Music, entertainment of Middle Ages at Madrigal Feast

Music, entertainment of Middle Ages at Madrigal Feast

The Jester, Evan Martin, with fellow Madrigal singers Wesley Hutchison, Maureen Stewart, Jordyn Rumbold, and Reilly Kerrigan. Photo by Phil Custodio

BY PHIL CUSTODIO
Clarkston News Editor
Celebrate the Christmas season with a feast, entertainment, and music from the renaissance, as the Clarkston High School Concert Choir hosts a Madrigal Dinner on Dec. 1-2 at 6 p.m. at Oakland Woods Baptist Church in Clarkston.
“We did this last year, pretty much just for family as we planned it at the last minute,” said Lynn Neideck, president of the Clarkston Choir Boosters. “We want to open the event up to the community this year.”
“It was fun, I loved it,” said senior Reilly Kerrigan, who plays a courtier in skits during the Madrigal dinner. “We sang a lot.”
“A lot of caroling,” said Jordyn Rumbold, senior, who portrays Olivia, a princess of the Jibber kingdom who helps translate for the king. “People fight over me, to not have to marry me.”
“It’s like a dinner theater, with a lot of actors,” said senior Maureen Stewart, a member of the royal court. “It was nice to perform in front of parents and the community in an elegant setting.”
Wesley Hutchison, senior, plays the good king, father of Olivia and her sister who are both princesses wanting to be married.
“I’m the king of Jibber, and my native tongue is Jibberish. It’s comical when I speak in my native tongue,” Hutchison said. “The combination and juxtaposition of elegance and the laid back atmosphere I thought was interesting. There’s a lot of laughter, a lot of very funny skits we perform.”
“We had twins who would sword fight,” Rumbold said.
“It was nice to engage the audience as well, it was fun,” Stewart said.
A Madrigal Dinner or Madrigal Feast is a form of renaissance dinner theater hosted by schools and church groups during the Christmas season, set in the Middle Ages. The meal is divided into courses, each of which is heralded with a traditional song.
“My mom (Gwen Stewart) did renaissance dinners,” Maureen Stewart said. “It’s traditional for higher level choirs to do renaissance dinners. We’ll have sword fighting, a jester telling jokes, a king and queen. I like the script, it’s true to the time period.”
The dinner is a fund raiser for the choir, which is planning a trip to New York City, with performance at Carnegie, a Broadway show, and workshops with Broadway performers in March, as well as concerts, conventions, festivals, and other trips.
Stewart grew up in a musical household.
“My mom is a music teacher. She took me to my first madrigal concert when I was 5 years old,” she said. “I always dreamed of doing it myself. It’s been a great ride. I enjoy making friends, learning and growing in music.”
Kerrigan has been singing since sixth grade.
“My all around family does a lot of singing. My aunt Eileen has been on the radio,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to sing. It’s my dream to sing somewhere.”
Rumbold started singing in elementary school choirs.
“I’ve been singing forever,” she said. “Music has always been fun. I get lost in singing. It’s something I look forward to every day. And it’s fun to make friends.”
“I just always had a love of music,” said Hutchison, who discovered his love for choir in junior high school and wants to be a music teacher. “I saw the madrigals and thought, I must be a part of it. I love the atmosphere. It’s gone really well, a great experience.”
The Dec. 1 dinner is already sold out.
Tickets are $25. Go to www.showtix4u.com, “Clarkston High School Madrigal Dinner,” check www.ccboinfo.wordpress.com, or email clarkstonchoir boosters@gmail.com.

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