"You will know heartache, prayers that don't work, and times of bitter circumstances.
But I still believe in second chances." ~~ Stephen Schwartz’s Children of Eden

Hi all,

My windows are open, daffodils are coming up... please let this be spring!  :-) 

I hope you enjoy this one.  I actually wasn't shivering while writing it.

God bless,
Jenni
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Dyeland Does Musicals... Or Not!

As many of you know, part of what's been keeping me so busy of late is a story I'm working on in which Andrew is directing a production of Jesus Christ Superstar starring a bunch of his friends and one very notable Galilean in the title role.  While I don't think I'll exactly be revisiting that sort of scenario again, it did make me wonder how things would be if they tried out other musicals like...

Fiddler on the Roof- Sure, it sounds like a good idea.  Family, tradition, love, faith... big themes for the Dyeland crowd.  But we all know that Adam wouldn't get as much as two bars of "Sunrise, Sunset" out before half the cast would start bawling.  Also, Henry, Eli, and Andrew would break way too many bottles trying to do that awesome dance...

The Sound of Music- How do you solve a problem like Maria?  No one would ever find out because they'd turn the entire musical into "Shut up!  No one cares!  Andrew is singing 'Edelweiss'...  Shh...  Love him..."

Oklahoma!- All those AODs in jeans and flannel...  Oh what a beautiful morning, indeed!

Rocky Horror Picture Show- Nope.  No.  Just no.

Children of Eden- Well, it would start out well until Adam... playing Adam... would insist his turkeys could play all of the animals.  That stage would not pretty after they were done...

Beauty and the Beast- Why not let Belle see a show about her sort of namesake?  Weepiness from her parents whenever the rose would appear, though!  Still, Max and Rose as the title characters would be adorable!

Phantom of the Opera- It'd start out promising until Adam would begin making jokes about the chandelier falling and Andrew would have to pause rehearsals for two hours to calm Violeta down when she starts shrieking about Erik's awfulness.  This would only be compounded by JenniAnn's semi-feminist ranting.

Grease- More ranting from JenniAnn... and Andrew finding himself with the delightful task of trying to explain some of the more, ahem, colorful lyrics to Violeta.

Wicked- Violeta and Ivy in this would be super sweet and perfect.  Well, that is until Violeta-Elphaba would have to start acting mushy with whomever was playing Fiyero prompting Andrew and JenniAnn to get really, really maudlin... and ask Belle to please stay a baby.  

Godspell- This would actually probably work.  Except they'd schedule performances for years and years, hoping that would mean the Lead could stay physically with them for decades.  Aww.
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Who Am I?

So back on the 20th, Past Assignments' Day 2014 came and went but because it was an off time newsletter-wise, I didn't get around to celebrating that til now.  Here's a lil trivia game.  Answers are the names of assignments of Andrew's both from TBAA and Dyeland stories.  At the bottom, I have an answer pool but if you'd like to make it more challenging, don't scroll past question 10 and play without the pool.  Have fun!

1.  Andrew once worked as my lawyer when I was on trial for the murder of a man who only wanted to help me out and give me a guitar...

2.  You can at least partly blame me for the reason Andrew seldom wears shorts.  I may have enticed the guy to jump off a building.  Oops.

3.  Andrew hired me to be in his show!  An actual Broadway musical!!!  If only my mother could be happy for me...

4.  Following a near death experience, Andrew helped me to realize that life was about more than writing up a list of good deeds in an attempt to get into Heaven. 

5.  While his friend was having a bad day, Andrew helped me make peace with my son in the wake of my wife's death. 

6.  Andrew and our friends helped me find my way back to God after losing my son.  Then, years later, I helped Andrew welcome his little girl!

7.  I got to spend time roaming an art museum with Andrew.  He was incredible and helped me make peace with a recent diagnosis.

8.  Andrew lived in my basement for a while and was there when the Countess returned!

9.  I got misled... horribly misled... by a maniacal cultist who I even considering marrying.  Thankfully, Andrew and his friends were there to help.

10.  I currently make him feed me and change me and I wake him up at all hours, sometimes for no reason at all.  I also spit up on his clothes and hair.  I am, after all, a baby.


Simon Alex
Constance Sam
Allison Obadiah
Annabelle Kelly
James Melina

This newsletter is dedicated to John Dye for inspiring me to plant some daffodils.  I really, really hope I see them soon! 

JABB TOC

JABB 408

(Photo Credits: The photographs used on this page are from Touched by an Angel and owned by CBS Productions, Caroline Productions, and Moon Water Productions. They are not being used to seek profit.)