Christmas pageants, good & bad
10-13-2006, 05:13 AM
I think it's a wonderful tradition and all the more wonderful for all the painfully shy little ones who have to be prompted, the shepherd who ends up facing the wrong way, the Herod who gets his beard in his mouth and can't speak, not to mention the angel who misses her cue and ends up in tears! To me, that's where all the magic is!
A church I was going to down in Essex did a pantomime version. Nativity+Aladin="A Lad In A Manger"!!
Our leader was head of arts and music at his senior school (12=16 year olds for US!!) but he was well into the whole thing. We had some of the guys in the church make wonderful scenery, ladies made costumes and others put together a lighting rig and sound system and even got our music on a cd (this was 1997). It was a musical! Among the songs we sung was "Thorns in the Straw" which I still can't listen to without getting choked up thinking about that wonderful night!
We were rehearsed to within an inch of our lives. Our leader (with a full face beard) played the lead which was Widow Twanky, complete with wig, bonnet and crinoline dress - deserved an Oscar for that, he did! But we thought maybe he enjoyed wearing the dresses a little too much!). A great lady in an electric wheelchair played the Angel Gabriel and I ended up as the Widow's dim daughter Ruth - a performance that earned me the distinction of being thought a member of the local 'special needs' dramatic group!
We invited the entire neighborhood and it seemed like almost all of them came because the place was packed to the ceiling! We started with games and fun and after the panto had a message about what Christmas really means. We finished with prayers and then served drinks and mincepies.
Don't know if we actually saved any souls that night but from conversations had afterwards, it certainly gave a lot of the people food for thought. Who knows, perhaps we sowed some seeds? We certainly had a whale of a time doing it.
A church I was going to down in Essex did a pantomime version. Nativity+Aladin="A Lad In A Manger"!!
Our leader was head of arts and music at his senior school (12=16 year olds for US!!) but he was well into the whole thing. We had some of the guys in the church make wonderful scenery, ladies made costumes and others put together a lighting rig and sound system and even got our music on a cd (this was 1997). It was a musical! Among the songs we sung was "Thorns in the Straw" which I still can't listen to without getting choked up thinking about that wonderful night!
We were rehearsed to within an inch of our lives. Our leader (with a full face beard) played the lead which was Widow Twanky, complete with wig, bonnet and crinoline dress - deserved an Oscar for that, he did! But we thought maybe he enjoyed wearing the dresses a little too much!). A great lady in an electric wheelchair played the Angel Gabriel and I ended up as the Widow's dim daughter Ruth - a performance that earned me the distinction of being thought a member of the local 'special needs' dramatic group!
We invited the entire neighborhood and it seemed like almost all of them came because the place was packed to the ceiling! We started with games and fun and after the panto had a message about what Christmas really means. We finished with prayers and then served drinks and mincepies.
Don't know if we actually saved any souls that night but from conversations had afterwards, it certainly gave a lot of the people food for thought. Who knows, perhaps we sowed some seeds? We certainly had a whale of a time doing it.
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