In case you don’t have lots of Jewish friends that keep you in the know, Tuesday evening was the first night of Hanukkah. I was thrilled a couple weeks before when I was informed that my cast of Fiddler on the Roof Jr has been invited by Governor Jan Brewer to perform at the lighting ceremony taking place at the state capitol! It was a little intense because there was all of this security for her and we had to go through metal detectors and everything. I felt very official 😉

As the governor entered, the kiddos sang Hanukkah Oh Hanukkah. She then gave a speech about Hanukkah and even mentioned how the theatre is going through some hard financial times and anything anyone could to to help would be appreciated. Good work, Jan.

We were lucky to have the father of one of the kiddos who is a Rabbi lead the prayer and light the candles.

The kids ended by singing the opening number to Fiddler: Tradition. I was really excited for the kids to get to be a part of something big for the holiday and have a chance to celebrate their hard work a second time! The governor also took some time afterwards to snap some photos with the kiddos which I thought was really nice, and probably made them feel super special!

Happy Hannukah!!