Spend Awhile on the Nile

The three big kids have all participated in the Kids Choir at church this year.  Last year we saw the choir's end of the year musical and thought it would be a good fit for our family.  They have sung in front of the church several times and most recently performed the musical Spend Awhile on the Nile.  It has been good for them in a lot of ways.  Their director is so good at balancing high expectations with realistic ones.  So there is no stress to be perfect, but a strong desire to do well.  Plus, they have had so many opportunities to be in front of an audience while being surrounded by friends.

Caleb was assigned one of the major roles in the musical.  Memorization is not his strongest skill so the role was a big challenge.  He practiced a lot and did a great job. 

Natalie and Annalise are in the lower age group of the choir and all of those children were in the chorus.   Annalise had everyone else's lines memorized anyway!

The cast:

Spend Awhile on the Nile is a well written play.  It was kind of hard because the music doesn't stop much and often the speakers have to speak in the middle of a song.  When they missed their cue, it really threw off the timing.  Also it assumes the audience has a basic knowledge of Genesis and Exodus.  I thought that was probably a weakness in some ways, but it did make the dialogue funny.  The songs are really great.

Before the play, the kids were very nervous, but after it was over, they were all very disappointed that they only got to perform it once.  C and A still recite parts of it just for fun - especially at night, instead of going to sleep! 

The choir has two more performances in early May and then it breaks for the summer.