Freedom High School may only have 600 students, but no one who wandered in to its Friday, April 28, rehearsal for its production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" wouldn't have guessed that. Instead they would have seen a full stage, a freshly built wooden set and exciting dance and singing numbers.
From the beginning, director Amanda Backenstoss and pit orchestra director Joel Galway knew they would have to makeup for their small numbers in a big way.
"We knew this show involved a large cast," Galway said, "and to makeup for our small numbers we knew we wanted to involve members of the community."
For Backenstoss it was important to get the community involved in order to introduce them to the new high school and the new drama department.
"You're going to see a variety of ages, from children to adults on stage," she said. "The commitment from everyone has been amazing."
Of the 65 cast members, 24 of them are children from Mercer Middle School and local elementary schools. They range in age from 2 years old to sixth grade, Backenstoss said.
"Working with all of the kids has been really fun," she said.
Having the children involved in the production has been a great experience for the Freedom students as well as the director.
"It is really cool to see the adults and the kids on stage," junior Kacie Lester, who plays the Potiphar's wife, said. "It adds so much to be able to have that in our show."
Greyson Goodenow, who plays Joseph and is on stage for almost the entire show, says it is working with the young children that has been the most fun for him.
"I love kids so getting to interact with them every day has been great," he said.
Besides rounding out the cast, those involved know that including members of the community will also round out their audience.
"I think it is inspiring for people to see all ages perform together," Backenstoss said.
IN ADDITION to casting, one of the biggest challenges of putting on a full-scale musical with a small school is working with the schedules of the students.
"Because the school is new, they really encourage [the students] to participate in everything," parent Chuck Askew, who plays Jacob and helped build the set, said. "My daughter alone is student body president, a cheerleader and in the play."
Working with the schedules of so many busy students proved to be difficult for Backenstoss and Galway.
"We have so many kids who are involved in sports and other things that we had to do some creative scheduling," Galway said.
For a month and a half the musical's cast met whenever they could, sometime before school for 45 minutes and sometimes after 7 p.m. for two hours. During the last week the entire case has been meeting five days a week for four hours. Many of the cast had never done a stage show before, making rehearsals even more important, but, Galway said, the cast made all the hard work worth it.
"Working closely with a group of dedicated students is just really rewarding," he said. "This music is difficult. It was created for Broadway performers so this is one of the most rewarding, challenging things they have done."
THE STORY OF Joseph and his Technicolor dreamcoat is a biblical tale, but even with the religious story, those involved with the production say that it is a play that everyone can appreciate.
"This is a very cute show," Galway said. "It is very rock and pop oriented. It is going to be a fun experience for the audience."
Along with the modern music, cast members say that the characters are not regulated to the biblical times.
"The character of Joseph is kind of like me," Goodenow said. "He's just a guy who is trying to get through his life. Though it's a biblical story, it's also just an every-day story."
Backenstoss said the thing she focused on most was the theme of dreaming.
"The message is that you should dream, it's possible," she said. "It doesn't matter what you dream, it's that you dream at all."
Between the universal theme, identifiable characters and rock-inspired music, Lester believes there is something to be had for everyone during a performance of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat."
"There are a lot of different sides represented," she said. "It adds something for everyone to take away that they'll remember and love."