During 1999,
Banksia created an opportunity for hundreds of students to have exposure to
musical theatre and the performing arts. This was achieved by local primary
school students from Bellfield PS, Preston PS, Bell PS, Fairfield PS, Ivanhoe PS
and Olympic Village PS joining with Banksia students in the production of
"Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat".
This gave many students a chance to have some involvement in the theatre - some as performers on stage - others working behind the scenes in lighting, sound, and stage crew.
The Young Australian Broadway Chorus continued its association with Banksia (begun in 1994) by producing and directing this show. Each week rehearsals were held for Banksia and a small group of Bellfield PS students, after school and at weekends, by a team of young, enthusiastic, specialist teachers in choreography, singing and music.
"Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" was originally created for a school, in London, by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, in 1968, for an end of year school production and tells the Old Testament story of the adventures of Joseph and his brothers. The original production was expanded and re-opened in 1991, with Australia's Jason Donovan playing Joseph. The show has parts for soloists and groups of performers and includes a children's choir - it is an ideal production for mixed ages and voices and allows many students to be involved.
Each performance saw children from one of the local primary schools perform as the children's chorus. Early in the year, teachers from the Young Australia Broadway Chorus had met with the music teacher in each of the primary schools and left rehearsal tapes for the children to learn the songs. Closer to the performance date, the primary school children were taught some dance steps by the choreographer, to go with the songs they had learnt and then the primary school children joined in for a full day of dress rehearsals prior to their actual performance night. What excitement there was.
The Banksia production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" opened on 11th May 1999 and ran for seven nights, to wonderful acclaim. The students from Banksia and the 6 primary schools performed magnificently in a very professional production.
| JOSEPH | Andrew Coates |
| NARRATORS | Kirilli Moon & Natasha Sua |
| JACOB | Lyndon Huthnance |
| PHARAOH | Tim Jaques |
| POTIPHAR AND LIVELY LAD | Ilaisa Makoni |
| POTIPHAR'S WIFE | Rebecca Warren |
| REUBEN | Cameron Stark |
| SIMEON | Jason Camplin |
| LEVI | Jaxson Calder |
| NAPTHALI | Charlene Claudius |
| ISSACHAR | Tegan Lausberg |
| ASHER | Mark Morabito |
| DAN | Nora Upoko |
| ZEBULIN | Jesse Phillips |
| GAD | Laura-Lee Soutter |
| JUDAH | Mele Hehepoto |
| BENJAMIN | Jacklyn Rielly |
| ADORING LADIES | Jayne Ames, Tahnee Corcoran |
| Ashlee Holmes, Melissa | |
| Matthewman, Kylah O'Leary | |
| BOP-SHO-OP GIRLS | Wahibi Homsi,Tea Makoni, Adela Pentek |
| BUTLER | Kylie Huthnance |
| BAKER | Amy Lumsden-Scott |
| ENSEMBLE | Jayde Alsbury, Moira Briggs, |
| Katie Jones, Mele Makoni, Tyson Manton, Rebecca Medley, Lacey McPhee, | |
| Stephanie Papworth, Lisa Rielly, Lisa Roberts, Paul Sideras | |
| Lauren Wright |
| CHILDREN'S CHOIRS | Bellfield PS - Wed. 12th & 19th |
| Bell PS -Thursday 13th | |
| Olympic Village PS - Saturday 15th | |
| Fairfield PS - Monday 17th | |
| Preston PS. - Thursday 20th | |
| Ivanhoe PS - Saturday 22nd |
| director | Robert Coates | |||
| musical director | Simone Richards | |||
| assistant musical director | Victoria Jacobs | |||
| pianist | Susan Olsen | |||
| choreographer | Amanda Levy | |||
| lighting | David Morris, Natalie Aitken, Ajce Tarevski | |||
| stage manager | Kevin O'Leary | |||
| back stage management | Nola Fitzgerald | |||
| costumes | Margaret Ames | |||
| poster design & publicity | Robyn Coates & Ross Alexander | |||
| band | Alex Ferguson & Suzanne Kurick | |||
| refreshments | Sophie Sismanis & Year 11 Accounting Class | |||
| photos | Frank Ferretti & Arthur Coates | |||
| ticket design & sales | Andrew Coates & Robyn Coates | |||
| program | Robyn Coates | |||
| interpreters | Lindy Knorr, Kim Kirk | |||
| primary school choir | Rosemeary Hyland - Bell | |||
| coordination | Sue Dyos - Bellfield | |||
| Gillian Howden - Fairfield | ||||
| Jennie Smith - Ivanhoe | ||||
| Rita Saltalamacchia - Preston | ||||
| Rachel Petrucci - Olympic Village | ||||
| front of house | Helen Voidis, Nesreen Barakat, Luke Chircop, Damon Abbey, Caroline Skeoch, Sheree Taylor, Renee Calder, Michelle Ashman, Brooke Tully | |||
Abdulrahman Algadi, Jayne Ames, Meghan Chircop, Andrew Coates, Anita Elesin, Brendan Groves, Nektarios Karefilakis, Tegan Lausberg, Talaheu Makoni, Tea Makoni, Travis Moait, Wesley Puamau, Jamie Sapardanis, Natasha Sua, Sam Taufa, Joel Youdell.
Heidelberg Fancy Dress, 152 Burgundy Street, Heidelberg
Alex Ferguson, Darebin City Brass Community Band
 Mark 350 x 563 20.9K |
 BPS Choir 507 x 291 24.2K |
 Andrew 200 x 445 15.7K |
 Cameron 350 x 412 13.1K |
 Kylie and Amy 350 x 391 12.6K |
 Ilaisa and Rebecca 350 x 376 15.9K |
 Kirrili and Natasha 375 x 252 12.4K |
 Group 350 x 245 20.4K |
 Lyndon 216 x 282 9.8K |
Banksia
Musicals
