JONAH

The Sight and Sound Theater put on a production of a Bible character every year. When I say production, I mean production!

Usually, they do the same Bible character production for two years.  This year the Bible character was Jonah. Now for you that aren't familiar with Jonah, he was a prophet.  God told him to go to  Nineveh and tell them to repent because God is going to destroy them in 40 days.  Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh because they had killed his father. He wanted God to destroy them and not give them a chance to repent. So, he decided to run as far away from Nineveh as he could.  He got on a boat headed for Joppa and a storm came up.  The sailors figured out that Jonah was the cause of the storm and threw him overboard.  A whale swallowed Jonah.  Yep, I said a whale.  Jonah cried out to the Lord to rescue him and he would go to Nineveh. The whale threw up Jonah on the shore and Jonah went to Nineveh. That would not be a pleasant experience to be covered with whale vomit! Yuck! Sorry. He told them what the Lord had said. The people repented and God showed mercy and spared them.  Jonah was really ticked off about that.  But, in the end, Jonah repented of his sin of resentment and disobedience. They do say that the play is done with some creative license so is not exactly like the true story.  They do add some things and interpretations but none of those things change the Biblical truth of the story.

Well, when I first heard they were doing Jonah, my first thought was how in the world are they going to do the whale thing? It was very unique and very well done. I'm not sure why I was surprised because everything they do is very well done.  The costumes are great. The actors are very talented. The choreography is well done. But, probably the most impressive things are the sets. They are amazing! There were several boats in this production and each one looked as if it were floating in water.  There was a scene where Jonah falls into the sea and they had all the sea creatures which was well done.  I can't really describe it where you would really comprehend how well this was done.  You just need to get to Branson to see it for yourself!

I did find out that this is the only year for Jonah.  So, they are not stopping it to do a Christmas show this year. They are continuing to show Jonah until they close for Christmas.  There is a Sight and Sound Theater in Branson and one in Pennsylvania.  The theater in Pennsylvania will do Moses next year.  The theater in Branson is going to go back and do Noah again.  I did not see Noah so I am happy about that.  People that have already seen Noah may not be so happy.  They will do Moses in Branson in 2016.

They ask you to not take pictures during the performance for the safety of the actors and copyright laws.  My camera does not flash and I don't plan on replicating their production or using the pictures for profit, so I took pictures.  I know, shame on me.  I didn't take as many as I would have liked to since I was breaking the rules. So, here are a few pictures of Jonah. (Shhh, please don't tell.) Maybe I should repent of my sin of disobedience! I don't want to end up in the belly of a whale!

The village where Jonah lived

Jonah praying, asking God to speak to him

The king visiting Jonah's village to hear what God has spoken to Jonah.

Someone Jonah ran into when he was running away from Nineveh.

Jonah's mom, sister, grandmother and grandfather

Someone else he ran into as he was running away

These boats moved across the stage and they looked like they were floating.

The port city

The ship that Jonah boarded.

The ship in the storm.

Jonah in the belly of the whale.

Where the whale threw him up on the shore

Characters and animals enter and exit through the audience.  They can be close enough to touch at times.

The king of Nineveh