The toughest assignment in yesterday afternoon’s closing performance of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” went to six sassy girls — thank heaven, at 11, 12, 13 and 14 years old, they still are smart enough to allow themselves to be called girls instead of women, persecuted feminists, ladies, non-men, matrons or however many genders are running free now.
Culver City Middle School’s finest — Nia Williams, Samiah McCarthy, Claire Skelley, Raegan Harris, Alyssa Huang and Rebecca Bangasser — drew the straw that read “You get to go on stage first before a packed audience of relatives and, hopefully, one or two talent scouts.”
No warmups.
Oblivious to stage fright, a malady common only to elderly people past 20, Rebecca, Alyssa, Raegan, Claire, Samiah and Nia performed with the brilliant aplomb of the vaunted Rockettes of Radio City Music Hall. Entering dually from stage right and stage left exactly at the correct interval after musical conductor Jeff Markgraf’s Swiss watch-like downbeat, their eyes, their minds and their twinkling toes were symphonically coordinated all afternoon.
They followed their mélange of cues with the faultless precision of Trappist monks.
There may be perfectly good logistical or cost reasons for demurring, but I would like to see these exhausting, virtually untoppable Middle School shows publicized and extended to more nights.
The community, the arc of the Westside, should be notified and invited to examine and appreciate these extraordinary students.
Sony Pictures once again played a broad, typically quiet, role in another Culver City campus success. Carmen Patti’s splendid desert scenery established the desired mood and tone before a note had been attempted.
Otherwise, it was students and parents.
The biblical story of Joseph and his brothers, set to music 29 years ago on Broadway by Andrew Lloyd Weber, is a florid full-house production that calls for most of the cast to be out front most of time, twirling, smiling, forgetting the crowd, remembering complex directions and memorizing hundreds of lines.
I would return to the Robert Frost Auditorium tonight, tomorrow night and Wednesday to re-glimpse scene-stealing Robert Washington as Pharoah and Cameron DeFaria as Joseph, Jordan McKenna as curly-haired Jacob and Avishai Melamed as Potiphar even if they were the only actors on the boards. They were so smashing they risk rusting their bountiful skills if, a few years from now, they choose non-entertainment careers.
Making Distinctions
Psychologically, it must be difficult for the creative adults intimately involved — Director Diane Feldman, Courtney Bradshaw, Elaine Behnken, Bonnie Wacker, Tania Fleischer, Diana Kunce, Jane Steinberg — to shine solo spotlights on some and not other students. But even if their choices were wrenching, they tabbed the right boys and girls in every case.
Yesterday was your best chance to be a proud Middle School parent. No one this side of a robotic chorus could pull off such unassailable performances twice in a single lifetime. Could they?
I would have hooked my suspenders into my thumbs and boasted of being the parent of the almost 60 Middle School actors except for the two or three whose roles called for them to take a flying leap into a dark abyss just north of the 16-person orchestra pit. The jumps would have interrupted my heartbearts.
All 58 or 60 students earned a raise in their allowances, effective yesterday.
I believe it was Ms. Feldman who said that 99 percent of remarkably supportive Middle School parents actively joined in enabling this show, which is commendable. However, by the time they finished handing out individual plaudits, the fake flowers I bought my wife for our anniversary were wilting.
The entire cast:
Josh Zucker, Mia Windman, Nia Williams, Robert Washington, Angeline Wacker and Amber Wacker.
Anna Sophia Vizcarra-Barton, Matthew Villena, Lauryn Ussery, Sarah Toutounchian, Thanassis Tetradis and Alex Stewart.
Jenny Soto, Claire Skelley, Mariko Rooks, Kori Ridenour, Gabby Price and Kate Perry.
Sarah Paris, Rebecca Mirvish, Avishai Melamed, Marina McNairy, Jordan McKenna and Samiah McCarthy.
Aimee Matias, Courtney Lundy, Gabriel Lobet, Emily Katz, Sami King and Zoe-Manon Le Cheminant.
Maggie Johnson, Simon Johnson, Kyra Jackson, Yiskah Israel Everett, Alyssa Huang and Olivia Hebert.
Raegan Harris, Katie Handler, Sofia Frohna, Veronica Franzen, Katy Engel and Ava Derevlany.
Natasha Collier, Ethan Courey, Cameron DeFaria, Lauren Boxer, Cricket Cary-Green and Logan Castleman.
Milo Bechtloff, Oliver Berliner, Dylan Blaisdell, Reno Behnken, Bre Bardos and Rebecca Bangasser.
Alexis Andrew, Paxton Amor and Sade Adewunmi.