Music of Denali

Many days begin with a rush to work and end with collapsing on my bed after work. Today was an exception. After work I stayed at the lodge for the dinner theatre. It was excellent. Humorous history - how the first sourdoughs summitted Denali in 18 hours armed with hot chocolate and doughnuts - and all survived. They didn't want "outsiders" to be the first to touch the summit. So, the carried a 14 foot birch pole with a flag to the top.
There are two peaks on Mt. McKinley. In the clouds, they couldn't see the second, higher, peak.
Need I mention the "dinner' part of the theatre -
The food was great - a huge filet of salmon, meaty barbecued ribs - and all the trimmings - lots of corn on the cob, of course
A pianistaccompanied the vocalists - there was dancing and applause, humor, history and comraderie.
Oh - and it was free to me. They want us to know aboutall the activities here at Denali so we can explain to our guests.
When it was over, I walked to the bus at 11:pm thinking it would be sparsely populated so late. No SO!
Servers and housekeepers, managers w9rking LATE, and finally actors from the dinner theatre all climbed aboard - and we all returned 10 miles to Healy -
Like a kid, I watched each actor get on board to come back to our dorm-style living hotel. These actors are professional, from New York - and amazingly talented - and they come back here and are living in these dorms for the summer while they give two shows a night, seven nights a week for 4 months. I asked the theatre manager if they get days off. They each do - they have enough to sub for each other.
How can theycome to act in this tiny community composed of Alaska's largest resort lodge?
I counted seats. If they fill to or even close to capacity twice a night - and they DO - there are many thousands of dollars each performance!
But when fall comes, everyone leaves. Why? It was 50 below here much of the winter. They are repairing the roof over our hotel/dorm now. Once again this winter, the winds removed parts of the roof. No one seems willing to stay over the winter to see how living here would be.
I've met people from China, Russia, Ohio, Atlanta - every place you could think of.
I work with people from USA, Serbia, all over too. Many do not speak English.
We just work together - there are more than 400 of us.
We're a team.