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| School presents a different type of musical with 'Joseph' By Stacy Trevenon [ stacy@hmbreview.com ] Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, March 18, 2009 1:27 PM PDT This year, Half Moon Bay High School departs from the norm when “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” opens Friday for two weekends. Written by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, directed by actor/ drama teacher Jim Ward with a cast of 45 and a live band of three adults and four students, “Joseph” offers a lively take on the biblical story of Joseph and his coat of many colors. Instead of songs scattered among spoken lines, “Joseph” is continuous song and dance. “It’s all singing and movement, different from traditional (musicals,)” said Ward. “It’s such a joyful show.” Joseph is the favorite of his father but the target of jealous brothers who sell Joseph (senior Allan Bruce, in his fourth Half Moon Bay High musical) into slavery. But Joseph’s uncanny ability to interpret dreams wins him friends and brings a reconciliation with his brothers, now starving back home. “What goes around, comes around,” said Bruce. Musical genres (and costumes) are as varied as the colors in Joseph’s coat: traditional musical theater, pop, country/western, 1950s/Elvis-style, 1960s flower-power, gold-and-teal Egyptian finery and Parisian cabaret. Having to make lines into melody challenges the actors. “You have to get into character and sing. There’s a lot more to think about,” said senior James Fraser, who plays Joseph’s father, slaveowner Potiphar and Pharoah. Moving the story along are narrators Emily Erickson, Jessica Ritter and Kelsey Trautman. “We tell the story so the audience doesn’t get lost,” said Trautman. Playing Joseph’s brother Zebulan’s wife is Andrea Ordoñez Andrade, an exchange student from Ecuador. “It’s just been wonderful, how she fits in,” said Ward. The minimal set allows plenty of room for dance. “The cool thing is, this is a huge ensemble piece,” said Ward. “It’s not like a star vehicle. It’s more like everyone’s together, moving more together.” That’s the work of choreographer and former Half Moon Bay High student Cola Claret. Having studied dance with the Shely Pack Dancers, Claret was involved with the school’s musicals “Annie Get Your Gun” (1999,) “Bye Bye Birdie” (2000,) “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” (2001) and “42nd Street” (2002) before graduating that year. Then she went to the University of British Columbia for a degree in earth and ocean sciences, traveled and returned to Half Moon Bay to seek work in marine conservation – and, now 25, to help in the musical. “There are so many different styles of music and dance … all sorts of different genres,” she said. At a glance What: “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” Where: Multipurpose room, Half Moon Bay High School, Lewis Foster Drive, Half Moon Bay When: 8 p.m. Fridays/Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays, March 20-29 Cost: $10/students/seniors, $12/adults at Bay Book Company and at the door Information: 712-7200 |