By George Basler
Whitney Point Community-School Productions will continue a community tradition this coming weekend (April 19-20) with three performances of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in the Whitney Point High School auditorium.
For more than four decades, the group has offered biennial productions of classic Broadway musicals with casts made up of both community members and students from the Whitney Point Central School District.
There have been 22 shows over the years, said Jo-Anne Knapp, who has been involved with the productions since the early 1980s and is co-directing this year’s show. “People really look forward to it,” she said.
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is a sung-through musical with lyrics by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. It is a family-friendly retelling of the Joseph story from the Bible. The show received six Tony Award nominations when it first opened on Broadway in 1982. By 2008, more than 20,000 schools and amateur theater groups had staged productions.
Performers in this year’s Whitney Point production will range in age from a second-grade student to a performer in his 70s, Knapp said.
Generations of families have taken part in the bi-annual shows, noted Bryan Burke, who is co-directing this year’s production. For example, 10 shows ago his grandmother was part of the cast, he remembered.
The productions have attracted audience members from across the region. A full pit orchestra will provide accompaniment for this year’s show.
IF YOU GO: Whitney Point Community-School Productions will present Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat this weekend (April 19-20) at Whitney Point High School, 10 Keibel Road, Whitney Point. Friday’s performance is at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday’s performances are at 1 and 7:30 p.m. Tickets can be ordered by calling 607-863-3329.
