Lessons from Frankenpastor

The dinner theater has come and gone.  Frankenpastor was a great success; as usual, the Body of Christ at Svea worked together with precision and style to bless the audience for three stellar performances.  In the plot of the musical, the frustrated Loon County Lutheran call committee asks the mad scientist who's renting their basement to build a pastor for them (a la Frankenstein).  When the synod sends investigators to figure out why the church pays its benevolences without a pastor "to guilt them into it," they request a bride for Frankenpastor in an attempt to display "a more complete domestic lifestyle."  Mayhem, romance and the message of God's grace as an agent for change ensue.

Half the cast came down with the flu during the last week of rehearsals and the performances.  "The show must go on!" we declared, and they rose to the challenge.  One of the leading senior guys felt horrible for the last two days, but delivered flawless performances and fantastic energy.

I wondered what the ladies would come up with for decorations - monsters?  Instead, they called upon members who work at a clinic and a research facility, set up test tubes and beakers everywhere, and turned our church basement into a mad scientist's lab.  The servers wore lab coats and had mad scientist hair.  So cool!  It goes without saying that Lois excelled at the set, costumes and props, and that the parents cooked and served a delicious meal.

Every year the second-to-the-last week of rehearsals elicits groans, misery and despair.  The cast thinks the play stinks; they hate the director(s), and they're sick of each other.  Every year the director wonders if this will be the year that marks the end of the Svea dinner theaters.  Then the set goes up, usually the Sunday before Opening Night.  A burst of energy surges forth; people feverishly finish memorizing; we stop picking at every little detail and go through the entire play at each rehearsal; and everyone loves each other once more.   I'm happy to report this happened again this year.  Remember that for next time!

Getting Ready for Frankenpastor

In October, Linda informed me that due to her granddaughter's cancer, she might have to bow out of directing this year's church youth group musical for the dinner theater.  Sure enough, Lois talked to me the first week of January and we agreed that Pete would direct the drama and I would, as usual, take care of the music.

Several concerns raised by this decision are:
1.  How will the kids respond to the change in directing style between Linda and Pete?

2.  How will Pete know everything that needs to be done outside of the play?

3.  How will Pete and I and Lois get along?

4.  What play will we do, and who will have what parts?

We chose the play, "Frankenpastor," and assigned the parts last week.  We also set the dates, for March 8-10.  At our first rehearsal on Wednesday, the first and second questions were answered satisfactorily.  The kids can see that Pete knows what he's doing and will respond accordingly.  Laurie assured us that the parents will take care of the meal, decorating, tickets, programs and everything except the play itself.  She was heading to a parents meeting with a folder in hand, so I assume she knows what needs to be done.  We'll just relax and forget about all that.  The dinner theater is always a wonderful example of the Body of Christ working together and using all the gifts, talents and skills of its members.

Pete and I are getting along fine through the first stage of rewriting the music and writing new music.  Six years ago, for our first musical, "The Return," I had to write all new music in about ten days.  This show poses a comparable challenge, as the fourteen songs are necessary for length.  Several of them cannot be done by our group because of range, ability or appropriateness of the accompaniment.  All are new lyrics written to pop tunes, which means sheet music or karaoke tracks have to be found or I have to figure out the accompaniment by ear.  As usual, I have to make practice mp3s for the kids to listen to so they can learn the music because we won't have enough rehearsals for memorization.

No wonder I'm a little stressed out this week!  Thanks, kids, for filling in around the house.  We'll get through this!

Bustin' Our Buttons

David presented his senior voice recital on Saturday at Augustana College in Sioux Falls. Including our immediate family, sixteen relatives came to applaud and enjoy his performance. He sang in six languages - English, German, Norwegian, Italian, French and Spanish - with flawless pronunciation. His range, tone, pitch, diction and expression impressed the crowd - even Weston Noble, the 93-year-old interim director of the Augie Choir who has seen students come and go for over 60 years, most of them at Luther College in Iowa. When Liz Stadem asked him, "Wasn't my grandson good?" he replied, "He wasn't good. He was fabulous!" I agree - we're all pretty proud of what he has accomplished with hard work (and superior instruction by his voice teacher, Cheryl Koch) over the last three years.

We also got to see Callie in the musical, "Zombie Prom," and her junior voice and harp recital. Wow! Her acting and vocal skills shone as Miss Delilah Strict, the strait-laced principal of Enrico Fermi High. She had so much fun with the part, it was a joy to watch. The skill displayed in playing the harp astounded those of us who haven't had much experience with it. There are so many strings! She tossed off her first song with incredible ease, and made the modern English pieces enjoyable (not an easy task).

Basically, we're bustin' our buttons with pride - what a musical duo!

More on the Musical

Well, here we are on vacation, resting, relaxing and rejuvenating after a crazy January. Because the dates of the musical were changed, we will arrive home 3 days before Opening Night; therefore, all the music had to be ready - well, ready enough - before we left. I had a rehearsal with the whole group each week, and got together, on average, with 4 people or small groups for individual rehearsals each week in January. Plus figuring out all the choreography and writing one new song.

I thought everything went amazingly well, and I especially saw God's hand at work in the last week, when I was also trying to plan our school schedule, transportation schedule, meal schedule, etc., etc. for the kids when we were gone. There was still quite a bit to do with the music, and I hate to make phone calls to line up extra practices - you never know if you're calling at a bad time, and often I had to coordinate with 3 or 4 people whose schedules were crazy and never fit together - so I was almost ready to just drop some practices that I felt were needed. But....

1. Mike & Kathy L., who are teaching how to swing dance for the last big production number, showed up on Wed. night to help anyone who still needed it. And all four couples who I felt still needed help were also there. I don't think those eight people had all been there at the same time the whole of January!

2. I hadn't had a chance to work with the drummer, Ryan, because of illness and other unexpected circumstances. On Thurs. he came for the whole rehearsal and was able to play along with every song.

3. Russ, who has 2 parts to play and a solo line in a couple of songs, had to work during almost every rehearsal and we had only skimmed one of his solo lines in mid-January. Thursday's rehearsal went so long that he came out after work, and then was willing to stay afterwards and go through the solos until I felt good about it.

I know there were other little blessings from the Lord that I didn't write down and don't remember, but I thank You, God, for caring for us and working in and through us.