The Kenai Performers want to share something amazing and colorful.
This Friday, the drama company will present “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” at the Renee C. Henderson Auditorium inside Kenai Central High School. Additional performances will be held Feb. 21, 22, 27, 28 and March 1.
The musical, which is based on the biblical story of Joseph and the coat of many colors, has music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Terri Zopf-Schoessler, director of the performance, said there were many reasons for choosing to perform “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”
“It’s still one of the most popular musicals to do. It has every different song and type of genre you can think of,” Zopf-Schoessler said. “It’s fun. It’s fast paced. It’s colorful. It’s G-rated. It’s a heck of a lot of fun.”
Cast members’ ages range from 7 to 70, and there is even a 10-piece orchestra, Zopf-Schoessler said.
She said it was amazing how so many people have come together to put the show together. Everyone in the production, from actors to set builders, is unpaid and has volunteered time.
“I can just tell you that this community has the idea of community down amazingly,” she said.
Zopf-Schoessler said the amount of talent in such a small community is remarkable, and hypothesized why there are so many talented singers, dancers and actors.
“For a small community, apparently we get really bad cabin fever and find lots of good stuff to do,” Zopf-Schoessler said.
She said the company has been preparing for the show since last June.
“Normally you take three or three and a half months for a musical — we took eight.”
Ian McEwen, who plays Levi in the performance, said the cast started preparing in June because the performance is a musical with no spoken dialogue.
“It’s 90 minutes of singing, so we wanted to make sure we had it down,” he said.
Despite being a musical, McEwen said he was optimistic about the performances.
“I’m energized,” McEwen said. “If I didn’t have some sort of nervous energy, I know it wouldn’t be a good show. You learn to use those nerves and channel them on to the stage, so there is a nervousness there, but it’s not like terrified stage fright. It’s more like, ‘Let’s get this going.’”
McEwen said he enjoyed working with Zopf-Schoessler.
“(She’s) very collaborative, but she definitely knows what she wants,” McEwen said. “She’s willing to take ideas if they fit the show or fit the vision. She won’t use an idea because, ‘Oh, that’s great, that’s funny, let’s throw it in.’ No, it has to fit,”
Zopf-Schoessler said after the auditorium opened, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” was the first musical performed. She said it was only fitting that it’s being performed again.
“We’ve kind of come full circle,” she said.
Reach Ian Foley at Ian.foley@peninsulaclarion.com.
Lester Steward as Joseph (left) performs with Tim Tucker as Pharoh (right) in a dress rehearsal for “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” at the Kenai Central High School auditorium on Tuesday, Feb. 17.
Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion Lester Steward as Joseph performing with the children’s choir in a dress rehearsal for “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” at the Kenai Central High School auditorium on Tuesday, Feb. 17.
