The "new" High Hopes - or in other words...

First of all, I'm sorry all I have to offer for videos are ones made with my hands that wouldn't hold still.  :)  Okay, now on with it!

DadadadadadaLA!!!!  (That was supposed to be the opening music we know so well...and open large Disney-esque pioneer storybook...you know the drill.)  :)  You be the judges.  Except for when I interject my opinion and you have no choice but to read what I wrote.  :)  This is still a good plan.  :)  I'll do my very best to let you come to your own conclusions.  For the most part.  :)  The story is exactly the same, and all the songs are new except for "Riverboats a 'comin" and "Whistlin and Whittlin'"...because those were already Pat Davis creations, of course.  :)  But the funny part is: most of the songs are just different versions of what was there before.  Many of the same words, phrases, and ideas...huh.  Interesting.  :)

Riverboats a comin'...that was still there...one of the two songs that are still the same in the show.  And oh...good thing they still had a few hat boxes lying around...what would the opener be without a good hat box celebration dance?!  Lol.

Oh, Hi, Chanc-ee-pants-ee-poo...I don't know what I would have done if Chance didn't continually take Ella Mary out with a giant trunk all the time.  :)

Sister Davis was true to her word and made Henry Ramsden Mott a much bigger part this year.  This is one thing I actually LOVED about the new show.  Henry is no longer this...cardboard cut-out of a man who is constantly getting bossed around by Sarah Jane.  Oh, she doesn't stop telling him what to do, but he's got a better hold of himself and comes back at her with a few every once in a while.  :)  I liked his character SO much better this year!

Here's part of his new song...they are from two different casts, but you get the picture...  "Little by little, Log by Log...from a little tiny village, we're an up and coming town!"  It's kinda fun, even.  At least I thought so.  :)

Look, Pulsie and Rees!  Your dresses!  See, Rees?!  I told you they added crazy stuff to it!  AND there's that stupid hat.  How the HECK that thing keeps making it back into the shows is BEYOND me!!!  Doesn't Sister Davis CARE that it practically has its own solar system?!  Clearly not.  :)

And here comes the part where...well, you'll see.  "That's the Man that I'm Going to Marry" is now...uh...another marriage song...except this one is clearly different...because Sister Davis wrote it?  Yeah.  I miss the old silly song, but hey - Sister Davis likes to do things her own way, as we all well know!  You'll know when I have a strong opinion.  Those are coming up.  :)

There are a shocking lack of town meetings this year.  I felt a little sad in my heart for their lack of meeting experience, but...then again, a small sense of joy at not having to sit through another one, even in the audience.  :)  

Shakespeare is no more, folks!  Woah!  What do we even think of that?!  It's all dialogue now...and a really great jumping, leaping, and falling on the boot-ay scene of Eli getting into yes, folks, even more trouble than ever.  

"Courtin' time in Quincy" was NOT a fine afair this year.  She used the exact same words and put them to her own tune.  It was slow, awkward and terrible.  Sorry.  I absolutely hated it and refused to ruin expose my dear little camera to it's...

sorry.  :)

I'm almost giddy to show you the replacement of our little "Hoedown."  Not necessarily because I didn't love our hoedown.  It's just that...well, this year, the song is called "The Nauvoo Whoopdeedoo."  Feel free to burst into laughter at the mere title.  :)  Ahem.  And here we go...

"I've come home" is purely dialogue now.  Is this happy or sad?  I don't know...but regardless, William does not sing a note by himself in this show anymore, according to my recollections...

BUT GUESS WHAT?!?!  The corn is absolutely NOT in tassel!!!  HAHAHAH!  I know I had a love/hate relationship with that song, so I actually enjoyed it's..."replacement."  Mostly because Henry is involved in the song, and gives Sarah Jane a little respectful crap, if you will.  :)  Please enjoy the ending..."...sincerely yooooouuuurrrrsssssss...."  Ah, funny Nauvoo.  

Next, of course, we have the new martyrdom scene.  I can't even talk about the replacement for "The light will not go out."  Seriously.  Why?  Because I LOATHED the new song.  Period and end of story.  I sincerely hope Sister Davis never sees this because I think that was the worst decision ever.  And let me just take a moment to tell you my feelings are NOT because that's the song Sister Garrett and I sang.  It is purely because I feel like it didn't reflect the spirit that should have been there.  It wasn't pretty, and it wasn't...argh!  I can't even write about it without getting angry!  So I won't.  The words were something like   "they were no ORdinary men....they were no ORdinary BRUthers..." and so on and so forth...BLECK.  This was the other song I couldn't even record.  Oh, I started, but stopped in disgust and immediately erased it.  I'm sorry if you wanted to hear it.  Clearly I cannot stand it.

But I guess the "So we were taught" replacement was okay...at the time, it felt like a relief because it mercifully ended the terrible song right before it.  I actually liked how it sounded.  Please bear in mind my distraught soul at the time.  Lol.

And next, we have Chance singing his big solo.  If any of you saw the video of the song Steel wrote his year; that duet between Chance and Ella Mary...you'll see right away where the uh...inspiration...for this song came from.  That sneaky little Sister Davis!  The song itself is good, and I'm glad Chance is the one you're more drawn to, etc.  I just remember my first thought being, "You little stinker!  You stole that from Steel!"  But if we don't think about that part, here's Chance in all his nice voice-ness.  :)

Whistlin' and Whittlin was the same, of course.  :)

"Brother Brigham Says" is no more!!!!  :(  I was actually so SAD about that!!!  Not surprised at all, really, but sad nonetheless!  This song is good, though, and ends things well enough I suppose!  She took out the Brigham Young part at the end, and shortened the whole "remember Nauvoo" portion considerably.  And there aren't multiple ending songs anymore...there were the first time I saw it, but she changed it after that, and the ending was much better after that.  I didn't get a recording of it, but you've basically seen the end here in addition to what's already burned in our brains.  :)  

The spirit is still there during the show, and I thought the story had fewer holes, etc. than last year, and the YPMs this year were so talented.  They sounded great and I loved watching them!  I forgot how much fun it actually was, in addition to the work and the fact that we did it twice a day EVERY DAY.  Lol. It made me miss it, but I found myself being so constantly grateful that we were all there together last year.  We definitely went at the right time for all of us!!  What an incredible thing we were privileged to be a part of!!  Despite the changes, it was so fun to see it continuing on, and to be able to sit in the audience and just soak it in!  :)