A musical theatre epic of Biblical proportions is set to start performances in February, uniting veteran community performers and school-aged artists for the first time in recent Sunshine Coast history.
The Coast Music Theatre Company — a project led by creative collaborators Sara Douglas (artistic director), Tom Kellough (music director) and Sylvain Brochu (choreographer) in partnership with St. John’s United Church — will stage Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat starting on Feb. 28. The high-energy musical, based on the book of Genesis, has achieved global renown since debuting in 1968 as a 15-minute “pop cantata” with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice (the full-length version reached London’s West End in 1973).
Last year, Coast Music Theatre’s first production (the riotous 19th-century operetta The Pirates of Penzance) played to capacity audiences in Davis Bay. Although the Pirates cast was markedly multigenerational, the Joseph production has forged formal collaboration between volunteer adult performers and School District 46’s musical theatre ensemble.
“It’s brand-new,” said director Sara Douglas. “The last year of the school district’s music theatre ensemble was 2022, and then I retired. When we started Coast Music Theatre for last year’s production [followed by Douglas resuming part-time teaching duties], we decided to combine the two groups for this year.”
The combined cast has grown to over 40 performers. The show is famously eclectic in style, reflecting musical genres that include Elvis Presley-infused rock and roll, Calypso, country and western, 1920s Charleston, and even plaintive French ballads. It tells the story of a young man whose dreams of destiny and his father’s favouritism foment a murderous sibling rivalry. Derry Oshust, who appeared as Frederic in 2024’s Pirates of Penzance, will portray the starry-eyed Joseph.
“I hadn’t actually seen the show until we started preparing it,” said Oshust, who trained at the Canadian College of Performing Arts. Oshust was one of several cast members (among them the pair of singing storytellers, Jennifer MacInnes and Ro Zubeck) who performed in a wide-ranging musical revue at the Rockwood Pavilion last summer. “I’m hoping that we can make a fun show about dreamers and being better to each other — as the brothers do in the end,” he added.
Young Joseph eventually ascends to a position of high authority in the Egyptian government, after evading the wiles of a libidinous socialite (played by Ruth Shell) and currying the favour of Pharaoh (embodied by Josh Boyd as the pompadour-topped King of Rock and Roll). Joseph’s careworn father (Allan Reid) survives to see his family members humbled, reunited, and rewarded.
The cast will be accompanied by a six-member orchestra led by Tom Kellough on piano. Janice Brunson’s performance on clarinet (she also shoulders the saxophone) offers a subtle nod to klezmer influences in the Lloyd Webber score, particularly the showstopper Close Every Day Door To Me. While the story is rooted in Jewish history, its telling is designed for universal appeal.
“It’s not at all religious and it’s so accessible,” said Douglas. She previously directed the work in 2017 with the school district’s musical theatre ensemble and on four occasions at local elementary schools; she also trained the children’s chorus for the Canadian touring production at the erstwhile Ford Centre for the Performing Arts.
For youth singer Xavier Kraukamp, the opportunity to work alongside adult actors has accelerated his progress as a performer. “I feel like I have a lot to learn,” he said. “When there are a lot of really experienced, talented adults around, I can feel myself growing every day. It’s quite the experience and I’m thankful that we have such a program.”
Performances of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat take place at Chatelech Secondary School on Feb. 28, March 1, 7 and 8 (at 7 p.m.) and March 2 and 9 at 2 p.m. Tickets ($20) are now available from Sew Easy in Sechelt and the One Flower One Leaf gallery in Gibsons.
