The extravaganza was held prior to formal dedication ceremonies of the church's new temple this morning in Rancho Cordova, a suburb northeast of Sacramento. More than 80,000 Latter-day Saints reside in the Sacramento temple district.
The Youth Celebration, which included original music and choreography, was the largest single cast on stage at Arco Arena - home of the Sacramento Kings basketball team - since its opening about 20 years ago. It is the second LDS gathering in the past eight years at Arco Arena.
Hinckley needed some assistance while walking along the stage, but when it came time to speak, he needed no encouragement. He stood with only minor assistance and made his way brightly to the podium, where he spoke for about 10 minutes.
"My, you look good," he said, wearing a dark blue suit and blue polka-dot tie and directly addressing the arena floor filled with young performers.
"My, you look good," he repeated. "You look beautiful."
The 96-year-old Hinckley, who underwent surgery in January to remove a cancerous growth from his colon, noted his age. But he grinned while adding, "I don't know how long I'm good for and it may be the last time I'm in Northern California, but I'm here today and it's a wonderful day for me, the church and California."
Hinckley, prophet to the 13 1/2 -million-member worldwide church, recounted that he first came to California in 1948 to commemorate the discovery of gold and talked about how history is interwoven with the LDS faith in the state and how fast the church is growing here.
"The church has now reached full maturity with the completion of the temple in Rancho Cordova," he said after talking about the search for a temple site. "We're seeing the realization of our dreams and hopes . . . the temple will stand in testament to the eternity to the human soul."
Hinckley also said the dedication will be "the summation of all that we have done through the years," noting California "is second only to Utah in the number of Latter-day Saints who live here."
An hour after Hinckley left the stage, the arena floor was filled with around 5,000 young men and women, coming from 21 stakes in the temple district surrounding Sacramento to perform "More Precious than Gold," an hour-long singing and dancing spectacle they have been practicing since May. Saturday was the first time the entire cast had come together, performing only a single full-dress rehearsal.
The performance was written by Academy Award-winning film writer Keith Merrill and producer Scott Eckern and centered around four teens interested in searching out their family heritage.
Done in California style, the plot took the teens through a colorful cultural celebration representing California's heritage of Polynesian, Oriental, Latino, Afro-American and European settlers. Hip-hop dancing along with roller-blading, skateboarding, a bit of double-dutch jump roping and even basketball filled the arena.
But it was a two-horse-drawn covered wagon that crossed the stage amid a bevy of dancers in pioneer costume that drew prolonged applause.
The story depicted the contributions of the Latter-day Saints in early California history. Beginning with the arrival of The Mormon Battalion in San Diego in 1847, the journey continued up the coast in the ship Brooklyn with early settlements in San Francisco. From there, settlers moved into the Sacramento Valley, erecting bridges, towns and building a sawmill at Coloma and Sutter's Fort where the first gold was discovered in 1848, as recorded in the journal of Mormon Battalion member Henry Bigler.
The opening act, "Celebrate," was one of the original musical pieces, performed by 16 couples. It highlighted the 1860s Civil War era, with richly colorful costumes and a waltz performed by the dancers.
Other musical selections included "Sarah's Song," "Who am I?" and a medley of "Hymns of the Restoration."
The theme of the evening reflected the Sacramento temple dedication in these words, "An house shall be built unto the Lord and a cloud shall rest upon it, which cloud shall be, even the glory of the Lord."
