Pemberton Secondary School’s drama teacher, Renata Zablotney, tends to prefer off-beat, unique productions for her students.
But this spring—for the drama program’s “at least 25th” play since 2015—she decided to change course.
“I talked to a lot of parents and they had vocalized that this was a popular play they had done in high school,” she says. “I have a tendency of doing a lot of new plays, or new takes on plays that a lot of people haven’t seen onstage, so I really wanted to revisit something that was a known classic.”
That classic: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
There is, however, an obvious challenge that comes with this popular production—which tells the story of Joseph’s struggle with, and ultimate triumph over, his 11 jealous brothers. It’s a sung-through musical, meaning the dialogue is conveyed almost entirely through song.
“I play the narrator all throughout the show,” says Grace Willis-Cook, a Grade 11 student in the class. “It was very scary watching the movie because I was like, ‘This girl is singing in every single scene.’ She has the most extravagant high notes—and she hits them! I’ve only done proper singing in my bedroom, listening to sad-girl songs, crying to myself. But I think putting it into action is so fun.”
Jonathan Cabezas, who plays the starring role of Joseph, is also looking forward to the new challenge.
“Our last production, The Wedding Singer, I was really nervous about that,” he says. “I don’t think I have the most beautiful voice out there, but after doing that show, it boosted my confidence for this one.”
For her part, Zablotney was a little worried about recruiting at least 12 willing students to sing, but they wound up with a cast of 14.
“I panicked because I had a lot of people willing to do set,” she adds. “It’s a pretty fresh group, but luckily I get Johnathan and Grace for one more year.”
The incoming drama students are largely in Grades 7 and 8, but with the group working on the project since November, they’ve all come a long way, Willis-Cook says.
“It’s cool to see younger people get into the arts more. It was really only seniors last year and people my age. This year, we have so many younger people willing to get in,” she says.
After putting months of work into the play, the cast is looking forward to a total of six dates in Whistler and Pemberton.
The first take place at the Maury Young Arts Centre on April 15, 19, and 25 and with shows in Pemberton at the Pemberton Community Church on April 20, 21, and 22.
“I think we’re mainly now trying to get into our theatre mind and anticipate what feelings we’ll feel on the day to prepare for the anxiety, but I think it will go off without a hitch and be better than anticipated,” Zablotney says.
In the end, she’s proud of how far the group has come in the last five months.
“Watching the finale scene last time, I was welling up with tears,” she says. “It was so beautiful to me, but they make me incredibly proud and I’m so amazed how far they’ve come in their singing.”
Tickets for the Whistler show are $17.31, while tickets are $8.79 for the Pemberton shows, both available here.
