‘Lamb of God’ gets repeat Rexburg performance Sunday after emergency evacuation
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REXBURG — After having to evacuate the venue mid-performance Saturday night, Witness Music Southeast Idaho has announced they will have an encore performance of “Lamb of God” tonight, Sunday, March 15.
The event starts at 7:30 p.m. at Madison High School, 2300 University Blvd. in Rexburg. Doors open at 7 p.m., and admission is free.
Saturday night’s performance was cut short, and the audience and performers had to be evacuated after high winds caused a power outage at the high school.
“Lamb of God” is an oratorio composed by Rob Gardner that tells the story of the final days of the life of Jesus Christ and the Resurrection. The dramatic musical work features soloists portraying Christ’s mother, Mary; Mary Magdelene; apostles Peter, John and Thomas; Mary and Martha of Bethany (sisters of Lazarus); Pontius Pilate and others.
A solo cello is used to represent the words of Jesus Christ in the production.
Witness Music is a nondenominational choir and orchestra made up of musicians from southeast Idaho. The organization gives several free performances of “Lamb of God” throughout the area each Easter season.
The Saturday night performance in Rexburg was going according to plan until the power went out in the middle of the program.
“About an hour into the program, the high winds we’ve been having knocked out the power to the performing arts center,” said Kaatia Larsen, who was at the performance with her family. “The generator kicked on with enough light to see a little bit, but the stage lights were gone and all the mics were off. The singers and musicians kept going anyway.”
Larsen says everyone in the very-full auditorium got very quiet so they could hear the music and narration, but after the number “Here is Hope,” which is sung by Christ’s mother Mary following his crucifixion, the performance officially had to end out of safety concerns, as generator power was running low and the crowd needed to be evacuated before everything went completely dark.
“We were all asked to leave quickly and carefully, and after a standing ovation, everyone filed out of the building into the bitter wind and darkness,” Larsen said.
After coordinating with Madison High School and performers, Witness Music announced Sunday afternoon that they would be giving a repeat performance this evening. All are invited, and no tickets are needed.