DA CAPO - Stairwell Caroling at the Rideau Hall Skating Party - 2001

Back in 2001, when Adrienne Clarkson was The Governor General, we got to do a singing Gig for the Annual Rideau Hall Skating party.

The plan was to remain inside, caroling for the guests when they came indoors to hang out, eat and drink, and warm up from the cold (yes, there was skating outside!)

Dress up time!!

Here's my Blog Post all about costuming  with tips and tricks to pulling together  a Victorian Look!

I used my Drama teacher costume scrounging skills to toggle together an outfit for myself  and encouraged Susan, Diane, Denyse and Jen to raid their own closets for pieces to create a Victorian silhouette.

The men were a problem. No, not like that. There is never anything in a guys regular closet that can approximate Victorian costume, so I went to Ottawa Little Theatre and got authentic Tail Tuxes for them. At the time, Ottawa Little Theatre was the best resource for Fab costumes on a shoestring budget.

The choir was smaller then, but not this small! The gig was a bit of a last minute request, so the most available of us went. It worked out well, with the parts divided fairly equally.

We had a wonderful time singing and soaking up the opulent Rideau Hall ambience. Sadly, we never got a photo with Ms. Clarkson, but I snapped a shot of these guys...

Rideau Hall is a living museum, and it was great to visit, but I can't imagine living there. Room after room are set up as parlours, sitting rooms, dining halls.

Huge, echoing spaces with marble floors - a bit cold and castle-like for a home.

Of course our voices echoed marvellously too. It was very easy to sing there. People were very appreciative and we wandered freely through the endless rooms, singing a couple of songs and then moving on.

Our only disappointment was that they didn't feed us.

Oh, there was food! tons of food. But, not for... the hired help.

So I took photos in the bathrooms!