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Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

1998 · Sophie Leschin Theatre / Jacksonville Theatre Guild

In the summer of 1998, Ken Bradbury directed the Jacksonville Theatre Guild's production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's exuberant retelling of the Genesis story of Joseph and his coat of many colors. Staged at the Sophie Leschin Theatre, the show featured an adult company alongside a children's choir seated outside the proscenium — an idea suggested by set designer Chuck West, who built the production around a scale model he carried to Ken's house himself.

Ken kept a journal through the making of the show, "A Joseph Story," that captures the whole anxious, joyful arc of the production: the first nervous auditions at vocal director Julie Hood's house, the late-night crew meetings where costume mistress Janet Long turned up with a real cow's head bound for the meat locker, the relief when pianist Mary Wilson — "the pro" — agreed to play, and the agony of cutting friends after callbacks. "Auditions are like a root canal before a round-the-world cruise," he wrote. By the first rehearsal in the stifling basement of Grace church, he had what he called the "Dreamcast."

In his director's note, Ken dedicated the show to the people who first taught him scripture: "Most of us learn our first Bible stories at someone's knee. I learned mine at my Grandma Orr's… Joseph is a musical cartoon lovingly dedicated to all those dedicated kin, friends, and Sunday School teachers who brought us our first knowledge of the scriptures."

Musical Numbers

Act I

Act II

Cast

Female Ensemble — Darcy Adams, Kristin Clinton, Cathy Doyle, Abby Galle, Nichole Glover, Sadie Johnson, Susie Kording, CJ Merriman, Jamie Newcomb, Christine Reid, Kristin Van Aken, Elizabeth Watkins, and Tammy Zink

Offstage Singers — Devon Carpenter, Julie Hood, James Mungai, and Kathleen Schoeninger

Children's Choir — Katelynn Ankrom, Andy Coats, Lesley Cosner, Emily Davenport, Colleen Doyle, Katrina Emberg, Nicole Emberg, Sonja Emberg, Grant Estes, Kristin Hill, Hannah Johnson, Rachel Johnson, Sherri Kording, Laura Mattes, Emily Middleton, Jeanette Mungai, Maria Roth, Page Roth, Ashley Smith, Heather Spradlin, Katie Strutz, Nick Timmons, and Chrissy Welch

Production Staff

Joseph's coat was built by Martha Lou Dean.

Production Notes

Rehearsals began June 7 at Grace church before moving to the theatre, with the orchestra joining for full run-throughs in early July ahead of a late-July and early-August run. Many in the cast were juggling other summer shows at once — Phyllis Pruitt and Gene Hicks were also appearing in Fiddler on the Roof at the Springfield Muni, and several actors were performing in the Bradbury/Crowe musical Abraham! at Lincoln's New Salem the same weeks.

The program also preserves one of Ken's signature touches: a page of gleefully fake reviews from invented critics at Variety, the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Martha Stewart Living, and the National Enquirer, all riffing on the show, the Cajun desserts served at Sophie's, and his cast of friends.

See the full production record at JTG Memories.

See the full record at JTG Memories →