the fans unfortunately, and the year-end results at DCI Championship Finals found the corps out of contention for the gold. All in all it was a wonderful year in every respect, and the marching Cadets of 2009 obtained a priceless memory to last them a lifetime. The enthusiastic applause for the 2009 show triggered a move in another direction for 2010. As the staff watched their marching Cadets responding to the audience approval they were receiving throughout the 2009 season, they determined that a return to "base-audience entertainment" was the direction they wanted to pursue in their 2010 program. The theme chosen was "Toy Soldiers." As George Hopkins explained during one of his periodic webinars, it seemed to be a "natural fit" with the corps' uniforms and military heritage. "Entertainment" can mean many different things to different people though, and the definition focused on by The Cadets' staff for this new program was "fun" entertainment. Throughout the winter of 2010 excite- ment grew among Cadets, alumni, parents, volunteers, and other supporters, as infor- mation on various elements of the show began to leak out. George Hopkins in his role as program coordinator, experimented with many different ideas. Some were in- corporated into the program and others discarded. There seemed, in particular, to be a great deal of enthusiasm generated when George announced that the program would open with the use of herald bugles.

At this point the "fun" aspect had not yet taken form. As the basic structure of the program took shape it began to look like The Cadets' creative staff had made good content choices. More excitement than usual surrounded every pre-season announcement about what the corps would be doing and what they would be playing. What was not generally known at that point was that the "fun" entertainment factor that was about to be injected was going to rest largely on the shoulders of a single member...a young athletic, theatrically talented young man from the color guard. He was assigned the role of "Little Jeffrey," and day by day, week by week, his "leading role" began to dominate the program. He was superb at what he was given to do, but the character element in the program, particularly as more and more emphasis was placed on it, did not generate the kind of enthusiastic audience reaction that the staff anticipated. There were, to be sure, many who found the corps' 2010 program charming, and yes, "fun" entertainment as well. There were also those who, as the season progressed, became less and less enamored and increasingly critical. As more and more