About a year ago, the local youth chorus
was working on a musical production and desperately needed some
older guys. The director, Anne Larsen, baited a hook with a trip
to London and dangled it in front of a few chosen teenagers. Krister
was one of those guys. A trip to London is a hard thing to say
no to, and Anne is even harder to refuse, so his fate was sealed.
He jumped for the trip, and swallowed the musical as ‘one
of those things you just have to do’. One of the other guys
turned up at his first musical practice and told Anne, “I’m
only here because my mother sent me”.
Yes, things were definitely looking up for
the musical.
Krister’s involvement had a practical side on the home front, too. The musical had a 40’s theme, and Krister came looking for the sort of clothes that a down-on-their-luck 40’s family might wear. Luckily for him, that is just about all I have of clothes… unluckily for me. Suddenly my comfortable shoes, my cold weather jacket and all my other good stuff started a new career in the costume storeroom.
The musical was written especially for the
youth chorus in Austevoll, and designed to allow them to use all
the old musical favorites from a million well-known musicals.
The story-line about a brother and sister separated by hard times
and the war, yet miraculously brought together again just before
curtain-fall, supplied the pathos to move the musical forward.
But it also allowed the director to simplify or enlarge the scenes
along the way to the inevitable happy ending to get the best use
of her crew.
This was a good thing for Krister and the
guys. They practiced through the winter of 2000, and somehow their
roles started to grow. They started out with sincere promises
about just ‘schleping’ around in the dark corners of
the stage… and definitely no singing. Pretty soon they were
moving their lips so they would blend in with all the other people
who were actually making sounds. They advanced rapidly through
talking roles… and then they were singing with the chorus.
By the time the musical was presented in the spring, they were
on stage most of the time.
The musical was a great success. Krister survived his first stage presence with a very mellow attitude and “The Krister Show” became a standing joke in the family.
That was last year.
This
year several new scenes were added to the musical. Krister was
suddenly more than ‘policeman crossing stage’…
He and his friends were acting and singing. In some of the new
scenes these ‘old guys’ hogged the stage for themselves.
Their band was also added to one scene to create a ‘dance
at the local’ feeling. They even danced.
Who would have thought it a year ago. Certainly not Krister.
Certainly not his parents. It must have been Anne - the chorus director.