Performances of Note
← miscellaneous bits | story list | political emphasis week →
Mello music
By Wendy Ham Rossi
My best memories involved singing with that marvelous choir that Ian Morton directed during the four years I was at Mac. I was one of the Mello Macs and we toured with the Tartan Troupers.
I've got rhythm
By Marijo Hunt Hickok
I remember singing in the choir with Ian Morton. What a prince of a man! I remember preparing for Drama Choros programs. Mary Gwen Owen urged us on to greater glory by swooping around the Little Theatre, vigorously nodding her head and clapping to get us in rhythm. This is where I learned that, according to James Thurber, "It's not so easy to fool little girls – nowadays – as it used to be!"
Singing with the Minneapolis Symphony
By Nancy Vandanacker Eucker
My fondest memories are of singing in the Macalester choir with the Minneapolis Symphony, as it was then called. Maestro Antol Darati was the director, much feared. Ian Morton, our director, always put us at ease so we could perform well. From him I developed my philosophy of education. He was a very strong motivator, always gentle.
Playing significant roles in theater
By Carol Holmquist Terry
I had had quite a bit of acting experience before entering Macalester, and thus was very optimistic about landing significant roles at college. However, Drama Professor Doug Hatfield had other ideas. He conducted all the play auditions, and for him I was basically one with no talent. He awarded me two parts -- one being a villager in "Jack and the Beanstalk" and the other Clara's maid in "Heidi." As a villager I looked up to the heavens while Jack reined down golden coins upon my head and released a drugged live chicken (the Giant's golden hen) onto the stage.
In this "important" role I was supposed to look surprised and grateful while curtailing the flight of the hen at the same time. Only during one performance, when someone had failed to drug the chicken, did it escape into the laps of the audience. And I, of course, who had been in closest proximity to the fleeing, screeching bird, was held personally responsible by Hatfield. But my prayers were at least answered -- neither of my eyes was put out by the plummeting golden coins!
In my final appearance as the maid in "Heidi," I was dusting my way to fame across the stage as usual when, right before my eyes, all the curtains fell down along with a good portion of the set. As the word "adlib" raced around in my frenzied mind, I managed one brief sentence (finally I had gotten to utter some words on the Mac stage), "Oh my -- houses surely aren't constructed as well as they used to be!" With that, my feather duster and I swept off the stage, thus ending my prestigious acting career at Macalester. But, never let it be said that I didn't, at least on one occasion, "bring down the house!"
My soft shoe routine at convo
By Carol Holmquist Terry
I sang in the choir under Mortenson's direction so attending required chapel services was meaningful and rewarding. However, in my estimation, the many required convocations left a great deal to be desired. I do recall one time when I dressed up in a little French doll costume, mounted the stage, spouted off a poem advertising an upcoming event at Bigelow Hall, did a few steps of a soft shoe routine, and then flipped around to expose a sign on my back side that read, "The End." Well, my then beau, Lloyd, was so embarrassed, he wouldn't even walk with me back to the dorm — alas, another ending to my theatrics on the college campus. From then on I decided sleeping through Convocation was the safest way to go and sleep I did!