RSVP / ORANGE COUNTY : Harris Emerges Quietly From His ‘Dreamcoat’

Some guests did not recognize Sam Harris, the star of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” when he arrived without his psychedelic costume at a cast party after Tuesday’s opening at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Harris, who’d traded in his dream coat and Egyptian loincloth for a casual striped T-shirt and slacks, at first went unnoticed by many of the 150 guests who gathered after the show at Birraporetti’s restaurant in Costa Mesa. The pasta-and-pizza fest was staged by the center’s board to thank supporters and honor “Joseph” cast members.

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Biblical Act

Harris, who had performed at the center last year in a production of “Grease,” said he was gratified by the audience’s reaction to the musical.

“I was nervous tonight. I thought they might sit back--but we knew by intermission we had them,” Harris said.

Playing Joseph, the youngest of 12 brothers in the Old Testament story on which the musical is loosely based, is both exhausting and exhilarating, he said.

“The show just doesn’t stop. It’s like a roller coaster. It’s over before we know it,” he said.

Once guests recognized the actor at the cast party, Harris was the center of attention.

Harris was joined by other cast members, including Kristine Fraelich, a petite actress with a big voice who played the show’s narrator, and the actors who played Joseph’s scheming brothers and their wives. The cast replenished itself with angel hair pasta and ravioli and tiramisu for dessert.

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Brotherly Love

The show “was so high energy. It reminded me of my youth in the ‘60s,” said Catherine Thyen, center supporter and chairwoman of the Candlelight Concert to be held in December. “It made you want to bounce out of your seat--even if you’re too old to bounce.”

“Joseph” began as a 15-minute cantata written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice in 1967--the pair’s first collaboration, followed by “Jesus Christ Superstar.” They later expanded it into a full-fledged musical.

“Andrew Lloyd Webber was 18 when he wrote it. This was like his high school project,” Thyen joked.

Mark Chapin Johnson, who sponsored the center’s “Joseph” production, said tickets should be sold in sets--one for an adult and one for a child.

“I brought two of my friend’s children with me tonight,” he said. “It’s such a child-pleaser.”

Other guests were Buzz and Lois Aldrin, Catherine McClarand, George Mohr, Ann Pange, Susan Strader, Richard Ward and Billur Wallerich.