Catch a little holiday fun at musical ‘Angels Aware’
What’s Christmas without a host of little angels?
Valley Christian School’s fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade classes stage a production of the children’s musical “Angels Aware” Tuesday and Wednesday at Valley Fourth Memorial Church, 2303 S. Bowdish Road.
The cast includes 95 students from the school, all playing angels in heaven before the first Christmas.
“This is such a fun production,” said Bobbie Worley, the elementary school music teacher and junior high drama instructor. “We want people to come and catch some joy. It’s a very fun, very beautiful play, and it’s our gift to our family, friends and to the community.”
The Tuesday performance is at 7 p.m. in the church sanctuary. Wednesday’s performance is at 8:45 a.m.
“The play is about the angels up in heaven trying to figure out what God is going to do, who he’s going to send down to Earth as a messenger,” Worley said. “They know that God has a plan and that God needs to find a way to be closer to man. It’s really quite funny and touching as they work through all of their guesses. Some think it will be a famous musician; some think it will be a famous soldier.
“When they find out that he’s sending a baby, they are indignant! It’s really very touching.”
Worley said it has been a while since her elementary students have had a chance to put on a Christmas musical. When she knew she had the slot open, she jumped at the chance to stage “Angels Aware.”
“This musical is a 20th-anniversary reintroduction of a classic,” she said. “I’ve never been able to produce it. When I realized we had the chance, I jumped at it – it was the only one I considered.”
As you might expect from a production of this size, there was a tremendous amount of support from parents – building an elaborate set of heaven and making costumes.
Worley said it has been a great deal of fun putting the program together.
“I think it goes back to parents – they’re the ones that make something like this possible,” she said. “When you see the program, you’ll find the back page is just full of thank-yous to parents.”
From a staging standpoint, the play has come together easily, she added.
“If you find a great musical and if you have motivated kids, a lot of times it takes on a life of its own,” she said. “The kids are motivated. We had our last rehearsal for the dramatics of the play (Thursday), and Debbie Heden, who directs the drama, and I just watched. The kids are so motivated.”
Seven young actors have lead roles. Sixth-grader Rochelle Lesser plays the archangel Michael. Fourth-grader Jeremiah Taylor stars as the archangel Gabriel. Fourth-grader Shelbie McKenzie plays Sarah, head of the seraphim. Sixth-grader Alyssa Miller plays Cherry, head of the cherubim. Sixth-grader Robert Swanson plays Herald, head of the herald angels. Fourth-grader Daniel Dumbrava and fifth-grader Noah McConahy play Isaiah and Moses, respectively.
Sixth-grader Amy Taylor, Jeremiah’s sister, helps the production by providing sign language translation for some of the songs.