So . . . . we were cast into our parts on Friday night. Early Saturday morning, we started rehearsals which we did almost non-stop for the next week. It was hot. No, it was scorching. It was humid. Waaaay humid. We were outside ALL DAY LONG, every single day. It was tiring. Very, VERY tiring. My legs were killing me from all the lunges and, yes, undulations. By the end of each day were we were sticky, stinky, in pain, and ready to slip into a coma. We didn't get back to our hotel each night until mid-night and we were lucky to be in bed by 1 a.m. Then it was back at the hill by 8:15 a.m. to start it All. Over. Again.
But we loved it. Absolutely loved it. Every minute of it. It's difficult to describe, but despite the extreme conditions, we were on Cloud 9. I couldn't quite figure it out, until one day I was thinking about how hard this all was but at the same time we were all so happy. Then it hit me. When we are in the service of our Heavenly Father, we are sustained. More so than ever. We can endure hard things. This was indeed hard. But it was okay. WE were okay. In fact, we were more than okay. We couldn't think of anywhere else we'd rather be and we dreaded it it coming to an end.
Amazing, but true.
Our rehearsals were held both on the stage and out in "the bowl" which was the grassy area in front of the stage. At this point, the audience chairs weren't out yet, but soon there would be 9000 green chairs filling the bowl!
Front view of the stage, which is set on the side of the Hill Cumorah. Several rehearsals are going on here. (Extra brownie points to anyone who can pick out John. He's there, I promise!)
And here is the view looking into the bowl from the stage.
John with his script in early rehearsals for his scene as Alma. "King Noah" is sitting in his pretentious throne.
A few days later . . . this is where Alma pleads with King Noah to spare Abinadi's life. King Noah responds to Alma by saying, "I see I have a poisonous snake among my priests! You are no longer one of my priests! Away with you!" He then he knocks off John's hat and then the fun really begins for John as he leaps down the stairs and runs all over the stage while being pursued by the other priests, crashing through crowds of people.
John loved it. I swear they wrote this part with him in mind.
This is Jason. He portrayed Christ in the pageant. There were 2 young men who played Christ - one was the "Vision Savior" (Matthew) who appeared in Nephi's vision, and the other was the "Descention Savior" (Jason) who came to the Americas after His resurrection. Even though Matthew and Jason don't really look anything alike, once they were in costume I couldn't tell who was who. They were each amazing in their portrayal of the Savior.
A very moving part of the pageant. The Savior has just descended and is walking amongst the Nephites. He is touching the hands of the children, holding them, healing a sick child. It was a very emotional scene. Here a child touches Him on the cheek.
Jason (portraying Christ) walking among the Nephite children.
Right before Jason portrays Christ ascending back to the Father, he comes to this place on the stage where a few of us "New World Women" and a handful of children gather around his feet. Jason will come and stand on that black plate while we kneel around him. (Brooke is in the striped shirt.)
At this point, Jason (when in costume he is dressed in brilliant white with a wig and a beard) holds out his arms and says, "And now I go unto the Father." The "lift" then raised him up as we raised our arms towards him. I got a little too close to Jason a couple of times and he whacked me in the head as he lifted his arms out. (If you ever read this Jason, I AM SORRY! That was totally my fault! However, I am sure that no one in the audience noticed.) The lights then went out and in the pitch black we had about 5 seconds to get all of us AND the children completely off the stage. That was intense and I think we got caught on stage every. single. performance.
(Adam is in the orange shirt.)
The stage is made out of very hard, VERY SHARP fiberglass. To kneel on this is like kneeling on about 50 razorblades standing on end. You just don't do it. So, to make it a little less, um, painful, they have layed down red rubber matting. We always marveled at the beautiful patterns it left on our knees. Perfect little hexagons!
For the performances, I actually wore knee pads which gave me a whole new lease on life.
Our "New World" group - Matthew (who portrayed the Vision Savior), Andie, me (behind the camera), and those adorable children! During the descention scene, we sat on these stairs while Jason made his way down to our stage. Then we would run and gather around his feet.
The Nephite dancers in rehearsal. The girls had on part of their costumes at this point so they could get used to dancing in the skirts. These kids amazed me! It takes a lot of energy (and youth!) to be a Nephite dancer.
Haylie rehearsing the Harvest Dance in "the bowl."
See the white spray paint on the grass? They had painted an exact footprint of the stage on the grass for rehearsals, since we couldn't all fit on the stage at the same time. It was called "Cyber Stage." :)
Night time rehearsals. We had to get used to doing this all in the dark so some of our rehearsals were late at night.
John's scene as Alma. The man who is really white at the top (with the spotlight on him) is King Noah. John is to the left of him in the "mushroom" hat. John had to wear the hat in rehearsals so that King Noah could practice knocking it off John's head.
This picture was taken right before "the accident." When King Noah went to knock John's hat off, he missed the hat and jabbed John right in the eye! Dang.
Abinadi, with his hands in chains, preaching to Alma.
We rehearsed only 4 days before we performed in front of an audience. FOUR DAYS! It was a miracle that we could pull it off. And pull it off we did! There most surely was divine help. That was the only way it was possible to put together such an enormous production in such a short amount of time.
This is Jason. He portrayed Christ in the pageant. There were 2 young men who played Christ - one was the "Vision Savior" (Matthew) who appeared in Nephi's vision, and the other was the "Descention Savior" (Jason) who came to the Americas after His resurrection. Even though Matthew and Jason don't really look anything alike, once they were in costume I couldn't tell who was who. They were each amazing in their portrayal of the Savior.
A very moving part of the pageant. The Savior has just descended and is walking amongst the Nephites. He is touching the hands of the children, holding them, healing a sick child. It was a very emotional scene. Here a child touches Him on the cheek.
Jason (portraying Christ) walking among the Nephite children.
Right before Jason portrays Christ ascending back to the Father, he comes to this place on the stage where a few of us "New World Women" and a handful of children gather around his feet. Jason will come and stand on that black plate while we kneel around him. (Brooke is in the striped shirt.)
At this point, Jason (when in costume he is dressed in brilliant white with a wig and a beard) holds out his arms and says, "And now I go unto the Father." The "lift" then raised him up as we raised our arms towards him. I got a little too close to Jason a couple of times and he whacked me in the head as he lifted his arms out. (If you ever read this Jason, I AM SORRY! That was totally my fault! However, I am sure that no one in the audience noticed.) The lights then went out and in the pitch black we had about 5 seconds to get all of us AND the children completely off the stage. That was intense and I think we got caught on stage every. single. performance.
(Adam is in the orange shirt.)
The stage is made out of very hard, VERY SHARP fiberglass. To kneel on this is like kneeling on about 50 razorblades standing on end. You just don't do it. So, to make it a little less, um, painful, they have layed down red rubber matting. We always marveled at the beautiful patterns it left on our knees. Perfect little hexagons!
For the performances, I actually wore knee pads which gave me a whole new lease on life.
Our "New World" group - Matthew (who portrayed the Vision Savior), Andie, me (behind the camera), and those adorable children! During the descention scene, we sat on these stairs while Jason made his way down to our stage. Then we would run and gather around his feet.
The Nephite dancers in rehearsal. The girls had on part of their costumes at this point so they could get used to dancing in the skirts. These kids amazed me! It takes a lot of energy (and youth!) to be a Nephite dancer.
Haylie rehearsing the Harvest Dance in "the bowl."
See the white spray paint on the grass? They had painted an exact footprint of the stage on the grass for rehearsals, since we couldn't all fit on the stage at the same time. It was called "Cyber Stage." :)
Night time rehearsals. We had to get used to doing this all in the dark so some of our rehearsals were late at night.
John's scene as Alma. The man who is really white at the top (with the spotlight on him) is King Noah. John is to the left of him in the "mushroom" hat. John had to wear the hat in rehearsals so that King Noah could practice knocking it off John's head.
This picture was taken right before "the accident." When King Noah went to knock John's hat off, he missed the hat and jabbed John right in the eye! Dang.
Abinadi, with his hands in chains, preaching to Alma.
We rehearsed only 4 days before we performed in front of an audience. FOUR DAYS! It was a miracle that we could pull it off. And pull it off we did! There most surely was divine help. That was the only way it was possible to put together such an enormous production in such a short amount of time.
2 comments:
That looks way fun, something you will never forget. I am glad you guys got to participate after all.
Thanks for the behind the scene tour! That was really fascinating seeing how they put something like this together, you are all indeed blessed to perform at the paegant but also as a family.
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