HPCT Puts on an Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Joseph Rosenblum
For its second production of the season, HPCT has moved to Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church to stage its energizing performances of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” The venue is ideal not only because of the church’s beauty and great acoustics but also because each of the two acts supposedly begins in a Sunday School class before moving to ancient Canaan and Egypt.
The work is unusual even for a musical in that every word is sung. As narrator/Sunday School Teacher, Mary Lea Williams sings many of the numbers, and she does so beautifully. Her dance moves are also first-rate. Travis Vernon’s Joseph is equally impressive with his fine voice.
Brandon Lloyd Hicks (Gad) shines in the country-western “One More Angel in Heaven,” supported by a great square dance routine by his brothers and their wives. Jim Shover (Reuben) in “Those Canaan Days” delightfully imitates an Edith Piaf style song from the 1950s, and Dave Wils (Asher) gives a true Jamaican flavor to “Benjamin Calypso.” The brothers’ chorus in these two pieces is effective, and their dancing in the latter is perfection.
The brothers’ voices blend well in their all choral selections, as do their wives’, and their choreography throughout is equally impressive.
They are well supported by the Ensemble, which, like the brothers and wives, assumes a variety of roles, all of which everyone handles expertly.
Trey Cameron as Pharaoh provides a delightful Elvis imitation. He has the king’s moves and voice down pat. The twenty-seven children add immeasurably to the audience’s delight with their singing and dancing.
The orchestra never misses a beat, and the costumes designed by Jennifer Ackland and Georgann Schultz convey an air of authenticity
This is one of the best productions HPCT has staged. It is a happy-making show. Performances continue this week-end and next at Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church. There are no Sunday matinees.
(Joseph Rosenblum teaches English at Bennett College for Women,
Greensboro.)
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