Kratzke: Rainbow Follies

With the closing of KLCC at the end of December, Malinda and I finally had the time to return to our own programs. We've done it before:

16 songs from 1916

Performed 02 July 2016

Wine, Chocolate & Medleys

Performed 23 December 2017

A Dozen Duets

Performed with Celeste Coburn 29 June 2019

Then covid hit, and with it, the KLCC choir pretty much collapsed. On a good day, we had a choir of five, and after two deaths, there wasn't much to salvage. The congregation itself wasn't all that much bigger than the choir had been, and we continued to meet this way, like a couple of stray cats in an abandoned stadium, for five more years. During that time, Malinda and I funneled our efforts into designing the KLCC Christmas cantatas. We didn't have many resources, but we did what we could to make them special. The idea of Rainbow Follies had been in the works for ages, but finding the time to learn the music, write the script, and plan the party was another thing. Fast forward to 2026, a decade after our first production, and we hardly missed a Sunday. There were the occasional trips or celebrations that prevented us from meeting up, but little by little, we built the program. It's hard to explain exactly what we did on Sundays, but it was always some combination of:

Learning songs - working on the hard parts

Trying them in different ways with different ideas

Changing the order of the program and testing the flow

Writing or editing the script

Shopping for props, stationary, rainbow plates, etc.

Just hanging out and being friends

The hardest step is always to pick a date. One of our goals was to give the KLCC people a reason to get together again, but mostly, we just wanted everyone to have fun. Pianistically, my focus was to feel more secure under pressure, particularly with stride pattern and jumping. I think I achieved that, or at least progressed, but that hardly mattered because I still freaked out due to my kryptonite - page turns - and fumbled pretty badly twice. Anyway, nobody seemed to mind too much.

Things we'll keep:

The craft table!

4:00 pm - people hate driving at night, and the party started 15 minutes early

Programs with questions and clipboards - we loved all the different thoughts

Audience participation/singalong sections

The valise of props

Stats:

10 cancellations

24 guests including our families

13 songs

55 mins including script

3-4 hour party