performers and musicians in rehearsal for Quad City Music Guild's “Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" at the Prospect Park Auditorium -- June 6 through 15.
Friday, June 6, through Sunday, June 15
Prospect Park Auditorium, 1584 34th Avenue, Moline IL
A beloved biblical musical boasting seven Tony Award nominations and a chart-topping U.K. single in “Any Dream Will Do,” the Broadway smash Joseph & the Amazing Technical Dreamcoat, from June 6 through 15, serves as the summertime opener for the talents at Quad City Music Guild, this theatrical classic the first-ever publicly staged work by the legendary stage team of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.
In their Joseph musical, the title character – the favorite son of Jacob – is blessed with vivid dreams that foretell the future, and that greatly anger his tribe of siblings. Sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, Joseph endures a series of adventures that challenge him to his core. Initially, he finds himself belonging to the tyrant Potiphar, whose wife makes advances toward Joseph that ultimately land him behind bars. However, news of the jailed man’s ability to interpret dreams sparks the interest of the hilariously Elvis-like Pharaoh, and soon thereafter, Joseph is out of jail and well on his way to second-in-command. Eventually, Joseph’s brothers find themselves unknowingly groveling at the feet of the brother they betrayed, and in the truly timeless Old Testament tale of Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, composer Webber and lyricist Rice deliver an exhilarating musical sensation boasting a multitude of musical genres that span from country-Western and calypso to bubble-gum pop and rock and roll.
Serving as director for Quad City Music Guild's latest is Karen LeFebvre, with members of Joseph's creative team including: assistant director Wendy Czekalski; music director Amy Trimble; assistant music director Marcia Renaud; stage manager Colleen Gould; choreographer Ava Coussens; set designer Kevin Pieper; costume designer Linda Kozelichki; lighting designer Jacob Laufenburg; sound designer Brian Phipps; props designers Corinne Brown and Riley Olson; makeup designer Sue Cates; and producer Hillary Erb.
Venue veteran Lauren VanSpeybroeck, previously seen in Legally Blonde: The Musical, Matilda: The Musical, and Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn, portrays the show's Narrator, while Joseph is played by Casey Scott, whose area credits include Into the Woods for Countryside Community Theatre and Grease for the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre. Among the show's other featured performers, Pharoah - Kirsten Myers portrays the Pharoah, Bruce Duling is Jacob and Potiphar, and Jes Far enacts Mrs. Potifar. Joseph's many brothers are played by: John Collazo; Matthew Downey; Evan Gagliardo; Jonah Higinbotham; Paul Holland; Maxwell Johnson; Joseph Nguyen; Eli Schroeder; Stephen Scott; Joseph Wren; and Joseph Urbaitis. Their many wives, meanwhile, are portrayed by: Lillian Cobert; Madison Duling; Mindy Duncan; Denice Durbin; Becky Lee Hinton; Penny O’Connor; Stacy Pettersen; Maryl Sommer; Michelle Steen; Megan Winchell; and Hailey Winkleman.
Joseph's gifted pit orchestra is composed of: Keyboards - Marcia Renaud, Deb Swift, Katie Griswold (6/6-8), and Chad Schmertmann (6/12-15); Percussion - Pete Philhower and Elsie Hahn; Woodwinds - Kendell Hengst and Christine Rogers; Trumpet - Ben McKay; French Horn - Allison Nickel; Bass Guitar - Mark McGinn; Guitars - Chuck Richards; Violins - Grant McBride, Mei Lin McDermott, Set Morales-Espinoza (6/5-7); Viola - Fletcher Dupree; and Cello - Jason Gende.
And more than two dozen area students complete the cast as Joseph's children's chorus: Daniel Avise; Levi Bacon; Peyton Beck; Aubrey Behrens; Madison Brose; Isla Bybee; Gracie Cross; Tessa Czekalski; Ian Fah; Tyson Fah; Theodore Holland; Veronika Lang; Annabel Mandle; Addison McFarland; Addison Miller; Mateo Miranda; Gryffyn Myers; Evelyn Olson; Logan Peterson; Ezriyela Saldivar; Julia Schnaufer; Eli Seneli; Owen Steen; Leila Trevino; Hailey Whelchel; and Blythe Willey.
Quad City Music Guild's presentation of Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat runs at Moline's Prospect Park Auditorium June 6 through 15, with performances Thursdays through Sundays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Admission is $15-20, and more information and tickets are available by calling (309)762-6610 and visiting QCMusicGuild.com.
