‘Dream’ Team Grade School Children From Spokane Will Be A Big Part Of ‘Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’

Oh yes, this touring version of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” is loaded with stars.

And most of them have to get their homework done between rehearsals.

This multi-million dollar Broadway-London revival is the biggest and most expensive touring show to hit Spokane at least since “Les Miserables,” and its success rides squarely on the backs of 44 kids from Jefferson Elementary and Adams Elementary in Spokane.

Well, not exactly. The show stars Broadway sensation Sam Harris and a host of other pros. But these local elementary school choirs, chosen in the Dreamcoat Choir Challenge last May, are an important part of the show. They’re on stage for 26 of the 29 numbers.

Which suits them just fine. These kids are not exactly shy about the spotlight. At a rehearsal Tuesday, we asked Naomi Hinkle, 10, of Adams Elementary School, what she wanted to be when she grew up.

“A singer,” she said.

“What kind of singer?” we asked.

“Famous,” she said.

These kids happily spent all summer driving their parents nuts by singing along to the soundtrack tapes at home. They also attended weekly rehearsals conducted by Jefferson choir director Marcella Rose and Adams choir director Dawn Pike. Last Tuesday the serious work began when Darrell and Jenny Bishop, the “Joseph” choir directors from New York, arrived in Spokane to conduct four-hour-a-day rehearsals to teach them the choreography and stage movement.

You think your job is tough? Get a load of what the Bishops do every week or two. For the last nine months, they have hopscotched the country, arriving in a city a week before the show opens. There, they confront 40-some kids aged 9-14 and whip them into shape for opening night.

“The choirs in New York, L.A. and London had three weeks to learn everything,” said Darrell Bishop. “But on tour, they gave us six days to teach the kids everything. At that first show (in upstate New York) we were keeping our fingers crossed. But we found a way.”

Sometimes, disaster happens. In one recent city, a choir member was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and an adult cast member tripped over her onstage and broke her ankle. But what the show might lose in predictability, it gains in youthful exuberance.

And youthful exuberance is exactly what composer Andrew Lloyd Webber demanded when he decided to revive this 1968 show, the first from the then-unknown team of Webber and lyricist Tim Rice. It became a hit in London and New York in the ‘70s and ‘80s, but somewhere along the way, the show moved away from Webber’s original conception.

Broadway had turned it into a campy show-biz spectacle. But Webber had written it as a children’s show, which helps explain both its brevity (it barely lasts two hours, including a long intermission) and its air of playfulness and silliness. So for the 1992 revival, Webber specified that it must include a children’s choir.

That revival was a big hit, bringing families back to Broadway in droves. The New York Times called it “slick and spectacular,” and the New York Post called it “a big sassy Broadway musical.”

So when the plans were made to tour the show, Webber insisted that the children’s choir be retained. It would be impossible for one choir to tour for month after month, so Webber and the producers decided to audition choirs in each city. Thus, the Dreamcoat Choir Challenge was born.

“We have been accused of using kids to boost ticket sales,” said Darrell Bishop, referring to an ancient and not-so-honorable theatrical tradition in which the audience is swelled with proud aunts, uncles, grandmas and grandpas.

“Nothing could be further from the truth. It is so expensive to do it this way. These kids have to be fully costumed, fed, bused, taken care of.”

In addition, the children are each paid $100, although the money will go to their schools, not to them personally.

The kids will be onstage almost the entire show, but for a lot of that time, they will be sitting on staircases, watching the adult cast do its stuff.

Sam Harris comes to the tour from his Drama Desk-nominated performance in “Grease” on Broadway. Harris has recorded two gold albums for Motown.

The show is a musical retelling of the biblical story of Joseph, his 11 brothers and his coat of many colors. The story takes place at the time of the Pharoahs, but the music spans every contemporary pop style you can think of.

You’ll hear country, Calypso and Elvis-style rock ‘n’ roll.

It bears little resemblance to later Lloyd Webber compositions like “Evita” or “Phantom of the Opera.” This show is strictly lighthearted family entertainment.

Lighthearted may not exactly describe what the kids in the local choirs will feel on opening night.

“I’m not nervous right now, but the night before the show I’ll never fall asleep,” said Lindsey Bow, 13.

It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as every adult within 20 miles has repeated over and over again for three months. But Lindsey, for one, isn’t so sure once-in-a-lifetime is the correct phrase.

Why? Because she plans to be on stage a lot more if she gets into show business when she grows up. What’s so once-in-a-lifetime about that?

Her friends agreed: It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity as a kid, they conceded.

Even so, Megan Smith, 12, knows that this will be a week to remember.

“It’ll be really neat to just stand out on the Opera House stage and look out on all those people,” she said.

And when it’s all over next Sunday, music director Jenny Bishop said she knows exactly what will happen:

“You’ll have 44 kids out on that stage with tears streaming down their faces. Why? Because it’s over.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 color photos

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: PREVIEW “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” opens Tuesday at the Spokane Opera House and runs for eight performances through Oct. 1. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 8 p.m. on Friday, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturday, and 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 1. Tickets range from $35 to $47, available through all G&B Select-a-Seat outlets, or by calling 325-SEAT or 1-800-325-SEAT.