The Wrangell Theatre Company cast and crew gather in a large room in Wrangell’s Nolan Center, including myself. We’re at it again with performance art. We’re going over one of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s and Tim Rice’s acts in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. It’s a few days before the actual show and we’re making sure the tech crew and actors are in sync.
We’ve come a long way since the first day of practice began in the cold January winter.
Three months later, the cast and crew have almost nailed down the sung-through musical.
The actors in Potiphar are on take two. There’s an impressive little dancing number just after the high pitched bells fill the air. Then the sound of a bass travels up and down the music scale.
The story is a retelling of the Bible’s Joseph in the Book of Genesis, and his 11 jealous brothers (I’m Simeon, the second oldest brother) and their father Jacob, who coddles Joseph.
The catchy tunes and extravagant story plot have made this musical soar in popularity since its introduction in 1968 as a 15 minute pop concerto at a London school.
Joseph, acted by Chase Green, sings through many emotions throughout the musical. His melodic voice matches what it’s like receiving a multicolored coat and being condescending towards his brothers. The music also expresses the feeling of getting locked up after he’s caught looking like he…well the rest is a surprise.
Haley Reeves, one of the musical’s directors, said she performed in the comedy back in the day and so it’s been on her mind to bring it to Wrangell. And she said it’s coming together really well.
“I know some things feel like they’re a train wreck right now,” she said. “But honestly, I feel really good about where we’re at right now. So it’s just kind of funny how no matter how close it gets and you feel like ‘we don’t have this, we don’t know this,’ it somehow magically comes together, and it’s always fun. And no show’s the same anyway.”
“…watching all the brothers bond together.”
She said there are new faces for this show – old and young. She’s excited about it and hopes the theatre troupe continues attracting new people.
“The highlights have been watching all the brothers bond together,” Reeves said. “I remember the first rehearsal that we had the whole cast come, and it was just like silence in the room and nobody was talking. And I was like, ‘this is funny.’ And now we come to rehearsal, and it takes me 10 minutes just to get people gathered and quiet, which I love. I’m never sad about that. So that’s been really cool.”
Even though Reeves always wanted to bring the show here, she also knew there wasn’t enough men in this town who would act in it. The solution: cast women to play the brothers.
“I was thinking about, just like we’ve done this show, casting all women as the brothers, and wondering if we’d have enough (women) to do that,” she said. “And then Joan came to me and said that she and Arthur had talked about, ‘Hey, these are our top three shows if you need some options.’ Joseph was one of them. And I was like, ‘Oh, well, they’re thinking Joseph, and I already am thinking that, yeah, let’s go for it.'”
“Many of the costumes in this show are made out of sheets.”
She’s talking about the costume designers: Joan Sargent and Artha DeRuyter. They’ve been very active behind the scenes since before the first day of practice. Sargent said they pushed for really early auditions because they have to make the costumes and get supplies and other costumes from out of town. All of that takes time.
“Many of the costumes in this show are made out of sheets,” Sargent said. “Artha and I have been sewing like crazy. We even pick up scraps of some bad looking dresses and stuff, and then make something else out of them.”
She said they watched a lot of renditions of the musical to get ideas for the costumes they need, like Joseph’s coat.
“Joseph’s coat is a model like the coat in the actual Donny Osmond show,” Sargent said. “If you notice some of the diamonds in the fabric and everything, I was able to pick that up through an outlet that I deal with.”
She said there’s seven colors in the coat. Then there’s Pharoh who’s dressed up as Elvis. DeRuyter said that was a fun one to put together and embellish.
“A white satin shirt with white satin pants, but I added the red rhinestones on the sleeves and down the front,” she said. “Then I had to add a red satin stand up collar in the back. Then the pants I cut up to the knee on the outside and added the red satin to make bell bottoms.”
And who will be wearing Pharoh’s costume? That’s Adrienne McLaughlin. She said she’s the ruler of what she – or Elvis who plays Pharoh – says in the biblical world.
A variety of musical genres set each scene
Her Elvis-like solo bops around, sometimes with an alto tone. While she sings, most of the cast dance in rhythm and admiration of The King.
“It’s kind of bizarre,” McLaughlin said. “It’s funny being a female playing a male role, but I think it’s like everything I want to be hidden under a wig and bedazzled jewels and chains with the pompadour.”
McLaughlin said she’s never sung in public before, let alone acted in a musical or play. And yet, she now has a solo and embodies Elvis with all her might.
“I absolutely love rock and roll,” she said. “So out of all the genres, when I got selected to be Elvis and play the rock and roll part, I was ecstatic.”
Her excitement of rock and roll not only can be heard from her voice, but also seen through her hip swivel, sending all the ladies in a frenzy.
From spicy to sadness, the show must go on
Other scenes include a spicy act with Mrs. Potiphar who tries to win Joseph’s affection and a sad French routine where alcohol drowns the brothers’ sorrows.
And let’s not forget the lead narrator, sung by Stephanie Carney. Her costumes dazzle the stage as she sings for the children in the show, guiding the storyline to when all the characters are finally delighted.
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat will play at the Nolan Center on Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. The show is estimated to be an hour and a half long. Tickets are $25 and are available online at the Nolan Center’s Facebook page. They’re also available in person at the Nolan Center Gift Shop open during weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
