June 12, 2025 • 39 mins
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat has made its way to Royal Oak, with a production from Stagecrafters that lives up to the legacy. This color musical from Andrew Lloyd Webber feels right at home at The Baldwin Theatre, with a cast and crew bringing this iconic show to life multiple times a week. A vibrant retelling of a biblical story, Stagecrafters has created something that audiences of all ages can appreciate. We sat down and spoke with two of the cast members of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jo Banooni and Seth Grube, about their time in this production!
In this exclusive Box Seat Babe interview, Banooni and Grube discuss their personal histories with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and what drew them to being in Stagecrafters' production of it. What do they believe their character's motivations to be? What songs are their favorite to sing and listen to at each performance? How have their respective roles challenged their acting abilities and helped them to hone their craft? There's so much to appreciate about this musical and both actors have given their blood, sweat, and tears to give audiences an extraordinary experience every time they step out onto the stage.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Thank you so much for the two of you for joining me today.
(00:02):
ah How are you both doing?
Great, so happy to be here.
Really excited that we're actually getting into the show like we're starting to get intoour runs Feels a little bit more like we can decompress from everything that's been
happening
I mean, yeah, because you're entering into that second full weekend of your show.
has to be, um mean, opening weekend has to be pretty chaotic as you're finally getting thepieces together.
(00:26):
So you're kind of hitting your run now.
Mm-hmm.
We kind of hit the ground running uh with this show.
It's a very high energy show, so you have to keep the energy at 100 for every singleperformance.
And so we definitely hit the ground running.
And now we've kind of, at least we've hit the sweet spot for those performances, for sure.
(00:53):
And it's especially, uh it definitely kind of takes a toll on you after that firstweekend, because you do that first weekend of three shows.
And then we had, I think about like three days off before we got back.
I still, I went into Thursday's performance still feeling like I wasn't fully recoveredfrom opening weekend.
(01:13):
So I'm still just kind of like, okay, how can I, you know, recover better, I guess, whengoing into the next weekend?
I was gonna say that I saw it on Saturday and you are just, like the entire show is just,you are moving from start to finish at such like a high speed.
I was like, man, I was sweating just watching everybody on stage like do the high kicksand stuff like that and do the dancing.
(01:38):
And I was like, whew, that's a lot.
I have never sweated this much after doing a show ever.
Yeah, yeah.
And I have to give a shout out to our choreographer, um Emily, because she whipped us allinto shape.
And I mean that as a compliment.
she definitely, I am not a dancer by any means, although she would disagree with thatstatement.
(02:03):
But she definitely got us in shape.
I don't know how else to phrase it, but she got us together and kudos to her for that.
Yeah, uh yeah, she's really sweet.
Emily Loram is really, really such a, like a very positive person to talk to, even like inbetween rehearsals, even during rehearsals when you're just asking a question about like,
(02:31):
I don't feel very confident about the specific part in the choreography, but she, uh onething that I will give her, another thing that I want to give her credit to is that she
made us, uh she let us know way ahead of time.
that this was gonna be high energy and high like, like it's gonna be super complicatedchoreography.
(02:51):
She made us like, she let us know that all of that's gonna be happening way ahead of timebefore we actually started getting into it.
So, you know, kudos to her for giving us that warning before actually starting everythingup.
I think the one number that comes to mind is One More Angel in Heaven, where that one isintense, they're all like that.
(03:14):
They're all to that energy.
So can only imagine, first week of you're learning the dances and that's the one you rollout to and you're just like, what did I sign myself up for?
Yeah, there's, I don't know if I'm really allowed to spoil anything, but there is this onespecific move in the number where when the song actually starts to pick up the tempo and
everyone's just kind of like doing one consecutive thing together, we have run that bitevery single night before the show.
(03:40):
Like after every single show, we've run that every single night.
And to be fair, we started our rehearsals with the Megamix.
So we started learning all of the dances at the beginning because most of the Megamix hasall of the dances kind of mixed into it.
(04:02):
So oh for me, that was helpful because we were learning them as we went.
wait, I already know Angel in Heaven because I learned it in the Megamix, right?
So it was, that was helpful to be able to refer back to what we learned in the firstrehearsal.
(04:27):
uh especially the same with, I was specifically having trouble with Benjamin Calypso, thechoreography for that, but when Emily told us, know, some of the choreography in Benjamin
Calypso is just stuff that you already know from the Megamix, I'm like, oh, well, maybeit's not too bad, I guess.
Yeah.
kind of a smart way to do it though, because you get like the sampling of like what eachdance and song is going to be, so it does make it feel a little more familiar when you're
(04:51):
revisiting it.
Mm-hmm.
And I think there was a part during the rehearsal process where for all of our dances, wewould always warm up our dance rehearsals with the mega mix so that not only do we have
all of those moves like fresh in our memory, but it's just like a good way to get us likewarmed up for anything else that we're going to be learning.
(05:12):
Absolutely.
So Jo I want to start with you.
What is kind of the story?
Well, without spoiling too much.
Obviously we don't want to give away the ending and stuff like that for people who haven'tseen it, but kind of what is the story of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat?
So Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is a musical retelling of the Bible storyof Joseph and his brothers.
(05:36):
Joseph um is one of 12 brothers.
He has this like talent for telling dreams and his brothers get kind of jealous becausehe's kind of favored for being able to tell dreams and
being able to help people with that, with by doing that, his father or their father giveshim this coat and his brothers are like, well, I'm not cool with that.
(06:10):
We should kind of get rid of this guy.
So chaos ensues and there the brothers maybe start to regret getting rid of Joseph and oh
I guess you'll have to see the show to find out what happens after that.
I mean, that's a really good way to kind of sum it up.
know, Seth, along those lines, this is kind of, it feels like a very dark story whenyou're kind of talking about that way, but the show has a lot of levity to it.
(06:37):
How do you think that the show kind of balances those two things?
It's, uh, I feel like it really balances out well with, uh, having, when you think aboutit, the story does kind of get a little dark if you end up, like, thinking about it for a
pretty long time, but I think it's easy to kind of forget about how dark it is, I feellike, when you listen to the music and you're focused more on...
(07:02):
the choreography and the colors and just the vibrance of everything on stage.
Cause you look at the set by itself and it's just like, it's got personality.
The set itself has its own personality all by itself.
So when you start to add in all of the actors playing all of these like various differentcharacters, it can make for a more entertaining and more lively experience that makes the
(07:29):
audience uh
I guess remember more about the music from Joseph rather than the story.
Not necessarily saying that the story is bad per se or forgettable.
It's just, it's more catchy and like it's easier to be attracted to all of those tunesbecause it's so, you know, high energy and entertaining.
(07:53):
I think that exactly what you said is true from an audience point perspective as well,because, know, I don't want to give anything away, but the song before, like One More
Angel in Heaven, like there's kind of ends a little bit harsh.
And then all of a we're doing like a very like country dance to that, or even like the,you know, when Joseph ends up in jail, know, but then like the Pharaoh song is so Vegas
(08:16):
high, you know, like energy.
And you're just like, you couldn't help but feel good about it in the end.
Yeah, it's really...
I think one of the special things about this show in particular is how well it's able toblend certain elements of pop culture into a single show without making it feel like we're
(08:37):
shifting tones drastically.
Like, there is that one scene before One More Angel where there is this really...
awkward dark moment and then it goes into this country song and then a little bit whileafter that it gets a little dark again and then it gets colorful and then we go to Vegas
and then you know suddenly we're in France I guess and it's just you know it's able toblend all of these really well into a single show without making it feel like you're not
(09:06):
watching something else.
Also, it takes you on a journey, right?
Like you're feeling one thing, one moment, but you don't get to sit in that very longbecause the next moment you're laughing, the next moment you're crying, the next moment
you're wondering what's gonna happen next.
(09:29):
it's a beautiful journey.
There's not a lot of stagnant moments in the show, I feel like.
And think part of what lends itself well to that as well.
And before we were recording, Seth, I was telling Jo about the, I have never seen the filmbefore.
This is my first time ever experiencing Joseph.
So I didn't really know, but like the frame storytelling, which then I found out as I wastelling somebody else, like, oh, it's kind of like that in the film too, but it's like a
(09:50):
school where this is a museum.
But like that frame storytelling, when you're kind of talking to children, that makessense that you're kind of like, well, we're going to brush over this little dark part here
and we're going to really explore the happy, the positiveness of this story.
So.
That also really leans itself well to Joseph in this production.
Yeah, and it's uh something that's like, the way that we kind of do it is we kind of tellthe story as if we're telling it to the kids.
(10:17):
you know, obviously the things that we tell to the kids are always going to be like, youknow, not everything is going to be, you know, happy, colorful, you know, light at the end
of the rainbow sort of events.
You know, there are some things that happen in it, which is kind of the reason why thestory exists in the first place.
So.
sure.
And as Jo and I were talking about, this is also almost a very queer version of it, too,you queer friendly, like very colorful.
(10:43):
And so like, that's also really cool, too, because it lends itself to a differentperspective as well.
Jo, want to ask you, so who are you playing in this production and kind of like, what istheir journey through Joseph?
Sure.
So I play one of the brothers, I play Judah.
And Judah is a problem solver.
(11:05):
Judah is one of the brothers who kind of sees, is an observer,
I feel like Judah is the one who kind of said, maybe we should sell Joseph to theIsraelites.
Maybe we don't just kill him.
Maybe we should profit off of this, right?
But then later in the show, Judah is the brother who helps save Benjamin um from somethingthat I don't want to spoil too much of the show, but um who's helped save Benjamin.
(11:38):
um
Ultimately, my view of it is ultimately brings the family back together in the end.
So you're welcome.
Yeah, right.
say that not that any of the brothers like necessarily lack humanity, but it definitelyfeels like ah Judah has like the most humanity and like especially in the song Benjamin
(12:00):
Calypso, just kind of this moment of like.
I'll, you know, I, again, don't want spoil too much, but like, I'll take a place withsomebody for something, you know?
like, and I think that's a really big, like, that's the first glimpse of what kind ofJoseph is looking for in his family in that moment.
Um, so I'm kind of the opposite of you in the sense that I've loved, I like, saw Joseph asa very young kid.
(12:24):
I have seen this movie a billion times.
Um, and I've always loved this song, Benjamin Calypso, because I, I remember being, I havetwo younger brothers and I would do anything for them.
So I've always related to Judah as a character.
Um, and I,
(12:44):
love playing this role because I can relate to it.
I can relate throwing myself in front of someone and being, let me go, like I'll do it,right?
So it's a beautiful part for me to play, even though it is a very lighthearted, silly sortof goofy song.
(13:05):
it's a uh reggae song in all sense of the words, it's still, like if you listen to thewords, it's very...
deep and meaningful.
I was gonna say that when you were singing it on stage, after I was going home, I keptgetting it mixed up in my head with the Banana Boat song, because it has a similar kind of
beat to it.
So I was combining the songs and singing them together.
(13:28):
Also, the soprano part is just saying banana over and over again.
Yeah, you hear that a lot in Benjamin Calypso's.
When he said banana boat song, I'm like, he's probably thinking of when the soprano sangbanana in the background like a billion times.
are just going banana, banana.
m
what it is.
And it just went into my subconscious.
It just kind of stuck there.
(13:52):
And Seth, who are you playing in this production and kind of what is their journeythroughout the show?
yeah, I play as Levi.
I also play as one of the brothers in Joseph.
And on the opposite end of relating to my character, I play as a character who I feel likewas always the one to start problems.
(14:13):
I feel like at any opportunity that I feel like fits my benefit, I would always try tostart an issue, whether it fits...
I guess I...
It doesn't really matter how far the extent really goes as long as it's, you know, as longas it's within good nature for the most part.
um And if it suits me at the end of the day.
(14:37):
But uh the flip side to it is if something were to ever not go my way, my characterbecomes a little bit more uh fragile and vulnerable is kind of a way I would put it
because especially in Act 2, things start to...
go a little bit very wrong with the brothers at some point in the story and I feel likeI'm coming off as more of a sort of fragile character, not really sure what to do at this
(15:07):
point.
that's kind of my character in a nutshell.
What is your kind of process, for developing a character like this?
Like when you go in, you kind of have the script, you got the part, you know, how do youdevelop Levi to make him well-rounded?
Because I feel like it's very easy to almost, you know, you say fragile and like it couldbe very easy to get lost on that character.
(15:28):
Yeah, so the way that I viewed Levi, especially when I was learning about him and readingthe script and all that, um I've always seen him as the guy who would start these problems
because when you hear One More Angel in Heaven, it's really just a song about the brotherskind of going to their father, telling him, you know, this other story that they want to
(15:53):
tell that happened to Joseph when they know what exactly it is that they did.
And since my character is the one that's front and center in the song, I've always viewedhim as the one that knows how to get out of these sort of bad situations, like very
easily.
um And I kind of came up with that character pretty easily, feel like, because I've known,I mean, I've ran into a lot of people in my life that were very huge problem solver, or
(16:23):
like problem, I guess, uh
executors?
Like a lot of people that just started a lot of problems and didn't they found joy in it Iguess um and so I try to take inspiration from those past experiences of knowing what they
kind of did and sort of plug that into this character because whenever I think of Levi Ialways think of those people.
(16:50):
I was going to say that, so as I was researching for the interview and kind of working outmy review of this, and I actually, so I, you know, I always pull up the Wikipedia page and
try to like look at the songs and try to remind myself of them.
And I was a little shocked to see that Levi wasn't the lead in like, what was theoriginal, but like, he seemed very much the lead of this part.
And in fact, I remember you were dancing during One More Angel in Heaven and I said, thatcharacter is full of glee.
(17:15):
Like Levi is full of glee that this is happening.
Mm-hmm.
And so I think that's interesting to have that perspective of how he instigates that,because he was, he almost was proud of himself in that moment, that he kind of got away
with something.
Yeah, and I feel like uh that energy kind of gets amplified when it's not just him thatkind of got away with the problem.
(17:38):
It's him and all of his brothers.
They all kind of got away with the same thing.
So that's where all of that gleefulness and energy comes from during uh the huge dance bitin One More Angel.
And Jo, do you develop, like what is your process for developing your character?
(17:58):
Um, it's pretty similar to Seth.
Honestly, I think about, you know, what is Judah's goal, right?
Um, so for me, I think about the song that I, that I have to sing and what is theobjective?
Um, the objective in Benjamin Calypso is to save Benjamin.
(18:19):
And so what is the driving force there?
The driving force is, I don't know that
who I'm singing to in that moment is Joseph, right?
But I just have to sing to this Egyptian prince that my brother is innocent.
And so I guess my process for that is kind of like I mentioned earlier, I would do thatfor my brother.
(18:48):
Like I would, I put myself in that head space of
of what would I do for somebody that I care about, right?
ah That kind of thing, yeah.
Now you had said that you grew up watching this movie, you were very kind of attached tothis character.
Did you know going like when you audition, like this was the role that you wanted?
(19:08):
No, so I have auditioned.
I just went in as a general audition.
I was happy with almost any role that I would get.
I got a callback for a couple different brothers as well as the Pharaoh.
So I was really happy with anything.
Like I said, I love this show.
(19:30):
I would have played like, I would have been in the ensemble and been happy.
I was...
I just wanted to be involved.
So it's just happenstance that you got this part that you felt so connected to.
Everything happens for a reason.
You know, this is, this is great.
Seth, what kind of drew you to the show?
(19:50):
Like, what made you decide you wanted to audition for this one?
So my history with Joseph kind of goes back, uh gosh, like over 10 years ago, this isprobably maybe 2011 or 2012 where I saw my wife was in a production of Joseph at this
(20:11):
church.
And that was sort of my first experience, like seeing the show and hearing Joseph sing,close every door.
That was kind of like my awakening to that.
that song and it just, you know, just stuck with me for months.
And when that song stuck with me, so did the rest of the show.
And so I would always just listen to the soundtrack over and over again, cause my wifewould have the Joseph CD with, I think it was Michael Damien's version of Joseph.
(20:40):
And we would play it in the car rides all the time when we'd, when we'd have like long carrides.
And so I really got close to Joseph through her.
And so when I heard that Stagecrafters was going to be doing Joseph, you know, my eyesjust lit up like the 4th of July.
And I kind of felt like, you know, this was sort of my call to, I guess, return the favorof having my wife see me in a production of Joseph because I saw her in one.
(21:08):
So it was kind uh of a full circle moment in that aspect.
So how do we feel then that this production of Stagecrafters, Joseph sets itself apartfrom like other versions of it?
And Jo I'll start with you.
What do you feel is unique about this production?
Um, so our director, Rodel Salazar had a really specific vision for our production ofJoseph, which was that you, you, you mentioned it a little bit earlier with that frame
(21:34):
storytelling.
Uh, he wanted it to be set in a museum.
So instead of, and he's, he mentioned this when I talked to him about like coveringtattoos and piercings and things, he was like, you're not the brother.
You are a storyteller portraying the brother.
So he was very adamant on the fact that, you know, we are actors playing actors in asense.
(22:01):
And I thought that was really beautiful.
um So I think that sets us apart from other productions of Joseph.
um I also think, I might be a little bit biased, but this cast is just, are very close.
uh
Like we're friends, like we all get along very well.
(22:23):
And in a show like this where it's very ensemble heavy, I feel like that's superimportant.
And I think that sets us apart.
I think I've seen shows where you can tell the cast doesn't really get along and it readsto the audience.
And so I think that that's super important that you can see that everybody on stageactually likes each other, you know?
(22:48):
think that with it's such a large cast too.
There's a lot of people on stage at one time that, know, personalities can easily clashand you could tell absolutely from an audience perspective in that mega mix, you can be
like, they all actually genuinely like each other as they're dancing and they're havingfun and they're bringing this story to life.
(23:08):
And that is a, it is beautiful because you don't always see that with a production.
I also love the fact that you talked about that frame storytelling because you got thesebits that like when the Pharaoh's talking to the audience or like when it almost...
there was a few times where actors would like look at the audience like exasperated orsomething.
I felt like we were actually part of it, which was really cool because it was like, it wasalmost like an interactive museum-esque...
(23:33):
feel to it, which brought it a whole nother level of meta like enjoyment to it.
Yeah, our Pharaoh, uh Liz, is hilarious.
She got the go-ahead from Rodel to just kind of ham it up during that number, and boy didshe take it.
She's absolutely fantastic, and I appreciate her so much.
(23:57):
She's hilarious.
Yeah.
Yeah, allow Liz to improv, like in the middle of a show, and you get a lot more than youasked for.
Yeah, it's great.
I mean, but it the Pharaoh so well.
uh
the character beautifully.
100%.
Seth, why does this show feel unique to you?
This production of it.
(24:18):
So I feel like it kind of goes back to what Jo was saying about like how we're actorsplaying actors who are playing characters in Joseph.
um But I feel like what's uh one cool thing that we kind of do with our production is weare sort of able to get the audience invested with us.
(24:40):
Like we kind of make the audience a part of the show in a way.
And I feel like that's uh that works really well for us because our theater
I feel like in comparison to some other bigger theaters, our theater fits about 373 seatsin total every performance, which is relatively small, but that makes it easier for us to
(25:03):
get that sort of crowd to be involved with the story with us.
So it's not necessarily just us like telling the story.
They could sort of be a part of the story with us.
for sure.
I think what's kind of cool is like with that bit, right at the beginning when you havethe one character running up the aisle and being like, sorry, sorry, I'm late.
(25:26):
I think everybody at first was just like, oh, is this has the show started yet?
And then like, once you realize that it did, it was like, cool, because again, it feltimmersive in that way of like, this is a real person running up to the stage late for a
job.
And then they start singing.
yeah, they, uh I feel like they did a really good job, especially with that bit, to makeit feel so, so natural, the way that they kind of flowed in to uh kick off the show.
(25:53):
Cause normally the way that a show would kind of start is like, you would notice how likeall the lights are kind of dimming down and it's just like, okay, we've got to start
sitting down.
But the way that we did it is we have our narrators go up on the stage and sort of startthe show for us before.
the orchestra starts kicking in so when you start seeing people go up on the stage that'swhen you're like oh okay so I guess the show is starting with those guys not necessarily
(26:19):
with the lighting aspects
they act as like museum curators.
So they all have name tags on their costumes and they uh go out and greet the audience andit's very, uh they're acting as if that's their job.
(26:39):
it's, think that adds to the frame storytelling as well.
Absolutely.
um Jo, how has this production challenged you as a performer?
Um, as I mentioned, I am not a dancer and I also have not done theater in almost 10 years.
So, um, yeah, so I have, this is my first production since my sophomore year of highschool.
(27:04):
Um, so this was, yeah.
Thank you.
Yeah.
So this, was, um, I would, as a gateway show back into theater, this was extremelyintense.
But I would not have had it any other way.
This show has challenged me a lot.
(27:25):
I don't dance like this.
A lot of the tracks I've done before have been like villain tracks.
So I don't dance very often, but uh it was very fun and challenging to learn choreography,to uh work on singing, dancing and acting all at the same time, which is not, know, it's,
(27:53):
That easy.
not easy and I'm not used to it and I haven't done it in 10 years.
So it was a great challenge and I'm very grateful for this whole opportunity.
And for anyone who hasn't seen it, first off, go see this Stagecrafters production.
It's fantastic.
But like you're singing from start to finish.
Like this is like not like a, like you sing a song and there's a lot of dialogue inbetween.
(28:17):
This is like the show you're dancing and singing and moving the entire, you know, what isit?
An hour for the first act, an hour and a half for the second act.
Like you're just going the entire time, which is a lot of stamina in that fact.
It is.
You know, it's it's one of those rare shows where it's completely sung through with verylittle to no dialogue So there's even some certain moments in the show where you feel like
(28:40):
dialogue is going to be coming up But then it's just it goes right into another song Sowe're just kind of going and going and going without really ever stopping until we get to
intermission
Mm-hmm.
It's why you don't see a lot of those shows like that, you know?
Yeah, it's just, it's a challenge, but it's great.
They recommended to us to like go on walks and sing our songs while we were like walkingor going on the treadmill or things like that, because to build stamina, right?
(29:12):
Like, especially for those of us.
similar to me who haven't done theater in a long time or haven't done dancing in a longtime, it's important to build that breath support and build that ability to breathe back
up.
So that was something that a lot of us did.
We would go on walks, we would sing our songs while we were on walks, and I hope myneighbors don't hate me now, but it's okay.
(29:37):
uh Seth, how about for you?
How does this production challenge you as a performer?
ah So for me I was uh I'm coming off of a couple of productions that I've done last yearthat weren't really as dance heavy But with this show And maybe So for me, I've done some
(30:01):
like dancing back in the day I used to be a part of like dance competitions back when Iwas in like middle school and stuff like that um But it
For this show to be so dance heavy, like I said, I haven't sweated this much after doing ashow ever.
And I've even done productions like maybe, that's a good example, like uh in my sophomoreyear of high school, I did a production of Fiddler on the Roof.
(30:29):
And you know how sweaty and tired you get after doing that three and a half hour show?
This one probably runs only two hours and
I feel like it's the inherent ability to just keep on going and just never really stop.
(30:49):
Like Jo was saying, to have that sort of stamina for each individual act is really, reallychallenging because normally what you would do for some, like in most other shows...
There would always be this sort of like break for people like backstage to go off and justget a drink of water and just kind of sit and decompress from doing all the performing.
(31:12):
But in this show for being it's so ensemble heavy, gets really, it gets difficult if youdon't treat yourself properly with the right kind of training to build up your stamina and
to, you know, not preserve your voice.
as harsh, after having to do all the dancing, you also have to do singing, which requiresmore stuff to do with your energy and to your performing.
(31:44):
So I feel like trying to combine all of those aspects was probably the most challengingpart.
Not necessarily the amount of dancing or the amount of singing, but just combining it alltogether.
think that it needs to be appreciated too is that like this is you know this is communitytheater like you are doing this in your spare time you're having lives and family and like
(32:06):
jobs and you know friends and also trying to learn your songs while you're walking so thatyou have stamina to go to rehearsal to do this like this is that was like that's a huge
undertaking and to pull that off is amazing and the fact that you that everybody has iswonderful but like
That's a lot to balance.
(32:26):
Mm-hmm and I think for uh for me specifically I there have been some days where I've hadto work maybe Like eight or ten hour shifts at a hospital You know talking to a bunch of
other people because that's just part of my job But I would go straight from that Torehearsal because I don't have time to go home and get some of my stuff together So I just
(32:51):
have to go straight from work to rehearsal
after having spent all that much energy just trying to get myself through the day at work.
Yeah.
Jo, is there a favorite song that like maybe not even one that you are a part of, butlike, do you have a favorite song from this show that like every night that you listen to
it, you're just like, you're amazed or you're wowed or you can't wait to be a part of it?
(33:13):
I love when um Latres sings Close Every Door.
I'm offstage for it and I get to just listen to him sing Close Every Door.
it like, it just, it's beautiful.
It's the most, it just touches me and I get chilled every time.
(33:37):
I remember, yeah, and I was at callbacks.
when Latres sang it and I was like, if he doesn't get Joseph, like, I don't know.
I just remember sitting there being, yeah, exactly.
was like, should, like, that's gotta be it.
(34:00):
It's like so haunting and so beautiful at the same time that like, mean, can't even,granted I have never seen another version of it, but I can't imagine anybody else singing
it.
Like he did such a good job performing.
I mean, everybody did a great job.
Like that song is just wow.
He was born to play Joseph.
I can't even explain it any other way.
Seth, how about for you?
(34:20):
What's a favorite song?
gosh, for me, I think there's two that come into my head.
The first one is uh right after Close Every Door, Go Go Go Joseph, where it's such a good,what makes it so good is it's very fun to perform on stage.
(34:42):
And I feel like it's, as far as energy-wise, it's one of those songs that has that sortof...
Vibrance and energy to it to where like it kind of carries you into that Into that song sothat the performance kind of gets a little bit easier because it's so high energy and high
octane and just it gets easy to get through the song it's probably one of the easier songsto have that sort of energy in and another one that kind of appeals to me really well is
(35:14):
those Canaan days in act 2 I feel like it's just it's
It's that and Close Every Door are my two favorite showstoppers in the show, for sure.
Those Canaan Days is one of those songs that I was not, you were not expecting it to belike, it was so funny because it was just like so off the wall with the Paris theme, but
it like fits so well.
(35:36):
It that iconic, you know.
Yeah, I'm gonna second that.
That's really fun.
That's one of my favorites to be in, like to perform.
And it's just, you really feel the camaraderie between the brothers in that number, I feellike.
There's like a lot of, there's a lot of push and pull between the brothers and there's alot of shenanigans.
(36:00):
So I think it's fun.
Seth, what themes from Joseph resonate the most with you?
I think the one that really appeals to me the most is the uh importance of family.
Because even though Joseph is seen as the favorite among everybody, he still is importantto the brothers and he's still part of a family.
(36:24):
uh And I guess another one that uh really kind of stands out to me is the importance ofbeing able to make certain choices.
uh for the for the better benefit, I guess.
And we kind of see that especially with Joseph in particular as we go through the entireshow on what kind of choices that he makes.
(36:46):
And there are certain scenarios where he gets himself involved with certain things that,you know, don't really work out so well for him.
But then once you move into the back half of the show, you know, he starts, you know,making choices for
him and having that confidence in himself to uh being able to make those choices uhcomfortably, I feel like.
(37:11):
What about for you?
There's a line uh right after Joseph gets promoted in Egypt where he says, anyone fromanywhere can make it if you get a lucky break.
And I think that that kind of speaks to one of the
one of the themes that I like in the show, which is that if you keep trying and youbelieve in yourself that, you know, luck will be on your side.
(37:37):
I like kind of that theme.
also like the vision of the, the, the thought of believing in your dreams and believingin, um, you know, if you dream it, it will be, or something along those lines.
So just believing in yourself and knowing that.
Things may not always go your way, but sometimes they will.
(38:01):
And when they're meant to, they will.
The final question, and we'll start with you, Seth, is just what are you hoping audiencestake away from this production?
If I don't hear audience members walking out of this theater singing at least one of thesesongs, we have done something wrong.
But I guess to actually answer the question, I hope they walk out of this productionfeeling uh very hopeful and feeling very uh entertained by everything and being able to
(38:31):
just remember the vibrance and the energy that
they've just witnessed on stage with everybody dancing for a whole straight two hours.
uh maybe hopefully it would encourage some of those people to find that energy withinthemselves to maybe put themselves out there in that similar manner.
(38:51):
Jo, what are you hoping audiences take away?
oh I'm hoping audiences take away joy and light and excitement.
It's a very exciting and hopeful and happy show and if there's anything we need right nowin this world it's happiness so I hope they take that away.
(39:14):
Thank you so much, you two, for being here.
And you guys are both amazing.
So I really am excited for the audiences to see it.
ah But thank you so much for your time.
I appreciate it.
you for having us.
you for having us.
So Stagecrafters Joseph and the amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat runs now until June 22nd, soget your tickets and we'll see you there.
Thank you so much for the two of you for joining me today.
(00:02):
ah How are you both doing?
Great, so happy to be here.
Really excited that we're actually getting into the show like we're starting to get intoour runs Feels a little bit more like we can decompress from everything that's been
happening
I mean, yeah, because you're entering into that second full weekend of your show.
has to be, um mean, opening weekend has to be pretty chaotic as you're finally getting thepieces together.
(00:26):
So you're kind of hitting your run now.
Mm-hmm.
We kind of hit the ground running uh with this show.
It's a very high energy show, so you have to keep the energy at 100 for every singleperformance.
And so we definitely hit the ground running.
And now we've kind of, at least we've hit the sweet spot for those performances, for sure.
(00:53):
And it's especially, uh it definitely kind of takes a toll on you after that firstweekend, because you do that first weekend of three shows.
And then we had, I think about like three days off before we got back.
I still, I went into Thursday's performance still feeling like I wasn't fully recoveredfrom opening weekend.
(01:13):
So I'm still just kind of like, okay, how can I, you know, recover better, I guess, whengoing into the next weekend?
I was gonna say that I saw it on Saturday and you are just, like the entire show is just,you are moving from start to finish at such like a high speed.
I was like, man, I was sweating just watching everybody on stage like do the high kicksand stuff like that and do the dancing.
(01:38):
And I was like, whew, that's a lot.
I have never sweated this much after doing a show ever.
Yeah, yeah.
And I have to give a shout out to our choreographer, um Emily, because she whipped us allinto shape.
And I mean that as a compliment.
she definitely, I am not a dancer by any means, although she would disagree with thatstatement.
(02:03):
But she definitely got us in shape.
I don't know how else to phrase it, but she got us together and kudos to her for that.
Yeah, uh yeah, she's really sweet.
Emily Loram is really, really such a, like a very positive person to talk to, even like inbetween rehearsals, even during rehearsals when you're just asking a question about like,
(02:31):
I don't feel very confident about the specific part in the choreography, but she, uh onething that I will give her, another thing that I want to give her credit to is that she
made us, uh she let us know way ahead of time.
that this was gonna be high energy and high like, like it's gonna be super complicatedchoreography.
(02:51):
She made us like, she let us know that all of that's gonna be happening way ahead of timebefore we actually started getting into it.
So, you know, kudos to her for giving us that warning before actually starting everythingup.
I think the one number that comes to mind is One More Angel in Heaven, where that one isintense, they're all like that.
(03:14):
They're all to that energy.
So can only imagine, first week of you're learning the dances and that's the one you rollout to and you're just like, what did I sign myself up for?
Yeah, there's, I don't know if I'm really allowed to spoil anything, but there is this onespecific move in the number where when the song actually starts to pick up the tempo and
everyone's just kind of like doing one consecutive thing together, we have run that bitevery single night before the show.
(03:40):
Like after every single show, we've run that every single night.
And to be fair, we started our rehearsals with the Megamix.
So we started learning all of the dances at the beginning because most of the Megamix hasall of the dances kind of mixed into it.
(04:02):
So oh for me, that was helpful because we were learning them as we went.
wait, I already know Angel in Heaven because I learned it in the Megamix, right?
So it was, that was helpful to be able to refer back to what we learned in the firstrehearsal.
(04:27):
uh especially the same with, I was specifically having trouble with Benjamin Calypso, thechoreography for that, but when Emily told us, know, some of the choreography in Benjamin
Calypso is just stuff that you already know from the Megamix, I'm like, oh, well, maybeit's not too bad, I guess.
Yeah.
kind of a smart way to do it though, because you get like the sampling of like what eachdance and song is going to be, so it does make it feel a little more familiar when you're
(04:51):
revisiting it.
Mm-hmm.
And I think there was a part during the rehearsal process where for all of our dances, wewould always warm up our dance rehearsals with the mega mix so that not only do we have
all of those moves like fresh in our memory, but it's just like a good way to get us likewarmed up for anything else that we're going to be learning.
(05:12):
Absolutely.
So Jo I want to start with you.
What is kind of the story?
Well, without spoiling too much.
Obviously we don't want to give away the ending and stuff like that for people who haven'tseen it, but kind of what is the story of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat?
So Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is a musical retelling of the Bible storyof Joseph and his brothers.
(05:36):
Joseph um is one of 12 brothers.
He has this like talent for telling dreams and his brothers get kind of jealous becausehe's kind of favored for being able to tell dreams and
being able to help people with that, with by doing that, his father or their father giveshim this coat and his brothers are like, well, I'm not cool with that.
(06:10):
We should kind of get rid of this guy.
So chaos ensues and there the brothers maybe start to regret getting rid of Joseph and oh
I guess you'll have to see the show to find out what happens after that.
I mean, that's a really good way to kind of sum it up.
know, Seth, along those lines, this is kind of, it feels like a very dark story whenyou're kind of talking about that way, but the show has a lot of levity to it.
(06:37):
How do you think that the show kind of balances those two things?
It's, uh, I feel like it really balances out well with, uh, having, when you think aboutit, the story does kind of get a little dark if you end up, like, thinking about it for a
pretty long time, but I think it's easy to kind of forget about how dark it is, I feellike, when you listen to the music and you're focused more on...
(07:02):
the choreography and the colors and just the vibrance of everything on stage.
Cause you look at the set by itself and it's just like, it's got personality.
The set itself has its own personality all by itself.
So when you start to add in all of the actors playing all of these like various differentcharacters, it can make for a more entertaining and more lively experience that makes the
(07:29):
audience uh
I guess remember more about the music from Joseph rather than the story.
Not necessarily saying that the story is bad per se or forgettable.
It's just, it's more catchy and like it's easier to be attracted to all of those tunesbecause it's so, you know, high energy and entertaining.
(07:53):
I think that exactly what you said is true from an audience point perspective as well,because, know, I don't want to give anything away, but the song before, like One More
Angel in Heaven, like there's kind of ends a little bit harsh.
And then all of a we're doing like a very like country dance to that, or even like the,you know, when Joseph ends up in jail, know, but then like the Pharaoh song is so Vegas
(08:16):
high, you know, like energy.
And you're just like, you couldn't help but feel good about it in the end.
Yeah, it's really...
I think one of the special things about this show in particular is how well it's able toblend certain elements of pop culture into a single show without making it feel like we're
(08:37):
shifting tones drastically.
Like, there is that one scene before One More Angel where there is this really...
awkward dark moment and then it goes into this country song and then a little bit whileafter that it gets a little dark again and then it gets colorful and then we go to Vegas
and then you know suddenly we're in France I guess and it's just you know it's able toblend all of these really well into a single show without making it feel like you're not
(09:06):
watching something else.
Also, it takes you on a journey, right?
Like you're feeling one thing, one moment, but you don't get to sit in that very longbecause the next moment you're laughing, the next moment you're crying, the next moment
you're wondering what's gonna happen next.
(09:29):
it's a beautiful journey.
There's not a lot of stagnant moments in the show, I feel like.
And think part of what lends itself well to that as well.
And before we were recording, Seth, I was telling Jo about the, I have never seen the filmbefore.
This is my first time ever experiencing Joseph.
So I didn't really know, but like the frame storytelling, which then I found out as I wastelling somebody else, like, oh, it's kind of like that in the film too, but it's like a
(09:50):
school where this is a museum.
But like that frame storytelling, when you're kind of talking to children, that makessense that you're kind of like, well, we're going to brush over this little dark part here
and we're going to really explore the happy, the positiveness of this story.
So.
That also really leans itself well to Joseph in this production.
Yeah, and it's uh something that's like, the way that we kind of do it is we kind of tellthe story as if we're telling it to the kids.
(10:17):
you know, obviously the things that we tell to the kids are always going to be like, youknow, not everything is going to be, you know, happy, colorful, you know, light at the end
of the rainbow sort of events.
You know, there are some things that happen in it, which is kind of the reason why thestory exists in the first place.
So.
sure.
And as Jo and I were talking about, this is also almost a very queer version of it, too,you queer friendly, like very colorful.
(10:43):
And so like, that's also really cool, too, because it lends itself to a differentperspective as well.
Jo, want to ask you, so who are you playing in this production and kind of like, what istheir journey through Joseph?
Sure.
So I play one of the brothers, I play Judah.
And Judah is a problem solver.
(11:05):
Judah is one of the brothers who kind of sees, is an observer,
I feel like Judah is the one who kind of said, maybe we should sell Joseph to theIsraelites.
Maybe we don't just kill him.
Maybe we should profit off of this, right?
But then later in the show, Judah is the brother who helps save Benjamin um from somethingthat I don't want to spoil too much of the show, but um who's helped save Benjamin.
(11:38):
um
Ultimately, my view of it is ultimately brings the family back together in the end.
So you're welcome.
Yeah, right.
say that not that any of the brothers like necessarily lack humanity, but it definitelyfeels like ah Judah has like the most humanity and like especially in the song Benjamin
(12:00):
Calypso, just kind of this moment of like.
I'll, you know, I, again, don't want spoil too much, but like, I'll take a place withsomebody for something, you know?
like, and I think that's a really big, like, that's the first glimpse of what kind ofJoseph is looking for in his family in that moment.
Um, so I'm kind of the opposite of you in the sense that I've loved, I like, saw Joseph asa very young kid.
(12:24):
I have seen this movie a billion times.
Um, and I've always loved this song, Benjamin Calypso, because I, I remember being, I havetwo younger brothers and I would do anything for them.
So I've always related to Judah as a character.
Um, and I,
(12:44):
love playing this role because I can relate to it.
I can relate throwing myself in front of someone and being, let me go, like I'll do it,right?
So it's a beautiful part for me to play, even though it is a very lighthearted, silly sortof goofy song.
(13:05):
it's a uh reggae song in all sense of the words, it's still, like if you listen to thewords, it's very...
deep and meaningful.
I was gonna say that when you were singing it on stage, after I was going home, I keptgetting it mixed up in my head with the Banana Boat song, because it has a similar kind of
beat to it.
So I was combining the songs and singing them together.
(13:28):
Also, the soprano part is just saying banana over and over again.
Yeah, you hear that a lot in Benjamin Calypso's.
When he said banana boat song, I'm like, he's probably thinking of when the soprano sangbanana in the background like a billion times.
are just going banana, banana.
m
what it is.
And it just went into my subconscious.
It just kind of stuck there.
(13:52):
And Seth, who are you playing in this production and kind of what is their journeythroughout the show?
yeah, I play as Levi.
I also play as one of the brothers in Joseph.
And on the opposite end of relating to my character, I play as a character who I feel likewas always the one to start problems.
(14:13):
I feel like at any opportunity that I feel like fits my benefit, I would always try tostart an issue, whether it fits...
I guess I...
It doesn't really matter how far the extent really goes as long as it's, you know, as longas it's within good nature for the most part.
um And if it suits me at the end of the day.
(14:37):
But uh the flip side to it is if something were to ever not go my way, my characterbecomes a little bit more uh fragile and vulnerable is kind of a way I would put it
because especially in Act 2, things start to...
go a little bit very wrong with the brothers at some point in the story and I feel likeI'm coming off as more of a sort of fragile character, not really sure what to do at this
(15:07):
point.
that's kind of my character in a nutshell.
What is your kind of process, for developing a character like this?
Like when you go in, you kind of have the script, you got the part, you know, how do youdevelop Levi to make him well-rounded?
Because I feel like it's very easy to almost, you know, you say fragile and like it couldbe very easy to get lost on that character.
(15:28):
Yeah, so the way that I viewed Levi, especially when I was learning about him and readingthe script and all that, um I've always seen him as the guy who would start these problems
because when you hear One More Angel in Heaven, it's really just a song about the brotherskind of going to their father, telling him, you know, this other story that they want to
(15:53):
tell that happened to Joseph when they know what exactly it is that they did.
And since my character is the one that's front and center in the song, I've always viewedhim as the one that knows how to get out of these sort of bad situations, like very
easily.
um And I kind of came up with that character pretty easily, feel like, because I've known,I mean, I've ran into a lot of people in my life that were very huge problem solver, or
(16:23):
like problem, I guess, uh
executors?
Like a lot of people that just started a lot of problems and didn't they found joy in it Iguess um and so I try to take inspiration from those past experiences of knowing what they
kind of did and sort of plug that into this character because whenever I think of Levi Ialways think of those people.
(16:50):
I was going to say that, so as I was researching for the interview and kind of working outmy review of this, and I actually, so I, you know, I always pull up the Wikipedia page and
try to like look at the songs and try to remind myself of them.
And I was a little shocked to see that Levi wasn't the lead in like, what was theoriginal, but like, he seemed very much the lead of this part.
And in fact, I remember you were dancing during One More Angel in Heaven and I said, thatcharacter is full of glee.
(17:15):
Like Levi is full of glee that this is happening.
Mm-hmm.
And so I think that's interesting to have that perspective of how he instigates that,because he was, he almost was proud of himself in that moment, that he kind of got away
with something.
Yeah, and I feel like uh that energy kind of gets amplified when it's not just him thatkind of got away with the problem.
(17:38):
It's him and all of his brothers.
They all kind of got away with the same thing.
So that's where all of that gleefulness and energy comes from during uh the huge dance bitin One More Angel.
And Jo, do you develop, like what is your process for developing your character?
(17:58):
Um, it's pretty similar to Seth.
Honestly, I think about, you know, what is Judah's goal, right?
Um, so for me, I think about the song that I, that I have to sing and what is theobjective?
Um, the objective in Benjamin Calypso is to save Benjamin.
(18:19):
And so what is the driving force there?
The driving force is, I don't know that
who I'm singing to in that moment is Joseph, right?
But I just have to sing to this Egyptian prince that my brother is innocent.
And so I guess my process for that is kind of like I mentioned earlier, I would do thatfor my brother.
(18:48):
Like I would, I put myself in that head space of
of what would I do for somebody that I care about, right?
ah That kind of thing, yeah.
Now you had said that you grew up watching this movie, you were very kind of attached tothis character.
Did you know going like when you audition, like this was the role that you wanted?
(19:08):
No, so I have auditioned.
I just went in as a general audition.
I was happy with almost any role that I would get.
I got a callback for a couple different brothers as well as the Pharaoh.
So I was really happy with anything.
Like I said, I love this show.
(19:30):
I would have played like, I would have been in the ensemble and been happy.
I was...
I just wanted to be involved.
So it's just happenstance that you got this part that you felt so connected to.
Everything happens for a reason.
You know, this is, this is great.
Seth, what kind of drew you to the show?
(19:50):
Like, what made you decide you wanted to audition for this one?
So my history with Joseph kind of goes back, uh gosh, like over 10 years ago, this isprobably maybe 2011 or 2012 where I saw my wife was in a production of Joseph at this
(20:11):
church.
And that was sort of my first experience, like seeing the show and hearing Joseph sing,close every door.
That was kind of like my awakening to that.
that song and it just, you know, just stuck with me for months.
And when that song stuck with me, so did the rest of the show.
And so I would always just listen to the soundtrack over and over again, cause my wifewould have the Joseph CD with, I think it was Michael Damien's version of Joseph.
(20:40):
And we would play it in the car rides all the time when we'd, when we'd have like long carrides.
And so I really got close to Joseph through her.
And so when I heard that Stagecrafters was going to be doing Joseph, you know, my eyesjust lit up like the 4th of July.
And I kind of felt like, you know, this was sort of my call to, I guess, return the favorof having my wife see me in a production of Joseph because I saw her in one.
(21:08):
So it was kind uh of a full circle moment in that aspect.
So how do we feel then that this production of Stagecrafters, Joseph sets itself apartfrom like other versions of it?
And Jo I'll start with you.
What do you feel is unique about this production?
Um, so our director, Rodel Salazar had a really specific vision for our production ofJoseph, which was that you, you, you mentioned it a little bit earlier with that frame
(21:34):
storytelling.
Uh, he wanted it to be set in a museum.
So instead of, and he's, he mentioned this when I talked to him about like coveringtattoos and piercings and things, he was like, you're not the brother.
You are a storyteller portraying the brother.
So he was very adamant on the fact that, you know, we are actors playing actors in asense.
(22:01):
And I thought that was really beautiful.
um So I think that sets us apart from other productions of Joseph.
um I also think, I might be a little bit biased, but this cast is just, are very close.
uh
Like we're friends, like we all get along very well.
(22:23):
And in a show like this where it's very ensemble heavy, I feel like that's superimportant.
And I think that sets us apart.
I think I've seen shows where you can tell the cast doesn't really get along and it readsto the audience.
And so I think that that's super important that you can see that everybody on stageactually likes each other, you know?
(22:48):
think that with it's such a large cast too.
There's a lot of people on stage at one time that, know, personalities can easily clashand you could tell absolutely from an audience perspective in that mega mix, you can be
like, they all actually genuinely like each other as they're dancing and they're havingfun and they're bringing this story to life.
(23:08):
And that is a, it is beautiful because you don't always see that with a production.
I also love the fact that you talked about that frame storytelling because you got thesebits that like when the Pharaoh's talking to the audience or like when it almost...
there was a few times where actors would like look at the audience like exasperated orsomething.
I felt like we were actually part of it, which was really cool because it was like, it wasalmost like an interactive museum-esque...
(23:33):
feel to it, which brought it a whole nother level of meta like enjoyment to it.
Yeah, our Pharaoh, uh Liz, is hilarious.
She got the go-ahead from Rodel to just kind of ham it up during that number, and boy didshe take it.
She's absolutely fantastic, and I appreciate her so much.
(23:57):
She's hilarious.
Yeah.
Yeah, allow Liz to improv, like in the middle of a show, and you get a lot more than youasked for.
Yeah, it's great.
I mean, but it the Pharaoh so well.
uh
the character beautifully.
100%.
Seth, why does this show feel unique to you?
This production of it.
(24:18):
So I feel like it kind of goes back to what Jo was saying about like how we're actorsplaying actors who are playing characters in Joseph.
um But I feel like what's uh one cool thing that we kind of do with our production is weare sort of able to get the audience invested with us.
(24:40):
Like we kind of make the audience a part of the show in a way.
And I feel like that's uh that works really well for us because our theater
I feel like in comparison to some other bigger theaters, our theater fits about 373 seatsin total every performance, which is relatively small, but that makes it easier for us to
(25:03):
get that sort of crowd to be involved with the story with us.
So it's not necessarily just us like telling the story.
They could sort of be a part of the story with us.
for sure.
I think what's kind of cool is like with that bit, right at the beginning when you havethe one character running up the aisle and being like, sorry, sorry, I'm late.
(25:26):
I think everybody at first was just like, oh, is this has the show started yet?
And then like, once you realize that it did, it was like, cool, because again, it feltimmersive in that way of like, this is a real person running up to the stage late for a
job.
And then they start singing.
yeah, they, uh I feel like they did a really good job, especially with that bit, to makeit feel so, so natural, the way that they kind of flowed in to uh kick off the show.
(25:53):
Cause normally the way that a show would kind of start is like, you would notice how likeall the lights are kind of dimming down and it's just like, okay, we've got to start
sitting down.
But the way that we did it is we have our narrators go up on the stage and sort of startthe show for us before.
the orchestra starts kicking in so when you start seeing people go up on the stage that'swhen you're like oh okay so I guess the show is starting with those guys not necessarily
(26:19):
with the lighting aspects
they act as like museum curators.
So they all have name tags on their costumes and they uh go out and greet the audience andit's very, uh they're acting as if that's their job.
(26:39):
it's, think that adds to the frame storytelling as well.
Absolutely.
um Jo, how has this production challenged you as a performer?
Um, as I mentioned, I am not a dancer and I also have not done theater in almost 10 years.
So, um, yeah, so I have, this is my first production since my sophomore year of highschool.
(27:04):
Um, so this was, yeah.
Thank you.
Yeah.
So this, was, um, I would, as a gateway show back into theater, this was extremelyintense.
But I would not have had it any other way.
This show has challenged me a lot.
(27:25):
I don't dance like this.
A lot of the tracks I've done before have been like villain tracks.
So I don't dance very often, but uh it was very fun and challenging to learn choreography,to uh work on singing, dancing and acting all at the same time, which is not, know, it's,
(27:53):
That easy.
not easy and I'm not used to it and I haven't done it in 10 years.
So it was a great challenge and I'm very grateful for this whole opportunity.
And for anyone who hasn't seen it, first off, go see this Stagecrafters production.
It's fantastic.
But like you're singing from start to finish.
Like this is like not like a, like you sing a song and there's a lot of dialogue inbetween.
(28:17):
This is like the show you're dancing and singing and moving the entire, you know, what isit?
An hour for the first act, an hour and a half for the second act.
Like you're just going the entire time, which is a lot of stamina in that fact.
It is.
You know, it's it's one of those rare shows where it's completely sung through with verylittle to no dialogue So there's even some certain moments in the show where you feel like
(28:40):
dialogue is going to be coming up But then it's just it goes right into another song Sowe're just kind of going and going and going without really ever stopping until we get to
intermission
Mm-hmm.
It's why you don't see a lot of those shows like that, you know?
Yeah, it's just, it's a challenge, but it's great.
They recommended to us to like go on walks and sing our songs while we were like walkingor going on the treadmill or things like that, because to build stamina, right?
(29:12):
Like, especially for those of us.
similar to me who haven't done theater in a long time or haven't done dancing in a longtime, it's important to build that breath support and build that ability to breathe back
up.
So that was something that a lot of us did.
We would go on walks, we would sing our songs while we were on walks, and I hope myneighbors don't hate me now, but it's okay.
(29:37):
uh Seth, how about for you?
How does this production challenge you as a performer?
ah So for me I was uh I'm coming off of a couple of productions that I've done last yearthat weren't really as dance heavy But with this show And maybe So for me, I've done some
(30:01):
like dancing back in the day I used to be a part of like dance competitions back when Iwas in like middle school and stuff like that um But it
For this show to be so dance heavy, like I said, I haven't sweated this much after doing ashow ever.
And I've even done productions like maybe, that's a good example, like uh in my sophomoreyear of high school, I did a production of Fiddler on the Roof.
(30:29):
And you know how sweaty and tired you get after doing that three and a half hour show?
This one probably runs only two hours and
I feel like it's the inherent ability to just keep on going and just never really stop.
(30:49):
Like Jo was saying, to have that sort of stamina for each individual act is really, reallychallenging because normally what you would do for some, like in most other shows...
There would always be this sort of like break for people like backstage to go off and justget a drink of water and just kind of sit and decompress from doing all the performing.
(31:12):
But in this show for being it's so ensemble heavy, gets really, it gets difficult if youdon't treat yourself properly with the right kind of training to build up your stamina and
to, you know, not preserve your voice.
as harsh, after having to do all the dancing, you also have to do singing, which requiresmore stuff to do with your energy and to your performing.
(31:44):
So I feel like trying to combine all of those aspects was probably the most challengingpart.
Not necessarily the amount of dancing or the amount of singing, but just combining it alltogether.
think that it needs to be appreciated too is that like this is you know this is communitytheater like you are doing this in your spare time you're having lives and family and like
(32:06):
jobs and you know friends and also trying to learn your songs while you're walking so thatyou have stamina to go to rehearsal to do this like this is that was like that's a huge
undertaking and to pull that off is amazing and the fact that you that everybody has iswonderful but like
That's a lot to balance.
(32:26):
Mm-hmm and I think for uh for me specifically I there have been some days where I've hadto work maybe Like eight or ten hour shifts at a hospital You know talking to a bunch of
other people because that's just part of my job But I would go straight from that Torehearsal because I don't have time to go home and get some of my stuff together So I just
(32:51):
have to go straight from work to rehearsal
after having spent all that much energy just trying to get myself through the day at work.
Yeah.
Jo, is there a favorite song that like maybe not even one that you are a part of, butlike, do you have a favorite song from this show that like every night that you listen to
it, you're just like, you're amazed or you're wowed or you can't wait to be a part of it?
(33:13):
I love when um Latres sings Close Every Door.
I'm offstage for it and I get to just listen to him sing Close Every Door.
it like, it just, it's beautiful.
It's the most, it just touches me and I get chilled every time.
(33:37):
I remember, yeah, and I was at callbacks.
when Latres sang it and I was like, if he doesn't get Joseph, like, I don't know.
I just remember sitting there being, yeah, exactly.
was like, should, like, that's gotta be it.
(34:00):
It's like so haunting and so beautiful at the same time that like, mean, can't even,granted I have never seen another version of it, but I can't imagine anybody else singing
it.
Like he did such a good job performing.
I mean, everybody did a great job.
Like that song is just wow.
He was born to play Joseph.
I can't even explain it any other way.
Seth, how about for you?
(34:20):
What's a favorite song?
gosh, for me, I think there's two that come into my head.
The first one is uh right after Close Every Door, Go Go Go Joseph, where it's such a good,what makes it so good is it's very fun to perform on stage.
(34:42):
And I feel like it's, as far as energy-wise, it's one of those songs that has that sortof...
Vibrance and energy to it to where like it kind of carries you into that Into that song sothat the performance kind of gets a little bit easier because it's so high energy and high
octane and just it gets easy to get through the song it's probably one of the easier songsto have that sort of energy in and another one that kind of appeals to me really well is
(35:14):
those Canaan days in act 2 I feel like it's just it's
It's that and Close Every Door are my two favorite showstoppers in the show, for sure.
Those Canaan Days is one of those songs that I was not, you were not expecting it to belike, it was so funny because it was just like so off the wall with the Paris theme, but
it like fits so well.
(35:36):
It that iconic, you know.
Yeah, I'm gonna second that.
That's really fun.
That's one of my favorites to be in, like to perform.
And it's just, you really feel the camaraderie between the brothers in that number, I feellike.
There's like a lot of, there's a lot of push and pull between the brothers and there's alot of shenanigans.
(36:00):
So I think it's fun.
Seth, what themes from Joseph resonate the most with you?
I think the one that really appeals to me the most is the uh importance of family.
Because even though Joseph is seen as the favorite among everybody, he still is importantto the brothers and he's still part of a family.
(36:24):
uh And I guess another one that uh really kind of stands out to me is the importance ofbeing able to make certain choices.
uh for the for the better benefit, I guess.
And we kind of see that especially with Joseph in particular as we go through the entireshow on what kind of choices that he makes.
(36:46):
And there are certain scenarios where he gets himself involved with certain things that,you know, don't really work out so well for him.
But then once you move into the back half of the show, you know, he starts, you know,making choices for
him and having that confidence in himself to uh being able to make those choices uhcomfortably, I feel like.
(37:11):
What about for you?
There's a line uh right after Joseph gets promoted in Egypt where he says, anyone fromanywhere can make it if you get a lucky break.
And I think that that kind of speaks to one of the
one of the themes that I like in the show, which is that if you keep trying and youbelieve in yourself that, you know, luck will be on your side.
(37:37):
I like kind of that theme.
also like the vision of the, the, the thought of believing in your dreams and believingin, um, you know, if you dream it, it will be, or something along those lines.
So just believing in yourself and knowing that.
Things may not always go your way, but sometimes they will.
(38:01):
And when they're meant to, they will.
The final question, and we'll start with you, Seth, is just what are you hoping audiencestake away from this production?
If I don't hear audience members walking out of this theater singing at least one of thesesongs, we have done something wrong.
But I guess to actually answer the question, I hope they walk out of this productionfeeling uh very hopeful and feeling very uh entertained by everything and being able to
(38:31):
just remember the vibrance and the energy that
they've just witnessed on stage with everybody dancing for a whole straight two hours.
uh maybe hopefully it would encourage some of those people to find that energy withinthemselves to maybe put themselves out there in that similar manner.
(38:51):
Jo, what are you hoping audiences take away?
oh I'm hoping audiences take away joy and light and excitement.
It's a very exciting and hopeful and happy show and if there's anything we need right nowin this world it's happiness so I hope they take that away.
(39:14):
Thank you so much, you two, for being here.
And you guys are both amazing.
So I really am excited for the audiences to see it.
ah But thank you so much for your time.
I appreciate it.
you for having us.
you for having us.
So Stagecrafters Joseph and the amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat runs now until June 22nd, soget your tickets and we'll see you there.
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