Jacob and his sons come to Merimbula

The internationally acclaimed musical and dance extravaganza will feature some of the area’s most well known performers all brought together by director Shaun Wykes. 

Mr Wykes, who has spent the past couple of years living, working and performing in England, has returned to the Sapphire Coast to start up Dreamcoat Productions with Hayley Fragnito who will be playing the Narrator in the upcoming show. 

“We established Dreamcoat Productions only for this show and we have decided to donate all profits to the Social Justice Advocates of the Sapphire Coast,” Mr Wykes said. 

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is a musical retelling of the biblical story of Joseph and his 11 brothers. It parodies various musical styles from rock 'n' roll to country and western, French ballad, calypso and jazz. It is a sung through musical with a children’s choir, women’s chorus and numerous male roles.

Mr Wykes said it is typically hard to attract men to musical theatre but this show has a huge male cast featuring a lot of well known locals including Sandy Glass, Andy O’Donnell, Andrew Parsons and John Liston. 

Mr Liston, who will be playing the character of Jacob, the father of the 12 brothers, said he used to perform regularly but has taken a 30-year break.  

“I’ve had to get the cobwebs off my voice,” he said. 

Mr Liston is taking his role in the musical so seriously, he has started growing a beard, something he has not done since the 70s. He said it was the least he could do to be apart of this fantastic local production. 

“At the very first rehearsal I was amazed that everyone already knew their lines and the lyrics to all the songs. 

“The cast is great and has some of the best musicians around,” he said. “This musical is fun for people of all ages, young ones in particular are drawn to the music.”

The cast have been rehearsing a couple of times a week for more than a month with Mr Wykes, musical director, David Willis and choreographer, Colleen Meessmann.

Mr Wykes praised the commitment of the entire cast in particular that of Jesse Zammit who will play Joseph. Mr Zammit lives in Moruya and travels down to Pambula for every rehearsal. 

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat will open on Friday, November 25 offering nine performances before its closing night on December 4. For tickets see www.josephmerimbula.wordpress.com or phone 0476 689 162.