Hardin-Simmons University’s spring musical is in progress. Smoke on the Mountain is being directed by Dr. Stace Gaddy and students will be performing it in the Van Ellis Theater April 11-13 at 7:30 p.m. and on April 14 at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are free for all students, faculty and staff.
This musical is a hilarious and heartwarming story of a Saturday Night Gospel Sing at a country church in North Carolina's Smoky Mountains in the year 1938. This production is appropriate for all ages and promises fun for the whole family.
“The part of Smoke on the Mountain that I am the most excited about is our silly little reactions in the background during the show,” Amber Cardenas, sophomore musical theater major from Houston, said.
“Smoke on the Mountain is going to be my last musical here at Hardin-Simmons, and I am so proud that it is,” Sami Gade, senior musical theater major from Austin, said. “It looks like a simple show on the surface level, but it really contains so much, and I hope that everyone walks away having seen themselves onstage and knowing that God loves them, even the best and the worst of them. We are all made in His image, and that is what is at the heart of this show. I am really glad I got to work with a lot of the underclassmen before I graduate, and I think this is the perfect way to wrap up my time at HSU - by singing God’s praise with my friends, old and new.”
What a musical to begin the wind down of the theater season here at HSU. It connects all ages through familiar songs such as I’ll Fly Away and When the Roll is Called Up Yonder as well as some that may be more obscure like Whispering Hope and I Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now.