A technicolour dream performance

Students, staff and alumni of Keswick Public School Madurai presented a wonderfully lavish adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Broadway musical “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”. A treat for the senses, it left many in the audience teary-eyed.

November 26, 2014 06:46 pm | Updated 06:46 pm IST - MADURAI

ENTHRALLING: The students were perfect in lending their voices, their modulation and pronunciation matched their enthusiastic dancing and acting skills.

ENTHRALLING: The students were perfect in lending their voices, their modulation and pronunciation matched their enthusiastic dancing and acting skills.

The story of Joseph and his coat of many colours may be familiar to many, but the audience at Keswick Public School last Saturday was in for a wholesome treat. An enduring show of all time, the delightful musical parable about the trials and triumphs of Joseph, was retold by 100 students bursting with energy.

The Keswick’s production, under the direction of the school Principal Maureen Jayaraj, exploded off the stage with its impressive singing, zestful dances and a grand narration of the biblical story. The glittering costumes and the make-up, superb sound and stage lights, the bright colours and the soulful music, the unforgettable songs and the melodious choir, the effort and hard work of every member of the cast presented the true art and vigour of theatre.

At the end of the highly enjoyable one hour show, members of the audience could not hold themselves back in their seats. The stars of the evening not only received a standing ovation and a thundering applause but many people came on the stage and took turns to congratulate the team for the brilliant performance that characterised a whole rainbow of acting styles, vivacious singing and dancing skills.

The musical opened on to a simple stage taken over by the narrator, played by class X student Alicia Samuel. In her harmonious voice and fluid rendition, the saga of Joseph came to a vibrant life.

Joseph, one of 12 brothers and Jacob’s most favoured son in Canaan, struts around in a multi-coloured coat gifted to him by his father. A lad of many dreams, you know why he is disliked by his siblings who sell him off as a slave to some passing Ishmaelites.

The brothers tell the father that Joseph has been killed and as proof show him the multi-coloured coat smeared with goat blood. Meanwhile Joseph grows up in faraway Egypt enduring a series of challenging mishaps and is even falsely accused and jailed by Potiphar for thwarting advances from his wife. Joseph is a boy blessed with prophetic dreams and interprets the dreams of fellow prisoners who always encourage him to follow his dreams.

Joseph goes on to become Egypt’s second most important man when the Pharaoh is unable to interpret a night of dreams and calls for him. His suffering brothers unknowingly find themselves grovelling at his feet without recognising him. After testing their integrity, Joseph reveals himself leading to a reunion of the sons of Israel. Set to an engaging cornucopia of musical styles, the story emerges timeless and appeals to young and old alike.

The amount of practice the young performers put in was evident. There was hardly any spoken dialogue but a completely sung-through show. The students were perfect in lending their voices, their modulation and pronunciation matched their enthusiastic dancing and acting skills. They deserve appreciation because the narrator, ex-student Jim Elliot as Joseph, Jeshil Samuel as Pharaoh, Franklin Steve as Joseph’s eldest brother and Kristina as the youngest brother Benjamin made themselves so convincingly relatable and triumphed over the audience. The rest of the performers, all aged between eight and 19 years, did no less in making the show a runaway success. Each of them had a great stage presence and the ensemble vibrated pleasantness.

A special mention for Timothy Samuel on the piano who added sparkle to the event and held the choir through the eminently singable songs including “Those Canaan Days”, “Any Dream Will Do,” “Jacob and Sons/Joseph’s Coat,” “Close Every Door,” and “Go, Go, Go Joseph.”

In fact, every aspect of the show was perfectly syncopated. The well aware orchestra kept the singers and the dancers in rhythm. The costumes and make-up were flawless and depicted the characters attractively. The lighting changes were melodic, appropriate to the moment and added to the cumulative effect. The performers tangoed joyfully to choreographed pieces by dance masters V.Gopinath and A.Arunachalam from Youforia Danscool.

The performance marked the school’s silver jubilee celebration. A musical of this scale was perhaps performed for the first time by school students in Madurai and there has already been an encore on popular demand. Even a ticketed show ran full house with the audience rooting for the production. The cornucopia of eclectic dance, music and acting gave the people the ultimate family experience.

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