This year we were extremely fortunate to win the Andrew Lloyd Webber grant from the Musical Company that awarded our school free licensing and rights to produce this amazing show.
Thank you Musical Theater Company and Andrew Llyod Webber!!!
This was a true blessing for us as a department. The licensing and performance rights for musicals are terribly expensive and this allowed more of the ticket sales from the show to come back to the WG Drama Department to pay bills and save for the next season of shows.
This whole opportunity was put into action by EdTA sending word to all of the theater teachers on their roster and informing them that there was going to be a contest. Sam Toskin (Senior '19) who buckled down and applied, wrote the necessary letter and got it all turned in by deadline.
Sam student directed the show with help from Mrs Romanowski, with music assistance from Mrs. Young and Mr. Havis, and with technical help from Mr. Schaefer. It turned out to be an amazing experience for everyone involved and it will leave a great impression on the department for a long time.
Besides co-directing the show, Sam also ended up in the show playing Jacob, who is Joseph's father.
Watch a Montage VIDEO
by clicking on the following link!
Mrs. Romanowski (Director) and Sam Toskin (Director) at the one of the first music rehearsals
AUDITIONS
We held auditions in the Spring of 2018 before the end of the year to make sure the leads could begin working on their solos and the costumes could start being pulled and borrowed. We held a three day audition at the high school and a one day slot at Hixson. There were some students added in the Fall and we have also incorporated around 10 -15 younger kids into the show for three of the songs.
FUNDRAISING
Members of the cast and crew came in on a Sat and put together our Fall "Egg Sale" Fundraiser to raise money for the production. They raised over $1000.00 in two hours. The neighborhood is divided up into sections. The teams are selected and a an officer is placed on every team. They get a clip board, a map of their area, an envelope to collect the money, and a roster of high donors. They get exactly 2 hours to collect the money door to door and then they have to come back for an ice cream social and awards for top teams!!!
Mr. Schaefer gets prizes for the winning teams to encourage lots of donor participation. We had 7 teams and each team had at least 5 people.
They worked hard and did very well. One of the best turn outs for an Egg Sale fundraiser
and the student had a lot of fun with the competition!
THE STAFF
Producer.........................................................Mr. Schaefer
Student Director..............................................Samuel Toskin
Faculty Director..............................................Mrs. Romanowski
Music Director................................................Mrs Linda Radick
Company Director..........................................Mr. Tim Havis
Orchestra Director/Conductor.........................Mrs. Jill Young
Choreography..................................................Nicolaus Braun and Mrs Romanowski
Tech Director..................................................Mr. Schaefer
Student Tech Dir.............................................Ethan Ryan
Set Design......................................................Mr. Schaefer & 3rd and 5th Hour Tech classes
Lighting Design..............................................Ethan Ryan and Mr. Schaefer
Lighting Crew................................................Amelia Griesedick,
Board Op.......................................................Amelia Griesedick
Follow Spots.................................................Grace Engel, Basil Sessen, and Seneca Mahan
Sound Design/Op..........................................Charlie Richardson
Sound Crew...................................................Sam Hayden and John Sturbenz
Make up Crew...............................................Jackson Harkey, Zoe Delay, Sam Norem, Allison Huff,
and Cecily Schumanske
Throne and Chariot Design.........................Claire McCarthy
Cactus Design................................................Ashley Cimarolli
Jacob Staff Design.........................................Christian Ragain
Joseph Staff Design.......................................Cam Riley
Program/Poster Design..................................Aidan Kurtz
Additional Posters.........................................3rd and 5th Hour Tech classes
House Management......................................Trinity Madison
Photographer.................................................Zeke La Mantia
Stage Managers............................................Fiona Carton and Caroline Gillow
Assistant St Mgr...........................................SiSi Desuza
Running Crew..............................................Eva Berger, Fiona Carton, Elsa Serfas, Risa Sumner
Kinder Manager...........................................Caroline Gillow
Costume Designers......................................Mrs. Romanowski and Tea Gardner
Coat Design.................................................Grey Ferber
Costume Management.................................SiSi Desuza
Properties Mgr..............................................Eva Berger
Props crew....................................................Eli Bent
Props construction........................................3rd and 5th Hr Tech classes
Set Painting Crew.........................................Zeke La Mantia, Claire McCarthy, Layla Murray,
Eva Berger, Sienna Desuza, and Charlie Richardson
THE CAST
Narrators............................................ Annalise McCann, Ellie Gilstrap, Ava Musgraves
Joseph................................................. Caleb Miofsky
Reuben............................................... Nicolaus Braun
Simeon................................................Joe Castleman
Levi..................................................... Emerald Habecker
Judah................................................. Zach Comegys
Dan.................................................... Sam Becker
Naphtali............................................. Hank Geers
Gad..................................................... Ian Marshall
Asher.................................................. Thomas Kessler
Issachar.............................................. Danny Chura
Zebulun..............................................Owen Mitchell
Benjamin...........................................Noah Braun
Jacob..................................................Sam Toskin
Potiphar.............................................Danny Chura
Mrs.
Potiphar....................................Tea Gardner
Baker..................................................Ian Marshall
Butler.................................................Sam Becker
Pharaoh.............................................Aidan Kurtz
Ishmaelite..........................................Austin Bontty
The Wives:
Aidan Congdon, Josie Kruegar, Aysha Gray, Julianna Hertel, Julia Hamm, Mia
Jacobsmeyer, Zia Massena, Caitlin Noel, Anna DeWald, Jessica Peterson, Kaia
Askew, Lauren Perry
Adult
chorus: Aidan Congdon, Adeline Liss, Finn Saupe, Rosa Parks, Amissa
Bluementhal, Didi Simon, Alex Bahr, Samantha Massena, Yensen LeBeau
Dream
Ballerinas: Tea Gardner, Mia Jacobsmeyer, Lauren Perry, Zia Massena
Children's
chorus: Zoe Romanowski, Addison Romanowski, Camille Romanowski, Ava Hoppe, Marissa Blackford, Lucy Mueller, Anna Spaetti, Abby Bollier, Bailey Winkler, Evelyn Cole, Hauke Reiss, and Amaroq Reiss
THE ORCHESTRA
Piano.............................................Linda Radick
Drum Kit......................................Sam Keller
Trombone.....................................Evan Palmer
Trumpet........................................Hank Miller
Tenor Sax.....................................Henry Tomiser
Alto Sax.......................................Sarah Kaul
Viola............................................Anna Tetreault
Violin...........................................Ava Andrews
Flute............................................Taliyan Roash, Kristyn Margenthaler, and Lily Ragain
Cello............................................Hope Johnson and Claire Burns
Bassoon.......................................Kris Kuse
Clarinet........................................Chloe O'Brien and Taylor Howard
Keyboard.....................................Christian Ragain
Guitar...........................................Alexander Gerdes and Sadie Moore
French Horn.................................Barrett Light
Percussion....................................Cole Kleinschmidt
The Pit Orchestra practicing with Mrs. Young conducting
The pit orchestra was auditioned this Fall once school was in full swing. They were placed back in front of the stage in the pit. This allows them to fit together more easily and also allow them to be seen by the audience and the actors.
Mr. Havis and Mrs. Radick teaching the first bit of music to the cast
The cast worked really hard to get the music learned quickly so that the directors could get started on the blocking of the show and trying to stay on the schedule.
We were so fortunate to have the orchestra working in their space for the first part of the process. They had many rehearsal hours on their own before we joined them for sitzprobes.
The Cast joined them in the orchestra room several times for a sitzprobe of each act. This is the proper term for a run where the cast sings through the show with the band.
It is exciting to hear it all played together for the first time, but it also very tough to keep the room quiet when notes are being exchanged between the directors and individual singers.
The Brothers sang several songs in the show and they had to work out a lot of crazy tempos and pick up notes for their songs.
Nicolaus Braun really stepped it up as a student musical/dance coach for the production.
When we finally moved into the space for the last few rehearsals the orchestra really started to come together with the cast and the music started to gel. The pit sounded awesome!
Our music faculty working through some final tempo
and sound level adjustments in the Auditorium before a dress rehearsal
BLOCKING REHEARSALS
The directing staff and cast were called almost everyday when we got started and they worked through all of ACT I very quickly and came back to polish it after a run through. Then onto to ACT II...
Mrs. R and Sam in the Aud talking through their notes from a run of a scene in Act I
Fiona and Elsa at the foot of the stage tracking all of the blocking for the directors.
SiSi getting her binder organized for rehearsal.
Austin during rehearsal in the Auditorium
Rehearsals for this show require everyone to be present
The cast learned all of the rough blocking for
Act I very quickly. A lot of the cast has done a main stage show before and knew what to do in rehearsals.
The cast rehearsing a number in the ACT I
The cast worked very hard in a short amount of time. Once they got the scenes blocked they had to spend quite a bit of time polishing.
The Brothers performing a song in ACT II which had a Carribean theme...
The costumes were added piece by piece to the rehearsals and the final coat we used for the show wasn't used for the first time until final dress. Caleb and the cast had to work with a trench coat for many of the blocking rehearsals.
Caleb and the cast rehearsing the closing number
with the children's chorus
There were 40+ poeple in the cast
and countless others working backstage on tech to make this show run smoothly.
DESIGN
The design work on this show allowed for many students to be involved and for some really creative ideas to emerge along the way. Mr. Schaefer and Ethan Ryan had to work hard keeping tabs on the student designers to make sure they got their work done by opening night. It was not an easy task. There were many small pieces to the show and lots to keep track of in each techie crew.
THE SET
The scenic design was developed by Mr. Schaefer and the technical theater classes.
The designs were hammered out with both directors and Mr. Schaefer, and then they were transferred to more scale blueprints to get blocking rehearsals going. We never get the entire show drawn, but once they got started they knew how to set the stage for the next number.
Once the set was built the stage managers and running crew created maps to help the crew navigate all of the changes during the run. They even held special rehearsals to practice all of the scene changes.
The Technical Theater classes spent several days constructing the units and black wall in class. It wasn't a complicated set design, but it did have some big pieces that had to be made.
The main part of the set consisted of a wall and two large step units on wheels.
The step units could be moved all over the stage and could come together as one.
They were ultimately painted and given some patterns to add texture.
We constructed four palm trees to frame the stage and to give some additional texture and context to the scenes in the show. They had to go from Canaan to Egypt. We also added lights to them and it really made them pop.
Go, go, go Charlie!
Ashley Cimarolli's designs from tech theater
We made four free standing cacti that came in for "Another Angel in Heaven"
We also designed jail bars for "Close Every Door"
All of the set pieces had to be brought out in the hallway on both sides of the stage to open up room for the actors to pass through
Claire McCarthy took lead on the throne and the chariot to make sure they had a cohesive design between the two. They both eventually got painted gold.
There were sheep in the first act and a chariot that came in at the end.
Eli Bent working on a goat that was used as special effect. The legs had to be ripped off each night. It turned out great in the end!
Eva Berger (MVT fall 2018) was a main player in the backstage crew and had to map out the set changes and props for scene changes.
The props list created by Eva during the rehearsal process to make sure nothing was forgotten
Risa Sumner helped Stage Left. Eva worked hard to get the cast and crew to make the changes quickly, quietly and efficiently.
The start of the props table.
We did end up having quite a bit to track for the show.
COSTUMES
Joseph is a very heavy costume show. There were 150+ costumes and pieces used in the production and trying to get them all designed, found, made, decorated, altered, and then maintained became a full time job for the designers and crew. Mrs. Romanowski took the lead and had help from Tea Gardner, SiSi Desuza, Zoe Romanowski, Grey Ferber, and others to get it all done.
There were racks of clothing assembled and them tagged and organized by the costume crew. Mrs R worked her tail off getting the clothing pulled. Tea made the brothers outfits and SiSi Desuza tailored, fixed and managed the costumes for the run. It was a major orperation and we don't do big shows like this very often because of the scale and the amount of time it requires to get it all done by opening.
They did it and the cast looked awesome on stage!
There were also all kinds of accessories used in the show that had to be bagged and hung on each actors hangers so that they would not be misplaced.
The narrators looked awesome - they all went shopping together for black dresses and the costume designers provided them with scarves and jewelry to add pop to each scene.
Caleb Miofsky (Joseph) had several looks through the show
The brothers all had at least five pieces to their outfits and some had more
The wives had several changes during the show. Some of them were in various scenes.
The chorus also had several pieces to each costume and added accessories to their costumes in the show. They played several roles in different scenes.
The kids chorus had one costume but looked great!
THE COAT DESIGN
Grey Ferber designed and constructed the coat used in the show and spent many hours in the sewing room working hard to get it done on time.
It was made from some donated fabrics,
some purchased ribbon from Joanne fabrics and some material from Joanne fabrics
In the end the coat looked fantastic on stage and
Caleb loved wearing it for the opening and closing numbers in the show.
MAKE-UP
The technical theater students in 3rd hour came together and formed the crew that applied the make-up to quite a few members of the cast before each show.
Sam Norem's designs from tech theater
The designs were hashed out during the class period, ran by the directors and then applied in the black box at a make-up table.
Allison and Jackson wait patiently for the actors to arrive for make-up
THE PROGRAM and MARKETING
Aidan Kurtz worked many hours outside of the rehearsals creating the community posters and the program for the show. It was a huge project and he knocked it out of the park.
The program included director's notes, bios and was printed in full color
It was an awesome "WG Bill"
The ECHO school newspaper also featured our show on the cover of the October issue with a photo of Caleb in rehearsal . It was taken by out very own photobug Zeke La Mantia. Helps to know the people working for the newspaper.
They also provided us some additional PR by writing a story about the show as well as including an insert that Mr. Schaefer designed.
Mr. Schaefer and Eva stayed late one night and created several banners that we hung around the school to help promote the shows. They looked great when we finished and added a lot of color to the hallways.
T-SHIRTS
We decided to use the new t-shirt presses that they got in the makerspace on the 3rd floor and had our logo created buy one of the Amp'd class members and had them shipped to us ready to use.
The cast, crew and band all brought in a white t-shirts and we stayed one day after school and tie dyed all of the shirts. Then the kids took them home, washed them and Mr. Schaefer put the logos on each shirt my hand.
We were wanting to create a rainbow effect on the shirts so we had a bucket with each color of the rainbow available to dye the shirts.
LIGHTING
Ethan Ryan worked many hours to create the fabulous lighting for this show and was able to create a ton of different looks with very little instrumentation.
Ethan spent many hours at the light board programming the effects and setting the cues.
The lighting for this show has to help tell the story and provide context for the locations. It is also necessary that the show have a bit of a Las Vegas feel to it, and so we used twinkle lights and Ethan incorporated LED fixtures to help boost the color saturation when needed.
Ethan Ryan (lights) with Aidan Kurtz (the Pharaoh) after closing night
The effects he created really helped make the stage look cool.
In rehearsal we started to test some lighting placement and tried to make magic with very little
PHOTO GALLERY
of the show, enjoy!
Go, Go, Go
SEE A MUSICAL!
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