Christmas Musical 2008 - His Story (Behind the Scenes)

What goes on behind the scenes? Being involved with Stage and Lights, I didn't have the time to run around snapping pictures of every section of the Musical. But then again, I managed to catch some in action ........

FC, the coordinator - being "forced" by his wife to have something light (tsk! tsk! no eating in the sanctuary) so that he wouldn't get gastric. He's a very focused co-ordinator, who taught me how to see the big picture.

Sally Goh, Admin & Accounts - seen here trying to calculate how much $$ she has to part with. She's always seen with a camera around her neck, taking pictures of everyone in action. Being a peacemaker, she would normally offer advise when electricity charges up between two parties.

Dressing-up the stage - Thank God for the youths and Aunty Mary who availed themselves to help me out during the 2 weeks of dressing-up-the-stage period. They did a good job!!! Bravo!

Traffic - making sure that Agapeans park at Carkpark E (I think). We parked as close as possible to the other cars so that more cars could park in this area. So, rain, shine, hailstorm or snow (hehe!!), they braved the weather and did their job well.

Food!!!!! The hospitality team were responsible in providing us lunch/dinner (with lots of gravy and sambal - of course, on a first come, first serve basis) AND refreshments for the guests.

Grounds dan lain-lain. Yep! They do EVERYTHING we tell them to do, that's why the "dan lain-lain" was added. From t-shirts, to outside lights and decorating the Christmas tree, to the Heavenly stars and cleaning the grounds, they did it without any murmurs. Errr.. I heard that they were asked to replenish the toilet roll when it ran out on one of the nights.

Backstage Management and Prop Movers Team. So many people behind and under the stage during the 3 nights of performances. Some of the child minders were guys. Esther took charge of backstage and she was so fierce, everyone (kids and adults alike) were scared of her. But that's normal. Even "I" am scared of her!!! Four out of five prop movers were first-timers. When they first started out, they were so confused and kelang-kabut. One even told me that he thinks he's not cut out for this "job" but will continue to be in this team until the show is over. At the end of the 3 nights, he came to me, saying that it was not too bad after all.

Part of the backstage (under Tier 3) looked messy most of the time because of all the props. Eunice and EdwinT would normally make sure that the place is tidy after each performance. This year's passage way had lots of obstructing things (scaffolding and wood), causing the actors to move very slowly.

EstherT did a very comprehensive chart involved all cast, choir and dancers AND backstage team. This chart has everybody's names on it, the different scenes and areas that they are supposed to be at. I don't think many people can come up with this chart without getting a headache and many nights of insomnia.

This year, we really made use of the canopy outside the left keluar sign door. It was one of the areas where actors/actresses had to be at in between scenes. Thank God for good weather.

The basement (under Tier 2). Another waiting area. Children and child minders were usually here. I heard that for one of the nights, to keep the children in silent mode, someone told them stories (Great idea!!!) and they were so attentive.

Hair & Make-up team - well, what can I say? All of the cast,choir and dancers looked great ... err... even though their eyes were in 2 shades (green and cream) of colour. Well, frankly speaking, some of them looked as though they were going to sing opera :) The left side of Mae-Z's face got burned when the curler went too close to her skin. Aunty Chris was upset but Mae-Z was cool about it. She kept telling her grandmother to "Chillex" (Chill and relax)

Sound Team - First day, when the choir and music were soft, everyone turned their judging eyes on them. Err... they gave lots of reasons, of course. Second and Third nights were great. There was no feedback at all, though they were still unhappy about the Herod's scene. Err.. I don't know why. Jennifer, was in charged of the walkie-talkie, while the rest managed the sound system.

The Lights Team - Yes!!! We were in control of the lights. Overall, we did not do too bad a job. In fact, I think we did very well indeed. We made changes as we went along - each day, we changed a little here and there. On the final day, we told FC that we will make some drastic changes and he said, "No problems! Even if you want to do a blackout when Pastor goes up, I won't say anything". So, changes we did and not a single word from FC. In fact, he went out "jalan-jalan". I guess he trusted us not to mess everything up.

Sharon, Debra and I manned the main lights at the console area while Aunty Chris and KG prompted Kynnen and Phillip respectively on the follow-spot. Yoong controlled the moving heads. Bro KK (not in the picture) was in charged of the special effects.

Pic on the left - the parcan control buttons manned by Sharon and I. Pic on the right controls the moving heads, manned by Yoong. We had a look at the moving head controls and saw that it was labeled. Looked easy!!! When we asked Yoong if we could man that on the third night, he okeyed it!!! But we chickened out!!!

There were so many of us at the console area that it got a little warm during the musical. I think there were about 8-9 of us in there.

Dismantling team - Nope! we did not dismantle the stage. We "undressed" the stage. So many people helped although only 10 signed up.

I was so busy taking out the staplers using a screwdriver and plier that I did not notice the rest of them tearing out the paper from the structure until it was too late!!! Look!!! There are holes on my precious papers. Sometimes I think it's better if I were to do it myself. I want to preserve this for future usage. It really takes a lot of time to repaint and mend everything and my heart broke when I saw how rough they were with the papers. I think if I were to ask them to take 4 days leave to dress up the stage, they would understand the need to keep the papers/ other props in good condition.

By 12.15am, the stage structure was bare and most of us could go back. Some stayed back to help dump the props and papers into the prayer room for our Thursday's cleaning.

Janice and her team of dancers.

The cast, choir and dancers

Guess what? 22 of the "Yeoh Clan" were involved in this musical:-

Mum and Dad, Uncle Alan, Sze-En, Derrick, Brian, Thomson - acted

Aunty Chris, Sharon and Rachel - Lights

Rachel - Stage

EuniceT - Props

EstherT - Backstage management

Uncle Guru & Aunty Annie - Hospitality

Su-Ann - Choir conductor and soloist

Rajen - Choir

Uncle Beng, Aunty Sally & Uncle Norman - Ministerial team

MCTC - Grounds

Mae-Z - Dance

Madeline - Soloist/Duet timing guide