The weather was unbelievably cold, we wore sweatshirts and layered clothing constantly. There was only one day where I wore shorts and a short sleeve shirt. All the other days I was bundled up. Here is a picture of us rehearsing on the stage, on one of the warmer days. You'll notice that everyone has on jackets, and they have their arms folded because of the chill.
The first Saturday of performance was a huge thunderstorm. Immediately after Samuel the Lamanite prophesied "There will be earthquakes and fire, thunder and lightning!" the clouds opened and poured on us with lightning all around, and the director came on the loudspeakers and told everyone to get off the stage. It was too dangerous to have us on that metal stage, or to have the work crew guys up in the metal light towers during the lightning. (I could just imagine the headlines, "700 Mormons Killed by One Lightning Bolt"). They say that the Pageant is never cancelled because of rain, but it is cancelled because of lightning.
We had church on Sunday, and a day off on Monday July 13. Then we had a fun talent show/variety show on Monday night, with lots of people from the cast performing music or doing wild and crazy skits. Tuesday started with a complete run-through to refresh our minds, then we had performances Tues-Sat.
For that week, we had a lot more free time instead of rehearsals. We got to go on outings to the Grandin Building (where the first copies of the Book of Mormon were printed), to Joseph Smith's farm, and to the Sacred Grove. (Our family also went to see a lock on the Erie Canal.) After our last performance on Sat. July 18, we had to put away the 8000 chairs, then had a cast party until 1:30 in the morning.
Wow, no wonder I was so tired when I got home.
I took this picture the day we departed. We saw skies like this almost every day. Notice the jacket and the umbrella.
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