Glenn’s Trumpet Notes

Curtain Call, “All I Want for Christmas”

More than 3,100 people, spread over six performances, came to see this year’s musical, “All I Want for Christmas,” at Alderwood Community Church (ACC) in Lynnwood. This is the 28th consecutive Christmas show produced by the church (see http://www.amcc.org). And it is the second straight year that the play was written by Lauri Evans Deason of Los Angeles (see my blog post of 15 December 2015). And it is the third consecutive time that I have played trumpet in the ACC Orchestra at these Christmas productions. I am continually impressed with how much talent of all ages there is among these church members.

Glenn Ledbetter, 2016

The lead character is Lyric Jensen, played admirably by McKenna Sessions, a high school senior with a lovely voice and accomplished singing style. Lyric’s birth mother, Molly, abandoned her when she was only two-days old in a manger in the nativity scene in front of a church on Christmas day. The Jensens, Steven and Nora, found her and adopted her. Nora died three years later, and Steve continued to raise her.

Seeking greater happiness at age 17, Lyric longs to find her birth mother. Instead, she finds a woman who is later exposed as an imposter, pretending to be her birth mother in hopes of financial gain. Lyric realizes that real love and happiness is with her Dad. The story is an allegory about God’s unconditional love for humankind, his adopted children.

For me, the hit songs in the musical are “All I Want for Christmas,” “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” and “When Love Takes You In.” The first is by Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXQViqx6GMY). The second is by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Jean Baptiste Calkin, with new words and music by Bernie Herms, Mark Hall and Dale Oliver, arranged by Dave Williamson. The third is by Steven Curtis Chapman, orchestrated by Sherry Joos.

The musical photos are courtesy of John Crozier, http://www.crozierphotography.com. Please click on any photo to enlarge it.