At Least We Have Pockets

A behind the scenes reflection on Waverly - Shell Rock High School's production of the musical "Annie" November 12-14, 2021

My family moved to Waverly a little over four years ago after I accepted the call to serve as pastor of St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church. Before accepting the call, we visited Waverly, and immediately we were taken by the “community feel” of the town. As it is one week from Thanksgiving, I was planning to write this article about the blessings of thankfulness and gratitude.

However, Eric Van Sickle, a reporter from the Waverly Newspaper, invited me to write about something different, about Waverly-Shell Rock High School’s recent production of the musical Annie, in which my senior daughter Cora performed the lead role as Annie and my freshman daughter Meredith also appeared in multiple roles. I graciously accepted the invitation and, as it turns out, this will still be an article about the blessings of thankfulness and gratitude, but less from a pastor than from the perspective of a proud and thankful father.

I didn’t know much about the story of Annie. I mean, I knew that she was an orphan and that she had a dog named Sandy, but that’s about it. I’d never seen a musical or a movie production of Annie before. I do remember the comic strip from the newspapers from when I was a boy, but it didn’t do much for me – Annie was just a girl that said, “Oh boy!” a lot.

As Cora and Meredith began learning their parts and their songs, I began to glean a little more about the story. Annie is set in Depression-era New York City. Lots of folks were unemployed and, supposedly, that was why Annie was left at an orphanage – her parents were victims of the depression, and they couldn’t afford to care for their daughter while they sought work elsewhere.

Thus, it is supposed, Annie isn’t an orphan at all; her parents were alive somewhere, and they left her a note promising that they would come back for her, and they also left her half of a heart-shaped locket as a sign of hope. At the time of the story, Annie had been waiting in hopeful expectation of her parents’ return for eleven years. Almost everyone had given up hope, and they all considered Annie’s hope to be only a fool’s hope.

I must confess, hearing my own daughter, as Annie, talk about how she wants to have her parents back more than anything else in the world, only to learn that they are deceased, was a bit surreal and emotional. Raising teenagers isn’t always easy, especially teenage daughters, and I wonder if in learning her lines for Annie she contemplated her relationship with her mother and father? I know that I did.

 

It is Annie’s hopefulness and optimism, however, that the story is truly all about, set against the darkness, despair, and hopelessness of the Great Depression. When the out-of-work residents of Hooverville complain that all they’ve got is empty pockets, Annie reminds them to be thankful that they have pockets at all. When they complain that their hands are cold, Annie reminds them to be grateful that they have pockets to put their hands in.

Annie’s optimism and hopefulness are epitomized in the musical’s main theme, “The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow.” It was Annie’s attempt to comfort a despairing President Roosevelt with those words that, in the story, inspired him to proclaim a “New Deal” for America to relieve it of its depression.

 

Our girls surprise my wife and I again and again because they are very quiet and secretive about all the things they are involved in. Of course, we knew that they were both in the musical, but we never really heard them sing their parts or rehearse their lines at home. Thus, when the Waverly Newspaper posted a video featuring segments of the preview performance of Annie performed at the W-SR High School on Tuesday before the premiere, we didn’t know what to expect.

What we saw blew us away and moved us to tears! Cora owned her role as Annie. She sang with full emotion and with crispness and clarity, and her performance was a balanced combination of her own personality, which we know so well, and her interpretation of the character Annie. Meredith also, this being her first musical, performed her role well and fit comfortably into the ensemble.

 

But then Cora was interviewed by reporter Van Sickle, and once again I was surprised and moved to tears of both pride and joy.

Eric asked Cora if she saw any parallels between the Depression-era setting and what is going on in the world today. Cora replied, “I’m hoping that the song ‘The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow’ will really get through to some people. With the pandemic and everything, it’s been kind of crazy. Hopefully, everyone can just take away from it that the sun will come out tomorrow, everything will be better, everything will get better for everyone.”

“I think there are a lot of similarities with people not having jobs,” Cora continued, “with just everything. I think [directors Allison Rasmussen, Greg Wessel, Jim Vowels, and John Atkinson] did a really good job picking [Annie]. I think they kind of do every year, pick something that really seems to fit into that specific year and speak to people that they can see a parallel in.”

 

I was amazed! My daughter's participation in a high school musical was much more than just singing and dancing, it was a true learning experience. The musical was chosen for some very pragmatic reasons concerning the students who were available to perform the necessary parts, but also taken into consideration was the theme and the historical setting of the musical in relation to those students and their experiences throughout the times in which they live.

Truly, the pandemic has had a depression-like effect on many of us and it’s all too easy to become despairing and hopeless. It seems that Annie was just the prescription we needed. Indeed, we still have each other, we have family, and we have community. There’s so much to be thankful and grateful for.

 

Both Cora and Meredith remarked that the cast and crew for Annie had become a sort of family. Indeed, following the final performance Sunday evening, Cora had tears in her eyes. The seniors in the cast and crew had just embraced knowing that this was their last musical together.

We were blessed to host a cast party at our home following Saturday’s performance. It was a delight to have around 50 high school students laughing and having fun in our family room. We are so very thankful and grateful for our schools, our community, our congregation, and for everything the Lord has blessed us with.

We are so very proud of our daughters, and we are grateful for their mentors who, through a musical about a hopeful orphan in the Great Depression ninety years ago, reminds us that, amid an almost two-year-long pandemic, we have so very much to be thankful and grateful for, especially family, friends, and community.

Never lose hope. At least we have pockets. And remember, the sun will come out tomorrow.

 

Pastor Jon M. Ellingworth

St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church – Waverly, IA

This article ran in the November 18, 2021 Waverly Democrat Newspaper