With Easter Sunday just two weeks away, the timing couldn't have been more appropriate for going to see
The Pageant of Our Lord - a take-off on Laguna Beach's
The Pageant of the Masters. Rolling Hills Covenant Church has been presenting this awesome collection of living reproductions of sacred works of art celebrating the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ for 26 years, and it's something everyone should see at least once.
Our day began at The Marmalade Cafe in Rolling Hills where we enjoyed a delicious lunch together. And it was so nice to have several guests come with us for this event - maybe they will consider becoming F.R.I.E.N.D.S.!
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| Don't we look gorgeous!!! |
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| Our personalized menu and the little treats provided by Queen Annie |
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Standing L-R - Celene, Chris, Helen, Marie, Sylvia, Kathy, Carol (Debbie's sister), Debbie, Barbara G, Tina, Shelly, Barbara L
Kneeling L-R - Queen Annie, Christina, Joy, Carol N |
After lunch we drove the short distance to Rolling Hills Covenant Church.
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| The Church Bell Tower |
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| Close-Up of the plaque on the Bell Tower |
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| Enjoying some together time and conversation |
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Before the show, we were directed into the make-up room and thoroughly enjoyed watching the actors being "painted" for their art pieces.
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| The make-up process is more like applying paint to an art piece |
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| Painting Thomas' face for "The Last Supper" |
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| James and Thomas |
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| James and Thomas graciously posed with us. |
We really enjoyed talking to "James" and "Thomas" from "The Last Supper", which was the last art piece before the intermission and was used to show how the pieces were created. Each of the disciples were introduced as they came on stage and stepped into their spot in the picture frame. The bread was passed and each disciple took a piece, then the lights went dark. About 2-3 seconds later, the lights came back on and the "people" had disappeared and Leonardo Da Vinci's famous painting was before us. Totally amazing.
The show consisted of 15 separate art pieces - some paintings, some statues, some stained glass windows - all familiar scenes from the Bible and Jesus' life, and all mind-bogglingly created by using real people. Accompanying the art was a full orchestra and a 60-voice choir, and in-between art pieces were videos showing how the pieces were constructed, along with various songs, stories and sketches that kept us totally entertained and enthralled. Everything was very professional and totally inspiring and wonderful.
After the performance we talked to several people who were involved in the production. It takes approximately 360 people to put the pageant on each year, and you can see the love in their faces and hear the devotion in their voices - they are so dedicated to this project and to the story it tells. What a fantastic and breath-taking experience, and something we would all like to do again.
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| "Judas" from the Last Supper took this group photo for us. |
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Thank you so much, Queen Annie, for inviting us to this amazing day!
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| Queen Annie |
