"Miracle of Christmas" Part 1

 The other day at rehearsal, we were doing the shepherd scene in "Miracle of Christmas." This is the scene when Angel Gabriel appears to the shepherds and proclaims the birth of the Messiah. While we are getting ready for this scene I am given a new line and am told that I am in charge of a sheep... not a fake sheep but a real sheep. As a few of us head to where the sheep were kept; I see little beautiful sheep all waiting to do their job. All of the sheep look quite pleasant except for one... there was one sheep that wouldn't stop ba-aa-aa-ing and it was running around. I was hoping I wouldn't end up with this foolish sheep. Of course they give him to me. I named him Mercy, for the Lord needed to give me Mercy! At the top of this particular scene we are supposed to be laying down ready to sleep for the night.. my sheep was running around and I felt like I was going to choke him to death because I was pulling on his leash with all of my might. They are surprisingly strong. So I decided to sit indian style or criss cross applesauce and my sheep is going in circles ba-aa-aa-ing. I'm trying to be engaged in the scene as best as I can. It's almost time for my line... oh my gosh focus on the line! Okay got through my line. I start to step back and notice that my precious sheep had pooped... everywhere. Now you would think that sheep poop would be just a couple of droppings here and there... coffee beans people. They look exactly like coffee beans. Then Mercy - the sheep decides to pee. Some of it gets on my blanket that I'm about to pick up and leave through the audience. I mean at this point I was just laughing, there was nothing else I could do. We did the scene about six times and he pooped another two times. Later that day we also had three live camels on stage. After an hour or so, all the camels decided to make some noise. How would you think a camel would sound? Maybe like a donkey? No.... a monster, a beast - you know like Beauty and the BEAST, or a dinosaur! I could not believe how scary it was. Never have I experienced live animals on stage before. I'm sure this only marks the beginning of what is to come... performing with actual audience members... oh no Lord give me Mercy!

Getting ready for rehearsal. The stage is out of this world huge!

This is set up for Nazareth.

This picture doesn't really show how beautiful this is, but this is the Heaven scene - the lights really make it look beautiful. These are clouds and the backdrop is more vibrant clouds.

posted by : nathan