On May 25, the night opened with Sultans of String virtuoso musicians and their guest Anwar Khurshid (casually sitting cross-legged on a table with his sitar), engaging the audience with their interactive concert.  

The night ended with joyful people dancing in the street, still energized from Cadence’s electric performance of Pharrell Williams’ Happy, with the help of students from Queen Alexandra Middle School. 

Here’s a tour of Prologue Children’s Festival 2015.

Ready…

The artists are practicing in their room or socializing with each other in the backstage. Pat and Patty lead Queen Alexandra Middle School students to the stage to get instructions from Lucas from Cadence.

Set… 
The students had a one-hour workshop with Cadence in their music class in the morning. They will take part of the final number of the night with the popular quartet. 

People are arriving in the lobby. Excitement is in the air. Kids take their chance to win a gift basket. Adults fill out a ballot to win a FREE Prologue show for their school. Parents and teachers grab a copy of the new school catalogue for 2015-2016.

 

Students from Kimberley Junior Public School, who are part of a Programming Committee to select Prologue performances!

Go!

Patty Jarvis, Prologue’s Executive Director, welcomes everyone, thanking them for their support of the performing arts in the schools.

Sultans of String start to work their magic. Next school year, they will perform with their guest Anwar Khurshid on the sitar (finding common threads between folk music from India and Ireland!).

Marcus Lundgren and Holly Greene from DuffleBag Theatre are hosting the evening and interacting with the crowd.

A powerful performance by Kahurangi Maori Dance Theatre follows. Their voices fill the theatre. Their energy is palpable.

Then, Leslie McCurdy performs a segment of her riveting play about the journey of Harriet Tubman in the Underground Railroad that led African-Americans fleeing slavery to safe states and Canada.

Leslie’s act is followed by an equally touching performance by Andre Prefontaine (of All-Star Slam), who will deliver an amazing slam poem commissioned by Prologue on the importance of arts in the life of children. There were many teary eyes in the audience after his strong plea. (Prologue will post the poet’s creation on this blog very soon.)
 
  
Little Pear Garden Collective takes over, gracefully dancing with spectacular silk ribbons.

For the grand finale, Prologue chose Cadence, the fantastic quartet of professional a capella signers whose “joie de vivre” is utterly contageous.

One of Cadence’s most original performances tonight is their interpretation of Justin Bieber’s song Baby, as a madrigal from the Renaissance.

When the audience recognizes the song, they’re overjoyed. For good measure, Cadence proceeds to perform the modern version.

Meanwhile, backstage, Prologue’s own Jon Laurie-Beaumont (who took on the role of Stage Manager for the evening) warned the YPT staff and Andre Prefontaine that they were in for a treat. When Cadence shift to the pop version, everyone cries with tears while members of Little Pear Garden Collective dance along, in their traditional gear.
Lucas, as Bieber, is taking a selfie with the audience

The night ends on a very happy note. The students from Queen A. come to the stage to sing Happy (Pharrel’s song) with Cadence. The rest of the evening’ performers join them. Cadence turns the audience into a choir.  

In the end, everyone is on their feet to salute a wonderful tribute to the performing arts.