First-time family concert at River Campus draws more than 200

A family holiday concert at the Bedell Performance Hall at Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus drew more than 200 children and adults Saturday.

Children bobbed up and down in their seats while bells rang, sugar plums danced and characters like Alvin and the Chipmunks, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Charlie Brown graced the screen in sync to music played by the Southeast Missouri State University Percussion Ensemble.

Shannon McAlister said she brought her 18-month-old daughter, Ashlyn, "because she loves music. She danced. She jumped and danced the whole time."

"It was super," said Shelley Wilson of Patton, Mo., adding that she loved the combination of visual scenes and songs. "It was very imaginative, and the dancers were adorable."

Accompanying Wilson at the free 45-minute concert were her 2-year-old and 4-year-old grandchildren and their mother, Lisa Mollette of Jackson. "It was perfectly timed for young children," Wilson said.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.comCameron Crawford, 5, and younger sister Kadence, 2, have milk and cookies following the Family Holiday Concert Saturday morning at the River Campus' Bedell Performance Hall in Cape Girardeau.

Dr. Shane Mizicko, Southeast's assistant professor of music who directed the musicians, said the first-time family concert was inspired by his two children, Logan, 4 and Sydney, 2, who attended with their mother, Maria. Given the crowd in attendance, Mizicko said he was confident of repeating the show annually.

Instrumental pieces were choreographed with slide presentations, excerpts from "The Nutcracker" performed by students from Dance Extensions Dance Studio and narrator Timothy Schmidt, who read from "A Visit from St. Nicholas." Schmidt just completed his first semester teaching voice and opera at Southeast.

Mizicko said, "Younger kids need that visual stimulation to go with the music, instead of just watching us play." He also left the theater doors open for parents who needed to take children to the restroom or for a break.

"I decided to give the kids a little culture," said Missy Phegley of Cape Girardeau, who saw the concert as a good opportunity for the children attending her daughter's eighth birthday party to experience a performance that might not ordinarily come their way. Molly Phegley, 8, and nine of her friends, ages 5 to 9, sat in the first row, where they could almost touch the dancers as they pirouetted and sprinted across the stage.

Cookies and milk followed the performance.

Garrett Snider, 1, sat in his stroller eating a cookie. His mother, Kelley, said she really liked and enjoyed the performance.

"I would come back again," she said.

cpagano@semissourian.com

388-3648

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

388-3646

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