By Marley Malenfant/feature editor 

SE Campus theater students will perform Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat April 28-30. 

The musical is based on the biblical story of Joseph, but unlike the original story, SE Campus has four narrators instead of one. Elvis, country and calypso songs are also in the musical.

SE drama associate professor Pert Durapau said she added narrators and various styles of music because her students are multitalented.

“They’re able to meet the demands of this script,” she said. “It’s to give more students opportunity. By making it multiple personalities, it gives us that leeway to really stress the effect of it.”

SE student Taylor Swift plays one of the four narrators. Swift said she is excited that she is singing multiple styles of music and dance, including a hoedown.

“We’re heavily involved in the story,” she said. “We interchange. Sometimes we’re wives of brothers. Sometimes we’re slaves in the background. We fit in, and then sometimes we come out to tell the story.

“We have a country number. We have a French number. We have an Elvis number. We have really powerful ballads. It’s a blast because you’re not just doing the same thing the whole show.”

Swift said playing the narrator is challenging, but Durapau wanted to showcase each singer’s range.

“The narrator basically sings in every single song, and the scale the narrator has to sing is just huge,” she said. “I have more of a low voice. Courtney [Morris] and Monique [Lott] also have really pretty voices. So she divided it up.”

SE student Kevin Acosta plays Joseph, his first lead role. Acosta said he was eager to play Joseph.

“It’s really nice to play that part,” he said. “People take on the characteristics of whom they play, and I think it’s a good start off. It’s amazing, overwhelming, and I’m happy to be around talented people.”

SE student Nick Levingston plays Ruben, Jacob’s eldest son. Ruben leads the other brothers into getting rid of Joseph. He lies to Joseph’s father and tells him Joseph died.

Levingston didn’t care which character he played but said he looks forward to singing and performing the choreography.

“I’m excited that I get to sing ‘There’s One More Angel,’ and I’m also singing ‘Benjamin’s Calypso,’” he said.

Levingston said he’s sung and danced since he was a child. He said whatever choreography Jamie Perrin, SE dance instructor, produces will be enjoyed.

“I’ve been singing and dancing since junior high,” he said. “I perform at Six Flags. I sing and dance in commercials. I’ve been singing and dancing for years. I know Jamie very well, so I know it will be enough of the hood and lots of clapping, lots of stomping. So it’s going to be lots of fun.”