Cabin Cleaning Day

We set December 18th as Cabin Cleaning Day. We had to tidy the messy cabin, brave the zillions of bacteria there and make sure that all our props are properly kept for future usage. All of us dreaded this day because we knew that by the end of it, we would be exshausted, sweaty and extremely dirty.

Thomson had to go to KL and needed Sharon to drive him back so Sharon got away with cleaning the cabin. I'm very sure she leaped for joy!!!

I managed to get Jian to come. He tried to call a few others to help but most of them had other plans. Moreover, who would want to waste their holiday on spring cleaning? I'm really glad that despite not having any "kaki", Jian came as promised. For him, the more he sweat, the better, coz that meant loosing some weight.

Lynne was supposed to come .... but she overslept (I think).

EstherT came to help during the first half of the day.

I spent some time patching all the torn papers so that I don't have to do it before the next musical. Once again, I was horrified by how those papers were torn from the stage structure. It took me a long time to patch up one piece.

These are bags of NOT rubbish, but of fibre. We had a total of 9 big garbage bags full of white stuff. Kimberly and Christopher were there for a while and they helped Jian reduce the number of bags to 4. They did a really good job of it! I was impressed.

We covered everything with newspaper to prevent lizard's droppings from contaminating the props. This is the first time we were wrapping the props and it took up most of our time. We started the whole process at 9.40am and by 2pm, we were no where near completion. In fact, we haven't even started tidying up the cabin. I was a little worried that we might not finish cleaning in time.

In the midst of my busyness, I caught sight of a few people, helping to clean the stage. FrankieY put the curtain railing back to where it belonged, PhilipY vacuumed the stage and PhilipC swept some part of the stage as well as helped carry heavy plywood into the cabin. And he actually smiled for this shot!!! This is what you call "joy in serving the Lord"

I prayed for good weather and the skies were soooo blue. It looked hot but it was windy enough for me not to feel the humidity.

I started tidying the cabin at 2.30pm. I rearranged the steel bars and wood and even took out some of the stuff which did not belong to the props dept.

Can we fit all these .....

......... into this?

I was wondering if we could fit sooo much stuff into an almost full cabin.

Being me, I didn't manage to make the cabin look neat, but at least, I got everything in there and there was still walking space from one end to another. Can't blame me either, cause we bought lots of props this year.

Jian, at 3pm, told me that his back was hurting. Then he tried to cheer himself up by saying that he felt like the strongest person that day - from carrying so many heavy things. Bah!! I told him that last year, we had to carry those heavy planks from the back of the church to the cabin - IN THE RAIN.

We managed to finish cleaning at 5pm. EuniceT didn't really go into the cabin, except to take pictures, because she was busy wrapping the props with newspapers. Good for her!!!

By the end of the day, I was feeling really dirty. All I wanted to do was to go back and have a loooong shower.

Well, I DID have my long shower. Too bad I didn't have dettol to clean myself of all those bacteria.

We went to pasar malam that evening. Normally we would order all sorts of food there but this time, we were too tired to think of eating. I started to feel tired when I had to wait for Eunice. Then I looked up and saw the beautiful sun rays!!!! The awesome sight cheered me up.

Well..... that's it!!! The end of the end. Christmas Musical for me, ended the day we stored everything into the cabin.

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

Christmas Musical - His Story (Day 3)

Our final night came and went. Phew!!! After months of practices and preparation, it's finally over. I'm now breathing a huge sigh of relief.

Hmm... what do I think of the 3rd night?

Everyone looked so relaxed when they came at 4pm. Some came so late. One, in particular was still strutting around in shorts and t-shirt, showing peace signs at 7.30pm!!!!

Lav was still complaining that the choir wasn't properly lit up. We had to show her how brightly lit they were. I think she was satisfied after that.

We (the backstage/lights/etc) people were telling the cast and choir not to be so relaxed and to stay focused on the event. Their reply? "It's normally 1 bad night and 2 good nights. The bad night was on Friday, so today would be good". Wah! Such confidence.

Well, they were right. They did exceptionally well!!!!

Many people turned up. Some had to go to the overflow room. One family gave up their seats for other people and they were asked to go to the chapel! Agapeans were told to make space for visitors.

In total, we had 111 decisions where 68 of them turned their lifes over to Jesus. Praise the Lord!

More pictures ..........

Angels in heaven

Three Kings

Temptation Scene

Sermon on the Mount

Jesus, weeping for Jerusalem

Su-Ann singing at the Last Supper scene. Not sure what is happening here. Two spotlights on her. Two different colours. One higher, one lower. Not sure why.

At the graden of Gethsemane

Dancers

Christmas Musical 2008 - His Story (Day 2)

The 2nd night of our musical went very well.

We were informed right before the Musical started that one of the air-conditioners would be switched off. "What???" we exclaimed. We were so worried that the sound would be worse than Day 1.

People were literally sauntering into the sanctuary. By 7.45pm, we were only at 70% filled. But by 8.10pm, the sanctuary was filled and some of the late comers had to go to the overflow room, where they would have to watch from the live feed.

Sharon and I were all the more worried about the quality of the sound system.

From the 1st to the last song, the choir sounded great. The soloists and other singers sounded great too. It was one of the best that we've done so far. Err... except for one part which Jo forgot the second part of a line, but she stood there smiling sweetly, I think no one noticed much. :)

Towards the 2nd half of the musical, I was feeling so hot, I was convinced I was begining to melt. I was told that for the rest of the people, the temperature was just nice.

Once again, the lights team did very well. Bravo!!!! (can you tell that I am very biased?) The props team did well too.

I remember on the 1st night, FC did comment at different times to adjust our lights, but there was no comments from him at all yesterday. I asked FC about it and he said that we handled it well and that he thinks that for our 3rd night, he doesn't need to be in the sanctuary at all!!!

Sharon and I asked Steve why the music/choir sounded good when it was so warm. He explained that they came earlier to adjust the sound with the room temperature (they had to estimate the room temperature to be able to get things balanced). Wow! I thought "Sound" is only "off" or "on". I didn't know that it takes a lot of estimation, juggling from one thing to another, etc to get things right. Sounds very challenging to me. Hmm.. do you think perhaps I should try out being in the "sound" team in future? Err... I am not saying that I want to be in that team next year. Maybe in the far future. Hm... maybe not THAT far cause as I get older, hearing might be a problem - that is if I take after my father.

I brought my Canon DSLR and managed to catch some pictures when I was not too busy with the lights. Actually, with our ever efficient Debra (our prompter), I was able to snap even in between shifting the light controls.

I was doubly surprised that FC didn't nudge me to say "Hey! Concentrate on your lights". I guess what they say about ladies being able to multi-task is true. :)

Okay, here are some pictures which I managed to capture. I couldn't capture scenes like the garden of Gathsemane and Jesus dying on the cross because it was simply too dark. Others like "Glory! Glory", "Hosanna" and Jesus coming out from the tomb can't be captured because I was busy with the light controls.

From Heaven's Throne, God sent His only Son, Jesus, to earth

Angel Gabriel spoke to Joseph and Mary about the virgin birth

"No more rooms" - Joseph and a very pregnant Mary were looking for a place to stay in Bethlehem

Jesus was born in a stable

Shepherds saw the star and went to Bethlehem to visit the new born King

King Herod, upon hearing the news of the new born King, sent out a decree to kill all boys aged 2 and below to end the threat

30 years later, Jesus began His ministry - calling of the disciples, teaching the people and performing miracles

The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the lame will walk and the dead will live again

Jesus, having his last supper with his disciples, prior to being betrayed by Judas

The road to Calvary - where he was stripped, beaten, spit upon and eventually, hung on the cross

The resurrection of Jesus

Finale - the choir and cast