Black Nativity 2008

Well I went with Andrew and Ian on Thursday to see Black Nativity, a gospel nativity play that is put on yearly by the Lorraine Hansberry Theater.  Ian has worked for LHT for years doing sound, so we got to act all high and mighty and get in for free.  And... it was fantastic!  I am a lover of gospel music anyway, but many of the songs were so good that I'm pretty sure even the stoniest-hearted grouch (usually me) could get into the spirit.  The first half was the nativity section, where the story of Jesus' birth was told by a gospel choir, narrator, interpretive dancers, and trash-talking shepherds.  The second half was a modern-day gospel sermon, complete with dancing, testifying, and choir members bounding into the seats to shake hands with the audience.  I thought the songs in the first half were better, but all in all the whole thing was pretty amazing.  The cast had some mind blowing singers, and at times it felt like their voices could have brought the roof down, they were so powerful.  Although this was my first year seeing the play, Ian had given me a copy of the cast recording from a few years ago.  Unfortunately none of my favorite songs are on there (they change the music from year to year) but here's one that I'm pretty sure was in the version I saw:

So, anyone in the Bay Area I urge you to go see LHT's Black Nativity.  Everyone else, well, I think other theater companies put this on in other cities... trust me, it's well worth it!