Joseph and the Amazing
Technicolor Dreamcoat

Reviewed by Holly Bartges

Honesty, so they say, is generally the best policy. When honesty’s stern stare bores from mirrored eyeballs straight into one’s own psyche, honesty becomes not a fun thing to do.

Granted, there’s a transition going on at the award-winning, critically acclaimed Boulder’s Dinner Theatre. Owner, producer, director Ross Haley officially turned over the reins to Michael Duran. Returning from New York theatre, to his hometown of Denver, Duran is anything but a newcomer. He acted in Joseph as BDT’s first production, directing several of the Dinner Theatre’s shows over the years.

No matter how it’s cut, transition is still transition, only this time the transition seems to be cut with an unsharpened knife.

Joseph and his Dreamcoat are anything but amazing.

One BDT regular confided to a friend, “It’s the funniest show I’ve ever seen”. Funny? Joseph isn’t a funny show.

Granted, there are moments of slapstick hilarity, but it’s not a slapstick show from the first note to the last, which is how this Joseph is played.

No question, BDT contains some of the best comedic actors in the region. No one anywhere, anyplace can top A.K. Klimpke, Bren. Eyestone Burron, or Brian Norber to name a few. When it comes to the serious, they definitely command attention.

It’s true, the children are cute, but cute children do not a musical chorus make. The dancing, stiff, the voices lack strength, and the acting weak. They crowd the stage and get in the way, reducing this production to a glorified children’s production. Narrator, Shelly Cox-Robie gets high kudos for maintaining her fun dignity, spirit, and enthusiasm while attempting to relate to the chorus. She holds the show together with her voice and wide-eyed wonder with the well-known story. Dressed in a smart black pantsuit with a whimsical twist sporting a different colored scarf each time she appears on stage.

Scott Beyette as Joseph struts a multi-colored coat that is anything but amazing. The colors need to be brighter. The coat begs to be longer and fuller, leaving the impression it was a last minute thought.

Something went awry in the costume department. The Brother’s turbans look out of whack by either being too small for the head’s of the actors or too big, Visually, their costumes give the impression they were made for someone else.

One exception for the costume comes during the Potiphar scene with DP Perkins playing Potiphar. The costumes are sharp, clean, and fit. A built in cut up scene, Perkins leads the troupe with crisp eye catching choreography.

From the millions of Elvis impersonators, John Scott Clough as the Pharaoh indeed has the King’s moves down pat, but he goes too far, bleeding the Elvis trick to death.

Of course, the comment had to be made toward Blue Suede Shoes. Visually, the court dressed in long gold dresses with blue tennis shoes and white socks threatened eyeball glaze.

Benjamin Calypso sung in the Egyptian court without a shred of Calypso paraphernalia? Absence makes the heart grow fonder to the point of distraction.

The silly goofy attack on the different scenes destroys the natural whimsy Andrew Lloyd Webber plies into his musicals. The brilliance of the Webber and Lyricist, Tim Rice combination is the magic of incorporating a variety of moods. With this production it is all silly. The song “One More Angel In Heaven” carries its weight in gold when done with a somewhat straight face. The humor stands on its own, creeping around the edges without calling attention to itself by saying look at me aren’t I funny? Left alone it is. Endowed with silly slapstick, it looses its natural punch.

Klimpke held a moment when his strength and power stood out with “Those Canaan Days”, but too much of Klimpke was lost amid the rash of silliness that didn’t seem to want to quit.

All BDT has to do is replace the Children’s Chorus with the audience. Allow Cox-Robie to tell her story to the audience, revamp the costumes. Let the comedy stand on its own two feet. Muzzle the Pharaoh. Let Beyette out of his cage to make Joseph his own. When, at the end, he sings “Any Dream Will Do” the audience will leave thinking they can do anything rather than they’ve just seen the funniest show ever.

This has to be the most difficult review I’ve ever written. I love BDT, and have made no bones about my love affair. I love the actors with their Broadway quality of astonishing talent and humanity. Somewhere the Technicolor Dreamcoat produces a dull film over the enormous talent hiding behind the goofy silliness permeating the stage. Sometimes, any dream just won’t do. This one broke my heart.