By Neena Strichart
Years ago, I was introduced to the Orange County Children’s Theatre (OCCT) by a very young man by the name of Michael Montgomery. Michael would stop by our office and entertain us with a song or two from his latest play. Oh, he knew what he was doing. His plan from the beginning was to woo me into reviewing his plays for the paper. Once I gave in and attended an OCCT performance, I was hooked.
Michael is grown now and has left OCCT, nevertheless my love for them continues and I was happy to be invited to see their latest musical show, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Mother and I attended the 7:30pm show last Saturday night at Huntington Beach High School. WOW! What an “amazing” show.
The basic storyline is Biblical in nature. Taken from the Book of Genesis, the tale of Joseph and his 11 brothers is told through, in this case, two beautiful female narrators explaining the tale through song to a group of children. The story follows Joseph and his misadventures after his jealous brothers sell him into slavery. The men believe Joseph is the father’s favorite son because he gifted the young man a beautiful coat of many colors.
After much hardship, including jail time, Joseph is brought to the home of the Pharaoh (a diminutive Elvis look- and act-alike) to interpret the man’s dreams. Grateful to Joseph, the Pharaoh makes the former slave his right-hand man. There’s much more to the story— but I won’t give away any more of the plot.
Now, we all know that most theatre productions feature one actor who steals the show— this one was Raul Lemus as the comical Elvis-like pharaoh— complete with all the hip-wiggling. He had the audience in the palm of his hand. My 90-year-old mother nearly laughed herself ill. What a dynamic performer. Other standout performances that evening were given by Joseph (Christian Villanueva) and the two narrators (Cristina Ballestero and Ariana Javadzadeh). The singing voices of these young folks were the quality one would expect of professionals. Another outstanding performer was featured dancer Lauren Ross. What a fabulous ballerina. Her ballet moves, including toe dancing, drew accolades from the audience more than once. All in all, it is a show to see. With great music, costumes and a tremendous cast, do yourself a favor and make the trek to Orange County to see OCCT’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. It’s worth the drive.
Tickets for Joseph range in price from $10 to $12 and can be purchased online at occt.org, or at the door. Performances are on Friday evening at 7:30pm.; Saturday afternoon at 2:30pm; Saturday evening at 7:30pm; and the last show will be Sunday afternoon at 2:30pm. The Huntington Beach Historical High School theatre is located at 1905 Main Street in Huntington Beach. Ample free parking is available.
For details call the OCCT hotline at (714) 502-2244 or visit www.occt.org.
