Thursday, August 13, 2009
'Joseph' set for Blacksburg nonprofit's 18th show
The volunteer group Summer Musical Enterprise prepares for two weeks of shows.
JUSTIN COOK The Roanoke Times
Actors and the orchestra with the Summer Musical Enterprise rehearse "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" at the Haymarket Theater at Virginia Tech.
JUSTIN COOK The Roanoke Times
Dante Piro rests before rehearsing "Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," which is a musical based on the Bible story of the coat of many colors and includes very little spoken dialogue.
Want to go?
“Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” presented by the Summer Musical Enterprise- When: 7:30 p.m.Aug. 13-15; 2:30 p.m. Aug. 16 and 23; and7:30 p.m. Aug. 20-22
- Where: Haymarket Theatre, Squires Student Center, Virginia Tech
- Cost: Adults, $15; seniors, $10; students and children, $6. Tickets are available at Kroger on University Boulevard in Blacksburg, at the door before the show, or civic.bev.net/sme/
- Contact: Robin, 552-0417
| Amy Matzke-Fawcett
amy.matzke-fawcett@roanoke.com, 381-1674
BLACKSBURG -- The Summer Musical Enterprise -- a nonprofit, all-volunteer group of actors, singers, musicians and drama-lovers based in Blacksburg -- will perform "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" starting tonight.
"Joseph" is a musical based on the Bible story of the coat of many colors and includes very little spoken dialogue.
"Kids have really latched on to this show, because they can really sing along, I think," said Sam Quesenberry, youth choir director.
This is the group's 18th year of performances. The group started in 1992 with "The Music Man" and have performed a different musical each summer, including "Oklahoma!" in 1993, "The Sound of Music" in 1998 and "My Fair Lady" in 2004.
"We only do one show a year, so everything goes into that one show," Quesenberry said. "Whatever is needed, we have people that will fill that role."
SME members and performers are charged with finding props and costumes, advertising, building sets, and anything else needed to make the show go on.
"It's a true community theater," said Mary Korb, membership chair. "People have lives, work, families and everything else."
Shows can cost up to $40,000, raised through SME memberships and donations.
The 175 players rehearse three nights a week starting in June. Auditions are in March, and the group performs callouts, or selections from that summer's musical, out in the community three or four times before the musical runs to pique interest.
This year, callouts included a performance at Blacksburg's Warm Hearth Village, Radford's Bisset Park, Virginia Tech's Summer Arts Festival and a special performance at the international ChemEd Conference at Radford University earlier this month.
"We ask a lot of our cast, really a lot, and they make it come together," Korb said.
