Out of the Darkness

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Out of the Darkness is an Easter musical designed to encourage and inspire. Rarely has a musical better helped the audience understand both the humanity and deity of Jesus. Christ surrounded himself with men and women who were, in many ways, no different than people today...so lost they didn’t even know it. The characters depicted in Out of the Darkness were carefully selected to show the variety of individuals Jesus dealt with during His life on earth.

Peter was one of Jesus’ closest disciples and the relationship they had is well documented in scripture. Peter serves as a pivotal character in our story. His mother-in-law, though mentioned only briefly in the Bible, is also given a key role in the musical. She and Peter have a well established “history” and their relationship adds a great deal of comedy relief to the show. Jara (the fictional name given to Peter’s mother-in-law) is healed by Jesus of a dangerously high fever and recounts the story with both power and humor. She is high-spirited, witty, cantankerous, and very, very loveable.

Jesus’ first miracle took place in Cana of Galilee. The “Cana Couple” in our story are from Southern Galilee. Given the fact that Cana really is in the southern part of the region of Galilee, the writer takes advantage of this fact and gives the couple a southern flair…accents and all. The couple (Jedidiah and Susanna) are visited by Jesus’ mother Mary and together they recall and recount the power and excitement of the miracle that happened on that famous wedding day.

Next, the paralytic (given the name Daniel in our musical) shares his story with the audience concerning the healing he received from Jesus. Daniel was a shy man who, even if he were able to, would probably never have “troubled” Jesus by asking for healing. However, Daniel’s very persistent friends had other ideas and, against his will, took him to see Jesus. Unable to get inside, Daniel’s friends tore a hole in the roof and lowered him down right in front of where Jesus stood preaching. With unreserved zeal Daniel describes the power of his healing and subsequent passion for the new life he experienced following this encounter with the Master.

The title song, "Out of the Darkness," comes from an inspiring scene where Jesus raises Jairus’ daughter from the dead.

The second act is charged with emotion as Jesus experiences the agony of Gethsemane and the betrayal of Judas. Soon after, Peter denies ever knowing Christ and we witness the misery, guilt, and shame Peter experienced because of his cowardice. The powerful final scenes portray Jesus’ death and the ultimate triumphant of His resurrection.

When performed in its entirety, Out of the Darkness is about 2 hours in length. Many of the scenes in this musical “stand alone” and can be cut at the director’s discretion. The show can literally be cut in half (or more) by cutting out scenes/songs.

If you are dealing with actors who are not soloists it is also possible to cut songs from the show, or, play the Emmerich Publications vocal demo CD while actors mime actions to the lyrics. (We are not suggesting that your actors lip-sync the songs.) And, depending on the caliber of your singers, in performance you may also wish to have your singers sing along with the Emmerich Publications vocal demo on all (or some) choral numbers. This will give you a fuller sound and boost the confidence of your actors.

Cast of Characters

MALE:

Jesus

Daniel (the paralytic)

Peter

Jedidiah (Cana Couple husband)

FEMALE:
Mary (mother of Jesus)

Tirzah (Jairus’ daughter)

Jara (Peter’s mother-in-law)

Suzanna (Cana Couple wife)

THE USE OF A CHORUS

A chorus can easily be incorporated into this musical. Due to stage size, the original production did not utilize a chorus. However, a chorus of virtually any size could be added to a number of the scenes in the musical. (i.e. opening scene, the Cana Couple scene, Tirzah healing scene, and nearly every scene in the second act.)