It was too cloudy last night for us to see the eclipse. I got a glimpse of it in progress, as we were driving back from Norfolk, when the clouds broke enough for me to see the moon about a third-covered by the Earth's shadow. But shortly after, the clouds obscured the whole sky, and that was the end of that.

The show... Once again, whoever set the microphone volumes screwed up, and it was hard to hear most of the singing over the orchestra. It was only a nuisance to me, but I grew up with the soundtrack and already knew the words to the songs. Matt could only make out about one word in ten.

Costuming - I was a little weirded out by the Nazi/riot police look they'd given the Romans. I understand they were making a point about perceptions, but it was still a little bizarre. And if they were going to put everyone else in semi-modern dress, I wonder why they didn't find a more modern costume for the priests.

I was fascinated by the costume changes for Jesus. He started out in khakis and a tucked white shirt and thick-soled work boots, on par with the things the Apostles were wearing but a little neater. A bit later, the shirt came untucked. A bit later, it hung past his hips. By the time he made his appearance after the intermission, the shirt hung to his knees and he was barefoot - a much more period costume. Would it be wrong of me to admit that I thought the actor playing Jesus was pretty hot?

Mary Magdalene caught my eye, too. Well, she was supposed to; she was wearing a gorgeous bright red dress - more color than anyone else on stage had, combined. But she didn't look like the usual dance-troupe woman. I spent half of the first act wondering if she was actually just a little on the plump side, but finally figured out that it was because she was a normally-proportioned woman standing amidst a bunch of skinny dancers. She actually had breasts, which dancers don't usually have.

The athleticism of the dancers was pretty impressive. They had a walkway suspended about eight feet over the stage floor, and it happened a half-dozen times that someone would reach up and grab it and just flip themselves up. Wow. I know dancers are strong, but they're generally kind of wiry - you don't usually see them with bulging arm muscles. The priests could've been done with cardboard cutouts, though, for all the grace and rhythm they presented.

The singing was pretty good, when I could hear it. Jesus' mike was set too low for the first act, or else he had a sore throat, but he was much improved after the intermission. All the singers except for Herod were good. (Herod was an older guy who obviously did not have the lung capacity to deal with stage singing. Which is too bad, because his song is funny.) And Mom and I were both relieved that they had mostly left the original music alone. If only the orchestra hadn't been so loud!

All in all, I enjoyed the show.

But I'm glad that was the last in the series. Another month's growth, and fitting in my seat would be a problem. Not to mention trying to edge past everyone else in the row getting to my seat.

--Liz