Hamilton-Gibson Productions announces the cast for their big summer musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. This all-singing first musical by theater greats Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice will be presented at Straughn Auditorium on July 5 at 7:30, July 6 at 2:30 and 7:30; July 7 at 2:30 on the Commonwealth University of Mansfield campus.

Playing the title character is David Wert, the band and theatre director at Cowanesque Valley High School in Westfield. Wert first appeared with HG after he was spotted in the MU performance of The Man of LaMancha by HG Artistic Director Thomas Putnam. “We were looking for a tenor for our production of Smoke on the Mountain, so I tracked him down through the music department and met him at Night and Day Cafe in Mansfield.

That meeting led to David’s performances not only in that show, but also Annie Get Your Gun, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Secret Garden,and Forever Plaid which he also directed as the first HG production in the newly built Deane Center. David also appeared in non-musicals including The Laramie Project, and Our Town, and served as our summer intern for two years.”

The role of the Storyteller will be played by recent Commonwealth University/Mansfield graduate Jessica Strause. Strause has sung numerous roles in Mansfield’s opera productions as well as featured soloist with Dr. Peggy Dettwiler’s Festival Chorus concerts. This will be her first role in a musical. 

Other cast members include Gordie Dunlap, Herb Johnson, Gunnar Bowen, Ian Brennan, Thomas Dalton, Brett Kennedy, Mark Munford, Matthew Munford, Evan Zinck, Tim Wilbourne, Maddie Palm, Gracie Bishop, Emma Feaster, Helen Feaster, Tami Guillaume, Hazel James, Sierra Munford, Becky Rawson, Hayley Ridge, Ingrid Shourds-Dalton, Jodi Tahsler, Suzette Urbano, Laureen Wolgemuth, Adailya Dalton, Drayden Dean, Ben Grossman, Alexa Guillaume, Anna Guillaume, Dominic Martey-Neal, Ronan Niles, Ellie Hazelton-Mohr, Bella Rawson, Molly Sensenig, Emily Weber.

One of the most enduring shows of all time, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is a reimagining of the Biblical story of Joseph, his father Jacob, eleven brothers and the coat of many colors. Told entirely through song with the help of a Storyteller, the musical follows preferred son, Joseph. After being sold into slavery by his brothers, he ingratiates himself with Egyptian noble Potiphar, but ends up in jail after refusing the amorous advances of Potiphar’s wife.

While imprisoned, Joseph discovers his ability to interpret dreams, and he soon finds himself in front of the mighty but troubled, Elvis-inspired, Pharaoh. Joseph’s solution to Egypt’s famine elevates him to Pharaoh’s right-hand man and reunites him with his family. The magical musical is full of catchy songs in a variety of styles, from a parody of French ballads (“Those Canaan Days”), to country-western (“One More Angel in Heaven”) and calypso (“Benjamin Calypso”), along with the unforgettable classics “Any Dream Will Do” and “Close Every Door.”

For information about tickets go online to hgp.booktix.com or call 570.724.2079. For information about HG’s next two productions, Silent Sky and Once Upon a Crime: The Trial of Goldilocks, check out the website at hamiltongibson.org.