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<p>SCRANTON &#8212; No wonder Joseph&#8217;s many brothers resent him.</p><p>The colorful coat their father gave him proves Joseph is the paternal favorite, and the young man is prone to such conceited remarks as &#8220;I look handsome, I look smart. I am a walking work of art.&#8221;</p><p>Then there are his dreams. He doesn&#8217;t hesitate to tell his father&#8217;s 11 other sons how he dreamed about 11 sheaves of small, greenish corn bowing down to his large, golden sheaf, and about 11 other stars bowing down to a star that represented him.</p><p>&#8220;Anybody who&#8217;s ever grown up with siblings finds you do grow jealous sometimes. I don&#8217;t blame them for that,&#8221; said Laura Helm, who has the singing role of the narrator in the touring production of &#8220;Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat&#8221; that the Broadway Theatre League of NEPA is bringing to the Scranton Cultural Center Feb. 5-7.</p><p>The narrator doesn&#8217;t fault Simeon, Levi and the rest for feeling envious, but she knows they go too far.</p><p>&#8220;I would never throw my brothers into a pit,&#8221; said Helm, who has two real-life brothers, &#8220;or sell them to the Ishmaelites.&#8221;</p><p>Biblical scholars and Andrew Lloyd Webber fans know Joseph&#8217;s siblings take his fancy coat, throw him into a pit and lie to their father, telling him Joseph is dead. In reality, they sell the boy to a caravan of Ishmaelites who take him to Egypt &#8212; where he eventually becomes a successful government official.</p><p>&#8220;Last year I was doing &#8216;Jekyll &amp; Hyde,&#8217; a much darker show,&#8221; Helm said. &#8220;This one is so magical. I love to meet a little girl or little boy after the show who tells me &#8216;That was so much fun!&#8217; It&#8217;s definitely a relatable show, with every type of dance and every type of music.&#8221;</p><p>Reggae, hip-hop, country, Elvis-style &#8212; it&#8217;s all there, Helm said, and freshened up by the direction and choreography of Tony Award winner Andy Blankenbuehler but keeping Andrew Lloyd Webber&#8217;s music and Tim Rice&#8217;s &#8220;so cleverly obvious rhyming&#8221; lyrics intact.</p><p>&#8220;I love this show. It&#8217;s familiar, down-home pleasure,&#8221; Helm said, adding one of her favorite numbers to perform is &#8220;Poor, Poor Joseph.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;They&#8217;re ripping his coat off and throwing him in a pit and selling him. It&#8217;s like (the computer game) Frogger,&#8221; she said with a laugh. &#8220;They&#8217;re all running one way and he&#8217;s running the other.&#8221;</p><p>Actually, Helm has been loving the show since she was a Massachusetts fourth-grader playing Joseph&#8217;s brother Dan because there were more girls in the cast than boys. At that time she also shared the role of the narrator with three other children. &#8220;Now it&#8217;s all mine,&#8221; she said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">As the narrator in &#8216;Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,&#8217; Laura Helm, center, builds a special relationship with the audience. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_joseph1.jpg</photo0><caption0>As the narrator in &#8216;Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,&#8217; Laura Helm, center, builds a special relationship with the audience. </caption0><photoCredit0>Submitted photos </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_joseph2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">&#8216;Way, way back, many centuries ago, not long after the bible began, Jacob lived in the land of Canaan &#8212; a fine example of a family man.&#8217; </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_joseph2.jpg</photo1><caption1>&#8216;Way, way back, many centuries ago, not long after the bible began, Jacob lived in the land of Canaan &#8212; a fine example of a family man.&#8217; </caption1><photoCredit1>Submitted photos </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_joseph3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Narrator Laura Helm helps the cast of &#8216;Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat&#8217; relate the biblical story of Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his brothers yet became a powerful official in Egypt. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_joseph3.jpg</photo2><caption2>Narrator Laura Helm helps the cast of &#8216;Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat&#8217; relate the biblical story of Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his brothers yet became a powerful official in Egypt. </caption2><photoCredit2>Submitted photos </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_joseph.laura_.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Laura Helm </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_joseph.laura_.jpg</photo3><caption3>Laura Helm </caption3><photoCredit3>Submitted photos </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p><strong>By Mary Therese Biebel</strong></p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>IF YOU GO</p><p><strong>What: </strong>&#8216;Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat&#8217;</p><p><strong>Who: </strong>Presented by Broadway in Scranton</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> Scranton Cultural Center, 420 N. Washington Ave., Scranton</p><p><strong>When:</strong> 8 p.m. Feb. 5; 2 and 8 p.m. Feb. 6; 1 p.m. Feb. 7.</p><p><strong>Tickets:</strong> 570-342-7784.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Broadway Theatre League of NEPA brings ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’ to Scranton Cultural Center Feb. 5-7