The kids spend the early part of the rehearsal at the Lakeville Area Arts Center singing their ABCs to test mics taped to their cheeks while the sound guy yells from the booth and stage managers run around swapping out dead batteries.
In most productions, said director Dayna Railton, they don't bother with microphones, but in the big, bouncy, hypercolor razzle-dazzle of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," voices can get lost.
The whirlwind story, which leaps from biblical to futuristic to retro '60s to ancient Egyptian times, keeps the cast of 35 kids dancing, doing lifts and maneuvering through a kaleidoscope of sets and costumes -- from tie-dye-clad dancers with purple wigs and peace glasses to the sparkly young ladies in Egyptian robes, gold headdresses and blue sneakers.
About 350 costumes, and all the time singing, singing, singing.
Jack Johnston, 14, of Mendota Heights, who plays Joseph, appreciates that it's a completely sung-through musical with no straight dialogue. "I like singing more than acting," he said. He said his family has listened to the soundtrack of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical in the car, so songs like the dramatic "Close Every Door" (his favorite), which he sings from a jail cell, weren't difficult to recall.
"If there was one show I could be in, this would be it," he said.
Taylor Rients, 13, of Eagan, who plays one of the narrators, always loved Donny Osmond in the film version. "I like all the characters," she said. "The Pharaoh is absolutely hilarious. Doug is an amazing choreographer."
Doug Dally, who teaches theater at Northeast Middle School, said the blur of melodies -- rock 'n' roll, country-western, calypso, French chansons -- makes things "interesting and at times tricky." With all the giddiness of music and dance, Dally said, sometimes they "have had a really challenging time [helping] the story come through."
