Joseph and the Amazing Community Theatre Experience


I've been away from the blog since February because I've been busy. After the NATS and NFMC competitions this past winter, there was another Shubert Alley in the Valley show at the Sautee Community Center. I had the pleasure of singing "Barcelona" from Company with Cheri Crutchfield-Luhn and "You're Just in Love" from Call Me Madam with Laura Owenby, plus singing and moving (we judiciously won't call it dancing) in group numbers from Kiss Me Kate, Mame, Hair and La Cage aux Folles. In April, I took the month off from performances and focused on selecting music for next year's classical and Broadway competitions.


The full cast of our '60s-style Joseph sings the finale

In May, it was auditions for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the summer production at Habersham Community Theatre in Clarkesville. I love this theatre. It is remarkably vibrant and well-supported for a small-town theatre, with a newly renovated space in an old movie house off the square, and fierce competition among old-timers and newcomers alike for roles in upcoming shows.

I was cast as Jacob, Joseph's father. It was a smaller singing role than I would have liked, but Jacob is on stage a lot, acting out in pantomime parts of the story that are being told in song by the narrator and other characters.

It was a challenge for me and I liked it. The beautifully turned and carved walking stick loaned to me by the grandfather of one of the girls in the chorus helped me feel more like a Jacob on stage, and my buddy Laura Owenby's ideas--which she generously shared after generously attending our final rehearsal before dress rehearsal--gave me more to do on stage and, just as important, led me to my own ideas for new things to do that helped enhance the energy and sketch Jacob's character in clearer detail. (In this way, acting is so much like writing, I find: What is my character thinking here? What does he want? What is he doing? Show don't tell!) I gave Jacob brief moments on stage where he talked with God--imploringly, happily, angrily (when his other sons tell him Joseph is dead), and gratefully at the conclusion when he is finally reunited with his favorite son.

These bits of business went a long way to making me more comfortable with the character of Jacob and with my portrayal of him. As a result, I loved every one of our eight performances--and dropped some pounds, too, during the run of the show. So in addition to the opportunity to stretch one's singing and acting chops, learn more about the theatre and how it ticks, make new friends of all ages, and enjoy the unique communal experience of warming up, making up, stressing out, calming down, sweating, bonding, harmonizing and dancing with nearly 50 other local performers, the Joseph experience was good for my health, too. How can you beat it?

One of my favorite scenes from Joseph--"Those Canaan Days," a beautiful ballad comically sung by Jacob and sons as they reminisce about the glory days of Canaan when Joseph was with them