Easter Passion Play

Each year our church puts on the reenactment of the Passion Play at Easter.  We are continuing the tradition this year again, which makes this week a hectic one for all involved.  The missus, my youngest and myself are all choir members.  The missus is also singing a solo (and doing a magnificent job if I do say so myself, singing Via Delarosa).

Amid all this preparation we will be travelling across the province to collect oldest daughter from university, which means missing Wednesday night's practice, and Thursday evening's dress rehearsal.  Of course I am really looking forward to tackling Toronto traffic and beyond on a holiday weekend.

The following is the synopsis of the Passion Play as presented in the local paper.

My friend, Rolph Burton, portrays Jesus

Passionate cast prepares Easter play

By DARBY SCOTLAND FOR THE RECORDER AND TIMES

With Easter quickly approaching, nerves are tingling and excitement is growing for the cast and crew of Centennial Road Church's annual Easter passion play.

Each year, the church presents the story of Jesus's death and resurrection in celebration of Easter. This year the church will be presenting the dramatic Easter musical One Voice.

For his first time, Rev. Jason McCutcheon is directing the music, with the help of Tina Murray, who is directing the dramatics.

The musical tells the story of Jesus's death and resurrection through the eyes of biblical characters Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea.

Three performances will be held, with the first show on Good Friday, April 22 at 2 p.m., followed by an evening show at 7 p.m. The final performance will be on Saturday at 4 p.m. Admission is free, and donations will be accepted.

"The core of the Easter story, of Jesus's death and resurrection, remains the same every year, but we try to tell it in a different way," explains Rev. Jason McCutcheon. "In other years it's been from the perspective of one of the centurions that nailed Jesus to the cross, and this year it will be told from the perspective of Nicodemus, the Pharisee from the book of John and Joseph of Arimathea, who gave Jesus the tomb he was buried in."

The play's cast and crew totals somewhere in the neighbourhood of 70 to 80 people and a live donkey, Louise. All of the performers, the crew, orchestra and choir are volunteers, ranging in age from pre-schoolers to seniors."We have a lot of talent at our church, which is awesome," said Rev. McCutcheon. "Through the years, this being the 20th year, there has been a lot of talent that has grown within the church."

This year, Ben Stobo will be acting his first lead role as Nicodemus, who he describes as a Jewish leader that transforms to a follower of Jesus. "Nicodemus is one of the Jewish Pharisees, one of 70 leaders of Israel at the time of Jesus," explains Stobo."He is an older priest who is a little bit weathered. He has been waiting for a messiah, for Jesus to come, but has got to the point where he really doesn't think its going to happen anymore. He is hopeful and always looking but no longer sure."

Co-starring alongside Stobo this year is Aaron Perry, who will be playing the role of Joseph of Arimathea. "Joseph of Arimathea is a younger priest and member of the council who is very sure of exactly what he knows. He is very much against John the Baptist and Jesus and is trying to find a way to stop the movement that they start," Perry explains about his character.

Perry has acted the role of centurion Marcus in past years of the passion play.

In previous years the performances have turned out a total of nearly 2,000 attendees, each performance hosting nearly 500 people.

"I think the play is going to be fun," says Stobo. "There are a lot of us who have been putting an effort in for a couple of months. The orchestra is coming together and choir sound really good."

"We just really hope that God will speak through us, and that he will come through," Perry adds.

"If I am not shown up by my fellow actor Ben Stobo then I'll feel pretty good about it," he jokes.

Everyone is encouraged to come and enjoy this timeless classic.

And that is about all I have to say for today.

Musings and meanderings from the Musical Gardener.