By Michael Regenstreif
Wow!
What an amazing night it was sitting in the packed-to-capacity Centrepointe Theatre, May 13, watching Tamir’s production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I lost track of how many times I wiped tears from my eyes from being profoundly moved, how much I laughed, how much I clapped, and for how long I was on my feet for the extended – and so well-deserved – standing ovation and curtain calls.
Before I get back to raving about the show, let me wish a hearty Mazel Tov to Tamir on its 25th anniversary as a social service agency fulfilling the needs of Jewish adults with developmental disabilities (and their families). Tamir does a remarkable job with its group and independent living programs, its day programs, its Judaic outreach programs, its family respite programs, and so much more.
What started as a dream of a few families a quarter-century ago has grown into a remarkable organization of participants and families and a highly dedicated corps of volunteers and staff.
Back to the show!
Another Mazel Tov, and endless bravos, to every single person in any way connected to Tamir’s production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. From the Tamir board and staff who first discussed how to celebrate Tamir’s 25th anniversary, to the visionaries who conceived of this very special production, to the producers, directors, singers, actors, musicians, technicians, designers, costumers, stage managers, stage hands, gofers, and everyone else, all of you did a truly extraordinary and awesome job.
I’ve seen a lot of plays and musicals in my time – from school productions to community theatre, from regional theatre to Broadway. For seven years in the 1980s, I ran an annual theatre festival in Montreal – I know something about what it takes to put on a show.
So, I must admit that I was more-than-a-little skeptical when I first heard, a year or so ago, that Tamir was planning a large-scale production of Joseph featuring a fully integrated cast of Tamir participants – most of whom had never been on stage before – along with community theatre veterans and several young professionals. Putting together a big, Broadway-style show is not an easy task – even when you’re fully funded and working with trained professionals – so it was hard to imagine doing it with a cast centred around actors and singers with developmental disabilities and no experience.
I was not alone in my initial skepticism. Dick Zuker, a past-president of Tamir’s board and chair of the 25th Anniversary Committee, notes that the Tamir board’s approval of the Joseph project “was met with a moment of disbelief at the thought of what we had taken on.”
But Tamir did it. With hard work and dedication, they pulled off something that had never been done before, not here, not anywhere: a fully integrated production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Early on in the six-month rehearsal period, I began to hear rumblings that Joseph was going to be something special. I’d run into Cantor Daniel Benlolo, who initially proposed putting on the production, and who was intimately involved as one of the production’s musical directors and was performing in the show as the Pharaoh, and he’d be so enthusiastic about how it was going. Or I’d walk through the hallway near my office in the Soloway Jewish Community Centre and I’d see and hear Tamir participant Debby Applebaum practising her songs from the show.
That initial skepticism was gone months ago. It became obvious to me that Tamir’s Joseph was turning into something special.
And special it was. All of the actors, singers, dancers, narrators were great. The orchestra in the pit was spectacular.
But it was something else, something very intangible, but so patently obvious, that made Joseph so special. Everyone involved in this production loved being involved.
That love could be felt listening to speeches by Tamir President Howard Yegendorf and Executive Director Mark Palmer at a reception before the show. I felt it chatting with director Barry Karp and backstage volunteer Anna Bilsky in the lobby.
I saw that love on the joyous faces of every Tamir participant in the show. I heard it in the voices of the children’s choir. And in the fine performances of the experienced theatre people in the cast and, especially, in the gentle way they helped guide their Tamir colleagues on stage.
And that love was surely there in the sustained applause and cheers from those of us who were honoured to be in the audience.
Wow!
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