Hear ye, hear ye, the Madrigal dinner has arrived

Camri Anderson, Staff Writer

The 2019 Madrigal dinner for the Jacksonville High School choir classes was this past Saturday, February 2 and Sunday, February 3. The dinner consists of the top choir, Madrigals, singing songs from the Renaissance period as well as a love story put on just in time for Valentine’s Day.  This year the group took on the “The Wife of Bath.” The plot included a Knight, Nick Hester, leaving Lady Scorn, Camri Anderson, at the altar and the royal King, Joe Acree, and Queen, Gracie Jackson, deciding what to do after his actions. The King wanted to behead him. The Queen, on the other hand, wanted him to go on a quest to see what women value most. In addition, the Jester, Grace Smith, tried to distract the audience from their food and made them laugh with her jokes.

The Knight looked to fellow ladies of the royal court and then looked to different audience members for advice on what women value most. The Knight came upon a Hag, Sarah Doss. The Hag helped guide the Knight to see that ladies value sovereignty the most. This story was happening during a three-course meal. For starters, the singers sang a prayer before the meal. Then while Lady Scorn was crying about her soon-to-be husband leaving her at the altar, the queen proposed that the servers bring out the wassail. Wassail is a mixture of ground cinnamon and cinnamon sticks, orange juice, apple cider, pineapple juice, brown sugar, lemon juice, and cloves. It is served hot. Then came the salad. After the salad, came the main course which included chicken cordon bleu, roasted potatoes, and green beans.

After the meal came more songs and more of a storyline. The Hag suggested that the Knight marry her as a reward for her helping him so he would not be beheaded. At first, the Knight rejected her offer. Then, the royal table sang for dessert to be served. The dessert was a cake with icing and raspberry filling. After the dessert, the table sang for their annual concert. The concert incorporated all the choirs including Men’s and Women’s, Concert Choir, and Madrigals. After the choirs sang, the Madrigals had their concert. Before the event ended, the Knight ended up loving the Hag for who she was without knowing her age, name or basically anything about her. The Madrigals sang their goodbye song and the night ended with many hugs and handshakes.