How to Accommodate for Bands during an NP Adelaide Oval Pageant
Merry Christmas and Greetings to all the supporters,
Hope that you all have a great rest of the week and have an amazing time during the Christmas season of 2024, and you all enjoyed the recent, remarkable National Pharmacies Christmas Pageant on the streets. Let's continue to support our movement by sharing through social media or chipping in whatever amount you can, so we can make the pageant more magical than ever before!
A concern some people may have is that if the NP Christmas Pageant was to biannually return to the Adelaide Oval, there may not be enough time and space for all the 18 bands that are usually in the pageant every year to perform for all the boys and girls watching.
Indeed, it was initially difficult to accommodate for all the bands and allow each of them to perform when the parade was at the oval for a couple of years. I am not 100% sure why this was the case, but as some of you may not be aware, the historic format of the 2020 pageant was actually a last minute decision which was only planned in just 10 weeks, so this may have been a contributing factor to the lack of bands during that year, in that the time to figure out ways to accomodate them was just too limited. In 2021, it may have been a similar situation. During the 2020 pageant, only some bands got to perform, and they only did so during a tribute to frontline workers in a small show that was held approximately 20 minutes before the pageant began. In 2021, it was a similar situation—only some bands played musical numbers, and this was mainly during the national anthem just before the beginning, and one band (the SA Police band) performed in the parade route itself near the start, and it was hard for much of the audience to hear it.
However, the 2020 and 2021 pageants were also excellent learning opportunities for what could still work during an Adelaide Oval-based pageant, because of how fresh the idea was at the time. The lack of bands was a disappointment, but there is still a possibility to allow all the bands to perform during the next Adelaide Oval-based parade. The director and producers could consider allowing the bands to perform in a mini-show midway through the parade—just like in 2020 when there was a mid-show where there were no floats for a while, and there was carol singing, singers on stage, and a dramatic performance based on the song 'The Little Drummer Boy', and in 2021 when there was both a dramatic performance and an animated short film based on the poem ''Twas the Night Before Christmas', and dancers, and singers (with the Christmas choir singing while the parade was en route). During the mini-show, there could be two or three segments, lasting some minutes each (which could be determined by the producers and other staff), with 6 or 9 bands in the first collaborating and performing a few Christmas songs and music all at once (of course, all the music / songs would be the same). In the next segment(s), it would be basically the same situation: the next 6 or 9 bands could come out and perform their music. This is because if we were to have all 18 bands perform at once, there may be a lack of room, and it may also get too noisy. If these kinds of segments during the mini-show were to be implemented, all the bands could be given a chance to perform in each Adelaide Oval-based parade, and all the audience members watching either in-person or at home can enjoy and hear them all as well.
What do you think of this idea? Do you believe that that way, the National Pharmacies could be accommodating for all the bands at the oval? Feel free to let me know. Thank you all for your time, and have a wonderful Christmas!
(Picture above does not belong to me and was taken from the National Pharmacies Christmas Pageant website. Credits go to its rightful owners!)