dreamcoat

JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT
THEATER 6
-spring 1985
If my two-year attitudinal shift from RIP VAN WINKLE to ROCK N' ROLL had been profound, the four-year shift from ROCK N' ROLL to JOSEPH was even more so. I was in 11th grade. During the first month of Youth Club, we all waited to find out what the play would be. This year, Mrs. Wohlhueter would be directing alone, with several new assistants, including my Mom and Dad helping with the music. I was sorry to see Dave go, but with Valda, we'd be okay. It was going to be a little unhip to have my parents around, but i'd deal. Finally, the announcement. I was almost giddy. A rock opera by JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR's Webber and Rice. Holy cow. I got hold of the soundtrack, and wanted to audition for everything. So that's what i got ready to do. I figured i had a shot at being one of the featured brothers. I prepped the Pharaoah-Elvis part too. I wouldn't get it, but i'd have fun trying. Youth Club had continued growing, and over one hundred auditioned. I was thrilled after callbacks: "i'm gonna be a brother, i'm gonna be a brother…". My parents' comments were very general. A day or two later, Valda called. She asked if i knew why she was calling. I said because she wanted me to be a brother. She said no. She said "Rob, i want you to be my Joseph". I just now realized that those few words rank with the most impactful words of my whole life. I was quiet, until she spoke again. There was such happiness in her voice. After hanging up, i think there was whooping and yelling. That night, maybe still jumping, i hugged Mom and Dad, and asked whether they had known. They said yes. Nepotism hadn't occured to me, but they told me they'd asked to have no say in the final decision. They also said i'd rated higher than anyone as Pharoah, but there had been no one close to me as Joseph. I had a moment of conflict, a feeling that i might have picked Pharoah if given the choice. But the moment passed quickly. The feeling at Youth Club the following Wednesday…i knew i was still the same me, but to walk down those halls, and see everyone smiling, making eye contact with me…i was the lead. I wasn't just a lead, i was the lead. I knew all my songs within a week. Knew everybody's. I was asked my input on how to pair up the narrators. There was my friend Kim Silver, a senior. Red hair, smart, and nice as could be. We had been in the bands together. I had a little crush on her, but not nearly as much as my buddy Robb did. There was Katie Atkinson, my age, stick-thin, and outgoing. There was Courtney Lear, also my age. She was nice enough to me, but definitely a member of the "cooler-than-thou" clique. And finally April Ferguson, a little tiny thing in 7th grade, but when she opened her mouth, this amazing voice came out. April had the strongest voice, but not much presence. Kim had the weakest voice, but great presence, and she was very nurturing. I suggested pairing them for the first act, and Courtney and Katie for the second. It's funny...though i had never expected it, there was never a moment's hesitation about whether i could do the lead, or how to do it. Pharoah was Don Santacroce, a guy my age and part of the "cool" clique, but not nearly so noxious as others. We got along fine. He was tall with dark, curly hair, and his number brought down the house. Potiphar/Jacob was Dean Mix, as narcissistic as ever. I think he had wanted to be Joseph, and it had to gall him that i got it. He threw a very obvious dig my way once, and i heard about another he made in private. But aside from one comedic voice crack (karma, maybe?), he did a nice job in his roles, and he was never openly negative toward me after the first week. Reuben was Ned Sanderson, a talented sophomore and good guy. Napthali was sophomore Karl Slatoff, a great guy with a high voice. Levi was Heidi Stohler, wearing a beard. Benjamin was freshman Dave Paine, a ham and unforgiveable scene-stealer. Cathy was a brother, and Robb and Ken were hairy Ishmaelites, with beards nearly bigger than they. JOSEPH was the first play of my life that had no business being as good as it was. Not that we weren't talented, but the response was just off-the-charts astonishing. The energy was indescribable…we tried to turn people away when the huge auditorium sold out, but they wouldn't have it. We hooked up a television monitor in the lobby, so forty or fifty could stand to watch. That's never happened with any other production i've heard of, at any level. They had one moment of live contact, when i came through the lobby for my final entrance. As i passed them, there was probably some subconscious part of me saying "Are you kidding?" The production values…oh man, those adults were organized. They built a life-sized camel for a four-second cross, and a sphinx that cried. The chorus…bless 'em. JOSEPH was not a chorus show, and we had maybe eighty sitting in the pit. I jumped down with them during one rehearsal. In one number they were out among the audience, but otherwise they just sang a lot of la-ing and ba-ing. Scott Reese had one bird-call solo line. My Dad worked with him on that line more than all my lines combined, but he never did quite get it. I began a wonderful relationship with Judi Lehrhaupt, the new choreographer. I had to sit on a ten-foot platform in one scene, but i was afraid of heights. Judi told me to come in early one morning. She had packed a breakfast, and said we were going to eat on the platform. Which we did. A couple years later, i would be swinging through theater rafters where few dare to go. My parents were well-liked, particularly Dad, who was never short on charm. I don't think i ever let it go to my head, but there were literally bevies of adoring girls surrounding me and singing to me. I knew that i was a better actor than singer. I kicked ass on the up-tempo numbers, but on the ballads, i wished i were better. My Dad said that even if i wasn't the best technically, i was a very strong theatrical singer. Coming down the aisle at the end of the show in the golden chariot (with a Rolls Royce grill), spotlights and every eye on me, was pretty indescribable. The final moment onstage, with the cast around me, my arms raised…the waterfalls of applause that followed…after our closing night curtain call, the cast let out a roar, and started jumping and hugging…i stood there, as several people grabbed me...the curtain suddenly went up, catching us in mid-celebration, my coat all discombobulated…we bowed again, the curtain went down, and everybody roared even louder...tears and hugs that wouldn't end…incredible, incredible, incredible, incredible. Jim Prosser was a senior, and not even in the show, as he'd had too many commitments. But he came before the final performance to play and sing "One Shining Moment", to even more tears than the previous year. The cast party, at my house, was unprecedented as well. At least one hundred kids, with sleeping bags in hand. A sea of bodies throughout the house...under tables, a few even on the stairs. It was so big it alarmed the adults, and actually brought an end to the sleepover tradition. Understandably, i suppose...that night, i touched a breast for the first time in my life. In the morning, Mom made monkey bread. At the talent show a couple weeks later, i narrowly missed living the new sappiest moment of my life. I had been prepped to sing Lionel Richie's "Truly", and dedicate it to my girlfriend Staci (remember ballads, not my strong point?). It is one of the great mercies of life that she dumped me before that could happen. The adults performed an over-the-top version of the Pharoah number in full costume, with my Dad as the King. Remembering how touched i'd been by Janet Nolting's Teddy Bear Award the year before, i started a new tradition. I created an award certificate with teddy bear stickers, and presented it to Dave Paine. He was an overactor, but infectiously undeniable. For the final presentation, Kelly Buss got up. She had played Mrs. Potiphar, who tries to seduce me, stripping away my skirt to reveal technicolor undershorts (my idea). Kelly was my age, a first year Youth Clubber who couldn't project her one line to save her life, but she was a wonderful dancer, and so sexy she took my breath away. She stood at the dais, and presented me a technicolor jockstrap she and my friends had made. It was signed by all, and Kelly wrote that she wished she could take this off me too. My eyes widened. I think i tried to find out from her, weeks later and unsuccessfully, whether she'd been joking. Sigh. Mrs. Wohlhueter was presented the coat of many colors. I had thought it might be coming to me, and was sad for a moment. But i was quickly content, because i could see how much it meant to her, and i knew i never wanted to be accused of "living in past glory" once the show ended. Not having the coat would make that easier.