Show 14 - The day started out with A Brett Family Christmas. The multi-talented famly of Mom, Dad, and their son and daughter spent a musical 2 hours entertaining us.
This multi-tallented family did a beautiful tribute to our Veterans (as all shows did - but theirs was really good.)
The daughter played the piano beautifully along with singing.
Her brother was great a both song and dance:
Overall this was an excellent program - a great one for all to see.
After the show we were left downtown for about two hours so we could pick a place to eat and do a little shopping.
Show 15 - Jesus at the Sights and Sounds Theater - This is the story of the Savior's life and death but it is far more than that. It does tell his story with a lot of theactrial license - making the story more alive and personal than the Bibical version. My only complaint really is the story was heavy on theater and humor while it seemed to lack the reverence and spirit of the story.
Here is the venue. It is a huge building on the top of a hill.
But the main reason you can't miss this is for the sets and visual effects. It is totally over the top. Words can't begin to really describe this and unfortunately photos during the program are not permitted so all I can do is pull some pictures off the web site.
This picture doesn't really do it justice as you can't really tell the size of the set. The buildings are two stories tall - and I mean in real size. This is a some-what U shaped stage that if put in our local Save Mart Center where Fresno State plays basketball would fill in one whole side of the arena - just the stage.
Beyond the staging there were animals (horses, sheep, goats) and people going up and down the isles through the audience and birds that would fly overhead.
Then there were the visual effects. I wondered from the beginning how they could make Jesus walking on water look realistic but they did an outstanding job of visual effects especially with water and sky to where things looked very realistic.
This is a picture of Peter casting his net in the sea and catching a net full of fish.
One last thought on this production: There was a lot of side dialogue that at first seemed to take you away from the story as told in the Gospels, but as I look back I am glad it was there as it helped personalize the stories and helped to bring the stories to life by adding a little meat to the stories we have read all our lives. In conclusion the staging and effects alone make this a show worth watching.
Following the show we had one last, very short dinner at our favorite diner before we hit the final production of our tour:
Show 16 - Illusionist Rick Thomas - It was fun to be down front and center for a magic show - we were so close we could see the sweat run down his face. Rick is a true world class performer having spent much of his career in Las Vegas. His assistant is his wife.
He is really good a playing the audience. One of the best parts of the show was his getting a six year old boy up on stage and levitating a table with the boy's help. The looks of wonder on the boy's face were priceless.
He made many things appear including two huge white dogs and a full sized motercycle but the best was the helicopter:
He ended the show by levitating his wife and then making her and himself disappear. Great show.
This was a great way to end our trip. It was sad to come to an end of this adventure but as they say "all good things must end some day..."
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