Joseph and the amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

One could say that the first chapter of Random Lake's summer community theatre program closed with the 1998 production of Joseph and the amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. This would be the final show led by the founders. Victor Schueller served as producer and technical director, while Ryan Klug was the artistic and musical director. Andy Ritger was in Mississippi for most of the summer working on a research project. Shelly Knier served as the assistant artistic and music director, while Melissa Hemauer handled choreography.

In an effort to continue its appeal to many communities, the organization changed its name to Lakeshore Productions, Inc.

This acclaimed show by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber tells the familiar Hebrew Bible story with a comic touch and lively music. Most kids learned about the characters in Sunday school: Jacob and his 12 sons, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Joseph and Benjamin, plus their wives. This record size cast included a 14-member women's chorus and a 69-member children's chorus.

You may recall that when Jacob was born, his father, Isaac, was 60 years old, and his grandpa, Abraham, was 160 years old. Joseph was Jacob's favorite son, and his jealous brothers sold him into slavery. Joseph and the amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat tells all the details including Joseph's many adventures in Egypt.

The directors chose an electronic score and pushed the Random Lake High School auditorium's technical capabilities to its limits. Joseph drew tremendous audiences for five scheduled shows from Wednesday through Saturday (with an extra show added on Sunday afternoon).

Key roles included Jamie Jeanty as the Narrator, T. J. Mentink as Joseph, Bob Deyo as Jacob, and Micah S. Berken as Pharoah. And by the end of the show nearly everyone was singing, "Go, Go, Go, Joseph…."

"I ask you to keep it going in any way you can," said Schueller in his farewell director's notes. "Here's to many more years of summer entertainment."