Tonight for Family Home Evening our missionary group had a behind-the scenes tour of the Hill Cumorah Pageant which begins a week from Friday. The pageant president spent a couple of hours with us telling stories and taking us around the hill. We were literally watching the stage come together.
A group of about 25 seventeen and eighteen-year old young men from all over the United States make up the work crew (only two are local members). They reported last Friday, and set-up began on Saturday (with help from local church units). You can see from the pictures just how much work they have been able to accomplish in two days. The 750-member cast arrives later this week to begin rehearsals.
We thought of Kristi when we toured the rooms where the principal cast members dress. The wigs were fabulous. To read more about how they are made and about the costumes, check out this article written by a sister who was in charge of making the costumes.
Some of the more elaborate costumes from a few years ago are on display in the Visitors Center during the month of July. It was fun to take a close-up look at them.
Below are some of the props that will be used.
Here's a picture of the stage before the pageant . . .
. . . and here is one taken in the past during the pageant.
This year is the 75th Anniversary of the pageant, and approximately 7000 people are expected each of the seven nights that it runs. We plan to be in the audience at least a couple of those nights.
Here you see Elder Ellsworth on stage. See the light towers in the background? There are twelve - six on each side. The lighting and sound equipment will arrive soon. It is being transported from Utah direct from the Manti Pageant. After it is used here, it goes back to Utah again to be used on the next pageant there. The stages that you see in these pictures were built at Thiokol in Utah during the 80's and transported across the country. The largest one was prohibited from passing through Ohio because of its size, so they had to take a considerable detour to get it here . . . arriving only two days before opening night.
I'm sure we will have more to post on this subject in a few more days.
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