lani roberts: the very long aladdin post

we had so much fun music directing another show for cyt! aladdin seems like ancient history now but i had to record it, of course; it was just too fun! all the rehearsals and shows were at central bible church, which joel and i both performed at over 6 years ago. multnomah used to hold chapels at cb, so we've both performed with choir and music groups there, albeit at different times. the sanctuary is very distinctive and not set up for theater at all, and i was super impressed at the sets for the show. way to go, parents!

rehearsals were goofy and fun, as always. we learned from pocahontas that these kids will meet the bar wherever we set it, so we set the preparation bar pretty high and they did great!

we teamed up on the teaching, and each took care of our areas of specialty.
joel ran sound ...

and i was in charge of staring slackjawed into space ...

ok, not really. though i did that too.

jeff, our illustrious director, was in charge of stage kissing instruction, among other things.

"ok, look, let me show you how it's done" ...

almost there ...

"oh, this is too embarrassing!"

in addition to spacing out, i also directed the "band of wonders". (subtitled "the magic pit".)

julie and gail played flute and clarinet ...

aaron on bass ...

and ian on chimes (and other drums).

julie works in children's ministry at her church, and usually brought piles of preparation for sunday school to work on during breaks. aaron got into it too ...

the day before move-in we did a mini promo performance at clackamas town center, where my amp was nearly stolen. the kids were in costume for the first time, and made quite a sensation at the mall.

setup was ... fun. but we managed.

setting up the stage at central bible ... debbie caught this awesome shot of the whole room from the baptismal.

joel was busy setting up sound all week. tech stuff was interesting, to say the least. our tech people (my husband included) are heroes.

joel, with sound minions ...

more sound minions ...

during setup tonya and i rehearsed the kids in an overcrowded library. ian and aaron, awesome as they are, helped.

"lighten your tone! drop your jaw! sing through your forehead! support! listen! blend!"

on to the actual show ...
aladdin was a corny show. delightfully corny. hilariously corny. chock full of lines that you roll your eyes at the first time, and by the last show you're laughing hysterically.

it began with ...
the best "directing with an elephant" performance of the year by alyssa! ;)

welcome to the market!
tonya choreographed some fun dances for this show, and they used the multiple levels of the stage with great effect!

the lamp is hidden in a cave-like tooooooooomb!
(nice vowels, ladies.)

daylon the scary sword dancer ...

jewels, the only jewels i want are the glimmering eyes of love ... (or is it "glittering"?)

not robin hood or his men in tights, we're just a couple of arabian knights!

our genius sets people turned the elevated baptismal into the mouth of the cave of wonders, complete with the cool tiger's mouth which looked amazing with red lighting and smoke.
like i said: genius.

tell me, do these pants make me look fat?

genie of the lamp, he's straight from the lamp! ain't a tramp! he's a champ! from the lamp!

now hold on to your m c hammer pants, cause off we go!!!
(after which the band vamped the refrain of "can't touch this" for a scene change that lasted approximately 2 hours. or maybe it just seemed that long.)

so put on a smile! and replace your timid shyness with some royal style!

... and my heart will fly like a magic carpet sailing in the wind!
i wish we had audio of ian and aaron singing this song while playing. it was beautiful.

jasmine's giggling sidekicks: shamar, dakar, and sheba.

let's sell your mother!

live wisely, love life, and listen to your heart ...

now, unlike the disney version of aladdin, wherein the protagonist achieves victory through some boring snakefight, this aladdin and his friends win through cunning wit.
and through dressing up as harem girls.