Franklin Regional journeys to Egypt with spring production of 'Joseph'

Vishal Pandey could be forgiven for having acting whiplash.

This past fall, the Franklin Regional senior was working on becoming as creepy and intimidating as possible for his lead role in “Dracula.”

During a rainy week in February, however, Pandey, 18, was belting out tunes about his coat of many colors in his new role as Joseph, in Franklin Regional’s spring production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”

“For Dracula, it was a lot more intense,” Pandey said. “I had to change a lot about my voice, my manner. For this, Joseph is the good guy, which is a lot closer to who I am.”

The musical tells the Biblical story of Joseph and the trials he endures en route to becoming the Egyptian pharaoh’s second-in-command.

At many points, that story is told by a narrator, or in Franklin Regional’s case, four narrators: Brooke Leopold, Tori Glarner, Shea Miller and Lavanya Anantharaman.

“It’s a really large role for one high school student to take on,” Leopold said. “I like that we get to explain the story. Without that, the audience wouldn’t know what’s happening.”

It’s the first lead role for Anantharaman.

“Because there’s four of us, we try to find a way to stay equal and to tell the story as a group,” she said.

Miller said the narrators have a chance to harmonize with one another “and add some more depth to the music.”

It is also Pandey’s first lead role in a musical, and he is getting used to the libretto.

“There’s so much singing and not a lot of just plain spoken dialogue, so it’s a totally new way of acting for me,” he said.

Below, Pandey talks about playing a legendary villain this fall, and then a Biblical hero this spring.

Having a lead role helps him to stay focused, he said.

“I’m constantly in it,” Pandey said. “The second I go into character, I don’t really leave it until the very end of the show, so being that person throughout the whole show is a really enjoyable experience.”

“Joseph” will be at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 27-29, with a 2 p.m. matinee March 1. Tickets are $14 for adults and seniors and $8 for students. They are available at the high school as well as online at Showclix.com/event/joseph2020.

For more, including a full schedule of when the box office at the high school will be open, see FRHSmusical.com.