The Raider Choir

presents musical

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- The Raider Choir, consisting of 54 sixth, seventh and eighth graders at St. Paul's Elementary School, will present their spring musical, "Rescue in the Night," tonight, at 7 o'clock, and Sunday at 3 p.m. in the school's gymnasium.

The musical tells the biblical story of Daniel in the Lions' Den, and Zachary Ring, plays Daniel who is presented as he is in the Bible "as a man of prayer, a man who trusts in God through all the troubles of his life," said Musical Director Steve Biedenbender, a teacher at St. Paul's school.

The story of Daniel was chosen because "I think that is a strong message that we can send to our kids, that they are children of God, too, and (if) they trust in God, He will help throughout their life," Biedenbender said.

The part of King Darius is played by Eric Wolf, another eighth-grader.

"He has the most speaking parts, and he is made into kind of a humorous character," Biedenbender, who is in his second year as the school's musical director, explained.

"Darius is a former king of the Babylonian Empire, and Darius has four advisors, one of whom is Daniel who sings several solos. The other three are people who Darius has picked because they are smart in the ways of the world," Biedenbender continued.

"Astrofar (played by Josh Hartwig, 7th grade) is one who believes in divination, and Taxalot (played by Rachel Rupnow, 8th grade) is one who believes in the collection of money so their names are kind of descriptive. The last one is Crushafo; he is the one who believes in the strength of armies."

For Ring, his family and the many students and faculty members who remember his sister Laura, it will be a bittersweet moment, particularly on Sunday, his mother, Cindy Ring, said.

That's because Sunday is the fourth anniversary of Laura's death. As an active eighth grader who loved acting in plays, Laura was planning to be in the Spring 2000 play, but she died eight days after undergoing surgery to correct a curvature in her spine.

Her defective heart wasn't strong enough to carry her through her recovery, her mother said.