Here's another piece I offered for the display. |
And now, some videos! These are both of the songs I sang in.
The "emotional high point of the show":
So there you have it. It was a wonderful run and a great experience. I saw a couple of people from the show the next day in the halls at church and I was a little surprised at how much I missed them already! I guess that's how it is when you do these shows. It was such a nice way to really bring in the spirit of Christmas. I'm certainly glad I don't have to bear the awesome responsibility of raising the Son of God like Joseph did, but it was an honor and a real pleasure playing him for an hour or so at a time.
Now... once this Sunday's ward choir Christmas program is over... then I can
really relax for the rest of the season.
