Dreamcoat at MAMS

My wife and I caught the final performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Matawan Aberdeen Middle School on Sunday. Kudos to Joseph, played by Anthony Barberio, who played in last year's Beauty and the Beast. Luke Shapiro stole the show with his Pharaoh impersonation of Elvis. The good and evil narrators told the tale in high style. But my favorite scene was when Issachar, played by Carlos Reyes, reminisced about Those Canaan Days as if he and his brothers were all en Paris.

The orchestra, which was stocked full with students and alumni, performed the complex score quite well. It's one thing to see our children enjoying the district's musical instrument program as they perform in concerts and marching bands, but it is quite another to see that woodwinds, brass, and percussion remain a part of the adult lives of a number of our alumni.

Parents and school staff provided the backbone to the production, as is the tradition at MAMS. A special nod to Mary Ellen Crumlish, who designed the costumes, and the Shapiros, who created the sphinx.

Infrastructure was the downside of going to the show. Despite the unusually hot weather for April, the auditorium at least started out fairly comfortable. But as the show went on, I began to literally melt into my seat. I was fully merged with my chair by the time a few too many gifts were presented and we were free to go. The auditorium has serious issues with its sound equipment that need to be addressed before the next musical is staged. If a fix isn't budgeted, local commercial establishments ought to consider sponsoring the necessary repairs or replacements to the sound system.