McGivney: An Original Musical Production at Grotto starting December 6th!

Below is my original post on McGivney.  The musical began last night with it's first performance.   However, call (248) 302-9471 or mcgivneytickets@gmail.com  to find out for certain if you were planning on attending on that day.

HOLY MASS - SHIFTED TIMES
The next performance is Tuesday Night at 7:00pm, which is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (the Noon Mass was shifted to 2:00 for performers and the 7:00pm Mass was shifted to 6:00pm for this year only). 

The last two performances are Saturday and  Sunday, December 12th and 13th.

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An original musical production based on the life of Fr. McGivney - the founder of the Knights of Columbus will begin on December 6th at Assumption Grotto in the old school gym. It will feature an orchestra (which includes members of the Detroit Symphony Orchesra and the Assumption Grotto Choir). The music was composed and will be directed by Grotto's Pastor, Rev. Eduard Perrone. It is produced and directed by Grotto parishioner, Joe Maher.

Other dates are December 8th, 12th, and 13th. These musicals are usually limited to the stated performance so get your tickets now.  Please consider attending one of the earlier performances where attendance is somewhat lower.  On the last day, be prepared for parking and seating challenges, so get there very early.


See the write up in the Michigan Catholic.

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The Heritance ends it's three-day run to a sold-out audience

It's been a long week and I have many photo samples to share. However, tomorrow is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception - a holy day of obligation. It's too late for me to catch the 6:30am Mass so I'll likely go to the 7:00pm liturgy. I have several nights backed up with things that must get done, from doctor appointments to laundry and housework so it will take some time for me to finish the editing.






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Recent Posts on Te Deum

A scene from The Heritance, which debut's tonight at 7:00pm at Assumption Grotto. Get tickets at the door. Seating is limited to the first 500. Get there early! Other opportunities are Friday at 7:00pm and Sunday at 3:00pm.

Photo Posts: The Heritance

• The Heritance: Just three performances - starting Wednesday night!
• Grotto Musical: The Heritance - This Wednesdsay, Friday and Next Sunday
• Coming Next Week: The Heritance - An Assumption Grotto Theatrical Production (includes Detroit Free Press interview with Fr. Perrone)

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The Heritance: Just three performances - starting Wednesday night!

There will be a heavy focus on The Heritance and posting will be slow this week. I will be at Grotto tomorrow after work, Friday, and all day Sunday. Thursday I drive my mom to the doctor after work and Saturday is our monthly Carmelite meeting. In between, I have loads of photo editing, including a large backlog of things I owe people from pics to audio!!!

Details on dates, ticket info and the like can be found at the bottom of this post.

A few teaser-photos I took during a recent rehearsal. If you are within driving distance, just let go of stuff and join us. People have been working for months on it and I promise you it is NOT your ordinary school play. Volunteers, professionals in their respective fields, coached the performers. There is an orchstra pit with professional musicians. The pastor of the parish is conducting the symphony and choir. I tell you that when you hear it all mixed together, it will send chills up your spine. The music is, at times, downright haunting. Other times, it is joyful enough to make you want to join in. There are many warm and comical moments.

This next picture is not that of an actor, but our pastor! An original musical would not be possible without an original composer and conductor. Assumption Grotto's pastor, Fr. Eduard Perrone, used his composition skills for the symphony and the choir parts (see press release at the bottom of this post). Here he is conducting the symphony during the dress rehearsal.

I give you now a peak behind stage and in other areas of support in the gym. We have a retired carpenter in the parish who worked with an entire team of young people and other volunteers to construct &paint moveable set pieces. The stage crew, which includes performers between acts, then works to remove some things and add others as needed for each scene.

While you will see many performers on stage singing and acting, there are many more people behind stage in support roles handling lights, curtains, makeup, microphone wiring, and much more. There is seamstress backstage working with costumes. On the gym floor is an elaborate sound system run by another team of volunteers with skill in this area. And, at the back of the gym is Grotto's associate, Fr. John, running a slideshow projector with text for each number sung. It is truly amazing how all of this chaos has turned itself into well-running machine.

BEHIND THE SCENES

Microphones, hair and makeup....

Here is the press release which is on the Assumption Grotto website:

Detroit Pastor PRODUCES broadway style musical TO PROMOTE priesthood and religious life.

Detroit, mi, november 10, 2008: 30 years ago, Rev. Eduard Perrone, pastor of Assumption Grotto Catholic Church in Detroit, announced to his famous father, renowned big band musician Phil Perrone, that he had decided to enter the seminary, his father exclaimed that the music community had lost a “great one”. But today, the Rev. Perrone is making history from his Detroit parish by producing wholesome family musicals in the grand tradition of the great classics.

“It’s not just good music.” Rev. Perrone says, “What last year’s musical, Palla Eius and this year’s new musical, called The Heritance, represent is what we hope will be the beginning of a Catholic cultural renaissance, beginning in Detroit and spreading throughout the world. We desperately need this genre of theatre given the immense influx of filth and violence of so many contemporary films, music and stage productions which have not resisted even unto attacking the Catholic Church and the priesthood.”

To assure the success of the musical productions, Rev. Perrone has teamed up with Detroiters from the international entertainment community. Joe Maher, a producer of live entertainment from Hollywood; Sonja Krolik, a choreographer and dancer from Broadway; Emmy and Grammy Award winner Ed Wolfrum who engineered the sound for the great Motown hits of the 60’s; and the music during the performances will be accompanied by members of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

“There’s a lamentable void in the Church’s involvement in the arts today, even though the Church formerly has been a great promoter of them. This deficiency has resulted in the proverbial ‘vacuum’ for evil to take ascendancy in film, TV, literature, vulgar music, etc. From time to time we need incentives to our faith. The arts should help supply for this. We need a Catholic cultural revival!” Rev. Perrone said.

The new musical, The Heritance, will be performed at Assumption Grotto Catholic Parish, 13770 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, Michigan 48205 on Wednesday, December 3rd at 7:00 p.m., Friday, December 5th at 7:00 p.m., and Sunday, December 7th at 3:00 p.m. Call the Assumption Grotto Rectory for tickets: (313) 372-0762. Ticket prices are $30 per family; $10 per adult; $7.00 per teen; $3.00 per child and Children 6 and under are free. There is free lighted and secured parking.

Real Catholic TV also plugged the event on their December 1, 2008 News segment.

It starts at about 4:30 into this broadcast. Click here to watch (the link mentioned by Vic takes you directly to the press release on the Grotto website that I provided above).

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Grotto Musical: The Heritance - This Wednesdsay, Friday and Next Sunday

Young people and some adults roll mini-posters for The Heritance - an original musical stage play with some 60 parishioners involved, mostly young people. These folks have been enduring 4-5 hour rehearsals, 2-3 times weekly for a few months now. Many more hours went into carpentry, sound system setup, lighting and more. Let's pack the gym!!!

Just a reminder that the Grotto musical production, The Heritance, runs this Wednesday, Friday (7:00pm), and this coming Sunday (3:00pm). Tickets were suppose to be in the gift shop after the 9:30 am Mass, but they were still at the rectory. You should be able to get your tickets at the door (click on the poster below for details).

See my previous post for an article that appeared in the local Detroit Free Press recently which included an interview with Grotto's pastor, Fr. Eduard Perrone, who wrote the music for the symphony which will be in the mock "pit" for all three performances this time.

Sorry I can't show any photos from the stage rehearsals, but I can show you some of what was going on in the pre-rehearsal hours (makeup and microphones take hours to put on the many performers so they are there hours ahead of time).

When you are just a baby and your mom and dad are in the show, there is no shortage of people to watch you at Assumption Grotto - a place with lots of families and kids.

Fr. Perrone makes a last minute adjustment to the music.

Posters! Posters! And, more Posters! Some of our youngest performers worked very hard on stage and off. And, you should hear them sing in their solos!!!!

Fr. Perrone gets a little mental conducting practice down as the piano plays for the practice sessions.

Young people are involved in many facets of the production. The laptop shown will run words being sung above the stage so the audience can see the lyrics.

And, the folks had all kinds of ways to help pass the time in between action.

The Heritance......be there!!!

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The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!

Coming Next Week: The Heritance - An Assumption Grotto Theatrical Production (includes Detroit Free Press interview with Fr. Perrone)

I have been wanting to tell you about the latest original, theatrical production at Assumption Grotto which will take place on the following days:

Wednesday, December 3, 2008 (7:00 pm)
Friday, December 5, 2008 (7:00 pm)
Sunday, December 7, 2008 (3:00 pm)

For tickets and more information: 313 372-0762

Parking can be an issue at Assumption Grotto. There is a secure lot, but I would encourage you to get there early. Last year, the final performance had so many people, they had to delay the start of the show as people looked for a place to park.

I was also alerted to this wonderful interview in the Detroit Free Press with our pastor, Fr. Eduard Perrone who wrote the music. Several members of the Detroit Symphony will be in the orchestra, as they were in Palla Eius. I'm providing a link to the article, but it may disappear offline after a few weeks so I am also adding the text and picture here that appeared in the Thanksgiving Day 2008 issue of the Detroit Free Press.

When the Assumption Grotto Catholic Church decided to put on a show to commemorate its 175th anniversary last year, organizers thought it might attract a few hundred people. Instead, nearly 1,600 folks filled folding chairs in the church's old gym auditorium over three weekend performances.

This success has led to a second, even more ambitious musical production, again composed and conducted by the church's pastor, the Rev. Eduard Perrone. It's being performed Wednesday and Dec. 5 and 7.

Set in the 1920s, "The Heritance" is the story of a man, made mean by the death of his wife, who softens when he meets an orphan girl.

The show includes 45 cast members (many of them children) and 12 musicians, including some members of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Perrone, 60, has been pastor at the historic church for 14 years. As the son of Detroit big band musician Phil Perrone, he comes by his love of music naturally. A graduate of Cass Tech High School, he also studied composing and conducting at the University of Louisville and the Aspen School of Music before becoming a priest.

QUESTION: How do you describe the musical style of "The Heritance"?

ANSWER: There's a little of everything in this work: Broadway-style music, romance, jazz, fugue, etc. The music is modern but singable. ... I especially enjoy the instrumental pieces, which afford me a chance to test my writing skills.

Q: How does the parish community (or the community in general) benefit from these theatrical works?

A: Theater with music has a way of lifting people from the tedium and worry of their ordinary lives and makes them aspire to great things. Among those who greeted the last musical with particular appreciation were many beyond our own parish. I could see that there was a sincere interest in doing more of the same and offering it for the wider community.

Q: Children are a huge part of the show. What do you think they take away from this experience?

A: Children have a remarkable capacity to do things well beyond what is usually expected of them. With direction and instruction, our kids have proved their capabilities to act, sing, dance and to develop their personalities through theater. The educational value of this kind of experience for youth is inestimable.

Q: What do you want to say in "The Heritance," especially in response to what you have called (in the show's press release) "the vacuum of evil" that now defines popular music, TV, literature and film?

A: Yes, I think the message of popular music, especially rock music, has demoralized our kids, hopefully not our kids, or your kids, but then again, who's to say?

The show is a modern morality play, but very subtle. There are religious themes in it, but they are not bathed in halos or religious sentimentality. There's humor, sadness and love, as well as faith.

Theater, I think, should be uplifting, inspirational, and there should be a catharsis involved, causing the audience to go back into the light of day enthused and renewed.

Q: What has been the response from the Catholic archdiocese?

A: Priests, some nuns and a bishop attended last year and were very supporting and even surprised at the level of our achievement. It helps put a good face on the church as a supporter of the arts, a role it had historically but with which it is not so often associated today.

BY JOHN MONAGHAN, FREE PRESS SPECIAL WRITER

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The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!