Fresh ideas for this year’s Madrigal Feaste
The Wenatchee Youth Circus will make its debut with Madrigal Feaste when the Wenatchee High School Choral Department hosts the event Dec. 5-7 at Saddlerock Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
New choir teacher Dawn McCormick has brought some fresh ideas to the Madrigal Feaste.
Circus jugglers, fire breathers and eaters, ground tumblers and ball walkers are scheduled to perform in the Faire, which takes place before the show. However, that might not be all for the circus performers.
“I’m really pushing to involve them in some of our sketches, but we haven’t confirmed anything yet,” said junior Jace Pauly, who will be performing in the show with the Choral Department. “It’s going to add a new dimension that hasn’t been there before. In the past, it has been all acting and singing.”
Tickets for the show are available now and can be purchased on the WHS website. They run from $25 to $35. Proceeds go towards choir expenses, such as trips, activities, and equipment.
McCormick asked James Wallace, auditorium manager and WYC board member if the circus would help and they agreed.
“It gives the circus some more exposure,” Wallace said, “We like kids to know that there is a circus in Wenatchee; a lot of people don’t know that. We are 60 some odd years old now and people are still amazed that we have our own little circus in the world.” The WYC is the second oldest traveling youth circus in the country.
Madrigal Feaste is a dinner theater set in the medieval times, McCormick said. A madrigal is a song. It was some of the first official written music that wasn’t sacred music sung in a church.
“It was like the top 40 of the 1400s,” McCormick said.
Students with the Choral Department will be dressed in madrigal costumes, from serving wenches to jesters, singing and performing scripted dialogue throughout the evening while guests eat medieval-themed food. They will be representing the year 1413.
“[The best part] is the interaction between the audience and the performers,” said Pauly. “The audience members become part of the show and can affect the entertainment.”
