Tale of a well-dressed dreamer

Published 6:00 pm Wednesday, February 25, 2004

Passion, fashion take center stage in BPA’s production of “Dreamcoat.”

A cast boasting a veritable collage of talents dons a coat of many colors at Bainbridge Performing Arts March 5.

Some 59 actors enliven “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” the Andrew Lloyd Weber-Tim Rice musical collaboration based on the Biblical story of Joseph’s misadventures at the hands of his envious siblings.

The music may present an extra challenge to the cast because the play is operatic, with lines sung rather than spoken.

“It’s an exorbitant amount of music to learn in a very small time,” musical director Shelley Long said, “I can’t give enough credit to the cast.”

Another challenge is the melange of musical styles ranging from 1960s pop – picture dancers dressed in knee-high red go-go boots and mini-dress doing the “frug” and the “swim” – to Rudy Vallee-style crooning by the butler, Steve Parsons and John Nagel’s Elvis impersonation in the role of Pharaoh.

A chorus of 20 children, ranging from second grade to middle school, stays onstage throughout the play, seated on small risers.

It’s a lot of exposure, and Long demands that the kids stay focused.

They serenade Joseph when he’s heaved into jail by Potiphar (Miles Yanick), after the potentate’s consort, played by Kim Atkins, has seduced the young Canaanite.

“You are singing your hearts out to Joseph, he’s in jail,” Long tells her young chorus. “I want you to sing from here,” she says, gesturing to her heart. “Have it on your face.”

For Michelle Lorenz, playing the narrator in the musical, a part that has her singing for most of the play, has been a long-time dream.

“I’ve been waiting to do this role forever,” said Lorenz, who studied theater at Ithaca College and moved to the island two years ago. “Every time I work with a company, they’ve just done it.”

Port Angeles sixth-grader Elizabeth Ross wanted to be in “Dreamcoat” so much that she convinced her mother to drive her here, making the 100-mile trek several times weekly for rehearsals.

For teen assistant director Allison Sterrett and assistant stage manager Laura Judson, the production has been a chance to get more experience in the field they hope to pursue after high school.

“This is the first time we’ve used high school students in these roles for mainstage shows,” director Steven Fogell said. “It’s been an amazing success.”

“Dreamcoat” has often been called an “extravaganza” by critics, and BPA’s production lives up to the label, featuring nine dancers choreographed by Rain Ross and Michelle Hutchins, and more than 550 costumes created by Sue Sassenfeld.

“It’s wild backstage,” Fogell said. “We have no room.”

But the crowded quarters, onstage and off, have helped meld the large multi-generational group that features several real-life parent-child combinations into a big family, cast members say.

“The whole show is about family and the strength of family,” Fogell said.

“By having a cast of such various ages, it’s an excellent way to depict what the play is trying to say.”

* * * * *

“Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” plays March 5-21, with shows Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday matinees at 3 p.m. at the Playhouse. A pay-what-you-can show will be performed 7:30 p.m. March 18. An opening night reception follows the March 5 performance.

Joseph’s brilliant coat will be raffled at the end of the last performance. Raffle tickets may be purchased in advance or at the door.

Tickets for the show are $18 for adults; $15 for seniors; $9 for students, available at the Playhouse or by phone at 842-8569.