When one attends a musical, one goes to be entertained.  For after all, who does not enjoy a good musical, especially one coming from The Helping Hands Group?  Throughout the years The Helping Hands Group produced high quality musical performances.  Their production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat held on Saturday 24 May 2014 at St. Agatha’s Auditorium in Rabat, Malta, in aid of Puttinu Cares, was another success for this highly-talented group.  Due to the European elections being held on that same day, I was sceptical to the number of people who would attend, however, the place was jam packed.

The live musical featured a children’s choir, a live orchestra directed by Joseph Grech, dancers, and singers.  The 120-strong cast of actors, singers, choristers and stage crew included established local singers such as Pamela Bezzina, Ludwig Galea, and Roger Tirazona.  This musical, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and words by Tim Rice, was already performed twice in March of this year at the Oratory Don Bosco Theatre in Gozo, likewise in aid of Puttinu Cares.  The evening included a silent auction of a painting by Paul A. Stellini, also in aid of Puttinu Cares.

In “Those Canaan Days” part, the long notes in combination with the witty acting of the singers provided a comical moment.  Though not distracting the audience from the story, this helped put the story into perspective by showing Joseph’s brothers fervently reminiscing the good old days when their country was prosperous, with Joseph reciting his dreams to his brothers.

The choice of having Pamela Bezzina as the Narrator was a good choice as her clear voice together with her acting helped to bring out in a very effective manner the role of the Narrator .  There was a moment in “Poor, Poor Joseph” when Pamela could not be heard as the men’s voices, for a short moment, overpowered her voice.  However, her clearly articulated voice together with the right diction complemented that of Ludwig Galea throughout the entire performance.

From the beginning, it was clear that Ludwig Galea was really enjoying performing his role as Joseph.  In “Potiphar”, for instance, Ludwig’s acting and singing were superb and entertaining, as it could be felt from the audience’s response.  This was especially evident when the female actors half undressed him!

Roger Tirasona’s voice suited very well the part of Pharoah.  Having said that, there was a moment in “Song of the King” when his voice became strained making it rather difficult for the audience to understand his diction.  However, this did not stop the flow of the song.  In fact, the excellent rapport between him and the dancers could be noticed at the end of this same song when the cheerleaders screamed and fainted when he sung to them.

There was a very good balance between the orchestra and the singers as the orchestra did not overpower the singers.  The costumes were a mix of modern and highly-colourful everyday clothing together with clothes reminiscent of biblical times.  Some actors’ footwear was diverse, with sneakers and specialised dancing footwear contrasting with those who were barefoot.  The scenery was vivid and imaginative, especially when the shadows of skeletons of animals appeared to move behind an illuminated semi-sheer backdrop.

This top notch musical was a truly memorable performance that should make The Helping Hands Group proud of their efforts, excellent teamwork and dedication to the arts.  One looks forward for more performances of excellence, such as this one, from this highly-dedicated group of young actors and musicians.

Joselle-Marie is currently reading for an M.Mus. in Music at the University of Malta.  The research work disclosed in this publication is partially funded by the Master it! Scholarship Scheme.  The scholarship is part-financed by the European Union – European Social Fund