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Church makes a joyful noise, again

A production at a Brooksville church tells the story of a man depressed by the commercialization of Christmas.

By JEAN JOHNSON
Published December 3, 2005

BROOKSVILLE - Put together the talents of Lee Gordon, the choir of Faith Presbyterian Church and the young dancers from Charlene's School of Dance and the results are likely to be crowd pleasing.

So the audiences at next weekend's semidramatic musical Journey to the Manger are bound to be in for a treat.

Gordon has been the church's music director for 14 years. Her first Christmas production was The Gospel According to Scrooge , which was performed for four or five years. Even though she recognized its success, Gordon decided to get the church involved on a larger scale.

Since the beginning, all of the productions have been part choir and part drama. Although she has written some of the productions, most come from other sources, she said.

"I always want the event to be a certain length of time," she said. "Depending on what's out there at the time, some are better than others, but all must be suitable for my size choir and at the same time have something to offer with a strong message."

"I don't like to do the same old humdrum thing if it can be helped. And I've got to make sure I have the talent to do what is required."

The cast usually consists of members of the adult and children's choirs, plus other church members. Students at Charlene's School of Dance participate, and Charlene Harris choreographs the dances.

"(Charlene) is a wonderful person and a strong Christian filled with all kinds of Christian music," Gordon said. "It's great to have help from her, and it's all very tasteful."

Megan Gillis, 15, who has been with the choir for eight months, said she is enjoying it.

"Mrs. Gordon is awesome and so good at coordinating, and my parents love being with her," Megan said.

Celeste Combs and George Boring are both longtime choir members.

Combs, 55, sings in the small ensemble choir and the regular choir and always participates in the seasonal performances. In the first half of Journey to the Manger , she recites a poem to music.

"The choir is a close-knit group of people," she said.

Combs described the production's two sections: The children, youth and morning praise team perform secular music in the first part; the drama and cantata come after intermission.

Boring and Gordon became members of Faith Presbyterian 14 years ago.

"It's been nice to watch the church grow and get with a group of people that have a lot of camaraderie and get involved and just make a joyful noise and have a lot of fun." Boring said. "It's always exciting to have an opportunity to present the Gospel through music.

"The church is very actively trying to present things to the community through music, and it's the main objective of doing any kind of music in the church to present the Gospel," he said.

The production opens with a song celebration before going into a Depression-era scene, followed by a fast ragtime song before shifting to a scene with a man and his wife in a store. The husband is depressed because he feels Christmas is all about commerce until he sees people appear before him, including Joseph and Mary.

"At the end," Boring said, "his whole being changes, and he is convinced there is a real Christmas."

During this part of the play, Silent Night and other Christmas songs are sung.

Boring said neither the music nor the actors dominate the performance.

"We kind of blend together, especially when we get into the Christmas message and telling the story of the birth of Christ," he said.

"You're telling the story of the birth of Christ to music with a Gospel message."

[Last modified December 3, 2005, 01:22:20]