New Christmas Musicals

2 65/2101&02L-2 Foreword Light is synonymous with the Christmas season. As we gaze upon the decorated homes and trees, we see symbols of hope that light will battle darkness, heal, and restore. It is only light that can counter that darkness. e lights on homes and trees are eventually taken down and packed away until next year, but the meaning of those lights last throughout the year. e birth of one Child brought a light that does not fade; a light that was desperately needed in a world of darkness, pain, and loss. A light that would live on eternally… an Everlasting Light. is work, carefully crafted by the collaborative creative efforts of Lloyd Larson, Mary McDonald, Jay Rouse, and Larry Shackley, aims to profoundly present the significance of the light of Christ come to earth. Rose Aspinall's insightful narration beautifully ties the work together with a combination of scripture reading and personal reflection. Mary McDonald's celebratory opener, Everlasting Light, weaves through carols in an exciting instrumental overture before developing into a powerful original song that functions as the cornerstone theme of the work. Next, Larry Shackley's Longing for the Light beautifully portrays the feeling of expectation and the yearning for restoration as opportunities for readings are accompanied by a pensive underscore. Jay Rouse continues with a stirring original musical setting with words inspired by Mary's Song of Praise found in Luke 1:44-56. Lloyd Larson's energetic and rhythmic Shepherds and Angels depicts the telling of Christ's birth with scripture-based text while incorporating familiar carol melodies. e work concludes with a celebratory medley of carols arranged by Jay Rouse that ultimately concludes by revisiting the opening song, Everlasting Light. "He is the Light, Everlasting Light; born a Savior, born this night. He is the One, the Everlasting Son; Child of heaven, He is the Light!" Performance time: approximately 35 minutes — e Publisher From the Publisher Narrations throughout may be recited by one narrator or divided among multiple narrators by paragraph. Narration 4, however should be recited by two narrators. Additional readings occur during Longing for the Light. ese passages can be divided up as specified in the music or recited by one individual. Some of the cover-art images and graphics from this work are available as free downloads. We hope that you can use them to assist in the making of your bulletins, posters, flyers, website and email announcements, and in any other way that's within your organization and in conjunction with performances of this work. To access these files, please visit www.lorenz.com/downloads and navigate to the desired folder. PC users should right click and choose "Save Target As…" and Macintosh users should click and hold the link, then choose "Save Target As…" We have provided standard file formats that should be usable in most page layout or word processing software. Due to the vast number of differences in computer system setups, we are unable to provide technical support for downloadable images/graphics by either phone or email.

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