Go Go Joseph!!

Like all good things, it started with a dream.

[Lmao, terrible line, but hey : ) its Joseph, nothing gets cuter than this]

Stella Maris College has a history of great drama; we're not really that old an institution [56 years. Go figure. Our country and us... *smiles* its interesting to see umm "progress" as a dynamic. Cant help it, its a thing with shared birthdays, you reflect each other. Every 15th August? Stella Marians cut a birthday cake, and sing the national anthem. Rocking.]: What makes us blazing is a quaint mix of tradition and the mad impulses of the new, the first, the strange.

Our college plays have ranged from Yank humor to puntastic evolved scripts, complete with MADish item numbers, and post-colonially snide local asides *grins*. Reviews of the college play over the past four years can be found here:

2001 SMC production- Hazaar Chaurasi ke Ma

2002 SMC production- Blythe Spirit

2003 SMC Production- Arsenic And Old Lace

2004 SMC Production- That, then... this, now

This year our focus is on professionalism, and incorporating the wide range of SMC talent into 6 shows over 3 days, and what better structure than the musical?

oh, and this baby's official- Everything, from requesting for the licence to perform from Webber's company to associating with the British Council's Culture Cafe, Chennai, to bringing in external resource persons to focus the creativity of us students through workshops, into amber-and-gold oomph on stage.

Its always purely a student production *proud little ahem mm, as part of the core production team* *grins*, and considering that we're new-year blimping this year's play, we're calling in some wonderful people as resource persons.

Yog Japee for instance, is our artistic director and apart from having a great repertoire: he's fantastic at getting people who normally are too shy to even mimic pacino in front of the bathroom mirror to get up and give it their all under the spotlight.

Dr. Aarti Kawlra from NIFT, and Mr.Thota tharani are helping us out with workshops for costume and sets respectively *gleam of "yes!!"*

Denver Nicholas [responsible for the choreography of 'Grease' that lately showed in the city] and Mr. Augustine [A man so brilliant with his musical arrangements that... le sigh.. come and hear him, people] are handling the distinctly 'musical' bits..


'Joseph' is a musical that been done time and again by amateur groups, along with the big-lights versions, simply because its that lovable, that basic, and has a certain for-everyone-hey-come-and-sing-along-with-usness.

We're not doing a straight copy of ANY previous performance, infact yog has banned the cast from watching the dvd : ) But to give you an idea of the visuals...

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Facts and figures

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat has been the subject of at least 12 different cast albums in its thirty one year history.

'Any Dream Will Do' from Joseph was voted the Broadway Song Of The Year in 1981 and awarded an Ivor Novello Award in 1991.

Joseph has a strong history of first class productions. It has played in 13 different countries, touring extensively. The show has played over 80 cities in the US alone.

The 1991 London Palladium production ran for a total of 2½ years, attracting an audience of 2 million people, and earning a Box Office of approximately £50 million. Including the replica productions of this show, the total worldwide Box Office since 1991 exceeds £200 million.

Perhaps more importantly though, is the popularity of the show gained through the countless amateur and school productions over the 30 years since it's first performance. For all the splendour of the major productions, Joseph has never betrayed it’s roots as a musical written for schools. It is currently estimated that the show has been performed in nearly 15,000 schools or local theatres, involving over 500,000 performers of all ages, and with an audience in excess of 8 million people.

Today there are nearly 500 school or amateur productions each year in the UK, and over 750 in the US & Canada, together with other productions in Australia, Germany, South Africa, and various other territories world wide. The enormous fan base the musical has attracted over the years is therefore effectively renewed by a new generation of children, and their parents and friends every single year.

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So does that mean we're joining the colourful bandwagon? Hell no. We're doing things with the direction, with the music [more tablas, I say!!] and with the scripts interpretation. All in harmony nonetheless, yes- It is about performance. more importantly, about communication.

*smiles*

Guess its about time someone started humming about dreams and family... Lord knows we all need it...

We're building an unofficial site for the production, and dates, and the progress or lack thereof *gulps* will be posted there.

And here it is : )

The official website for the Stella Production of the Dreamcoat *Jigs around in ecstatic joy, feeling trumpets, angels and roses rain down from all over*

"We all dream a lot-- some are lucky, some are not
But if you think it, want it, dream it, then it's real
You are what you feel

But all that I say can be told another way
In the story of a boy whose dream came true
And he could be you"- Prologue, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Cross your fingers, as we look to every first star...

*jigs happily about to the finale megamix..grins* and aye, keep visiting, pretty please? : ) That.