Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
By Peninsula Family Theater
Sequim High School Auditorium, 533 N. Sequim Ave.
Shows: 7 p.m. July 10-11, 16-18, 23-25; 2 p.m. July 18.
Tickets: $8 – $20;online at www.penfamtheater.org with $2 discount; and at door.
Groups of 10 or more discount available. Call Jeff Hall at 460-1432.
After sellout crowds for the dramatic “Les Miserables” last summer, organizers of Peninsula Family Theater’s summer production felt they’d go back to an upbeat staple.
Enter: “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” which runs for three weeks from July 10-25 at Sequim High featuring 60-plus actors ages 6-60-plus.
Cast and crew love the play and said they felt “Joseph” brings an energy everyone can enjoy.
Co-director Robin Hall said even in rehearsals cast members are laughing hysterically.
“They’ve all seen it but laugh every time,” she said. “But that’s because every rehearsal is different.”
Christy Rutherford, co-director, said the music and lyrics by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice are the only thing cemented for their production while many of the mannerisms and jokes are developed as they go along.
“There’s a lot of personal touches everyone adds,” she said. “I love the way the characters elaborate and take liberties and build on it.”
“Joseph” is loosely based on the biblical story of Joseph being sold into slavery in Egypt by his brothers, his rise to prominence with the pharaoh and then his ability to not only save his family, but forgive them.
A Top 40 radio countdown of anything and everything ensues as each song follows a different genre ranging from the country western “One More Angel in Heaven” to disco “Go, Go, Go Joseph” to rock and roll “Song of the King.”
Hall and Rutherford, who estimate they’ve done 70-plus shows together, last did the play four years ago for the high school’s operetta and have brought the play to Sequim five times counting this run.
Rutherford said their first effort for the show almost didn’t happen with auditions set on Sept. 11, 2001.
“We debated whether or not to do them,” she said. “It was a really somber day but it became such an upper for people feeling sad and lost. It gave us and the community something to recover with together.”
The show was so popular, Peninsula Family Theater organizers brought it back again in February 2002, and Hall and Rutherford put it on stage again with the operetta in 2005 and 2011.
Amanda Bacon was an original cast member in the 2001 production and wanted to revisit her role as the narrator because she was dying to be in it again, directors said.
“My uncle gave me my first tape of it in 1994 and I wore it out,” Bacon said. “Then I got it on CD and I’ve worn out four or five of them. I love the flow of it. There will be at least one song people can relate to, but really they are all great.”
She first saw the production in 1995 and continues to love its message, too.
“I’m a religious person and I believe if God brought you to it, he’ll get you out of it,” she said.
Bacon and the directors also speak highly of title character Joseph played by Nicholas Fazio.
He first appeared in the play in 2011 playing Joseph’s youngest son Benjamin.
“It seems there are a lot of returning cast members,” Fazio said. “A lot of them were children when we did this the first time.”
But how is it in the lead?
“It’s challenging, but exciting,” he said. “I remember having such a blast the first time.”
“Joseph” also features Richard Stephens, Daniel Hall, Danny Scott, Christie Honore, Dylan DePrati, Elizabeth Helwick, Ben Heintz, Gary Ristick, Gabe Smith, Seth Mitchell, Jeffrey Mordecai-Smith, Thomas Hughes, Jack Dismore, Jonas Brown, Joey Hall, Tommy Hall, Sarah Stoffer, Elizabeth Helwick, Kendra Richardson, Sydney Negus, Selesha Mc-
Kibbon, Mariah Franco, Niki McElhose, Victoria Hall, Ali Cobb, Gabi Simonson, David Simonson, Marshall Conway, David Burgher, Rosalyn Scott, Debbie Bourquin, Midge Hull, Vicki Helwick, Kyla Simonson, Kim DePrati, Emily Sirguy, David Case, Norah Schmidt, Arlo Schmidt, Warren Nichols, Glenna Krieger, Dawn Hulstedt, Ava Fuller, Danielle Herman, Hannah Cowill, Rayne Cole, Zoe Yates, Paige Krzyworz, Carson McFarland, Elijah Allen, Ian Allen, Berlin Echternkamp, Anastasia Updike, Nolan Dewan, Sebastian Buhrer, Diego Buhrer, Jacob Oliver, Abby Burdick, Sondra Santiago, Emily McComber, Mackenzie Worley, Tyler Worley and Cassidy Parr.
Food Bank benefit
Peninsula Family Theater organizers want to help the Sequim Food Bank. Two prize tickets will be given for each item of food contributed to the food bank at the play. Tickets also can be purchased for $1 each. Each ticket is an entry for a prize drawing from local merchants held at each performance.
The food bank is in need of all food, especially peanut butter, tuna, beans and low-sugar cold cereal.
