Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat

Reviewed by Holly Bartges

Denver deserves better.

Patrick Cassidy as Joseph and Melissa Hurley Cassidy as Mrs. Potiphar in Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat Photo by George Byron Griffiths

The Temple Buell Theatre deserves better.

The Evergreen Children’s Chorale deserves better.

Maybe five years of spectacular productions of Joseph by the Arvada Center with its grand set, stunning choreography, with actor/singers who took their roles seriously in a whirlwind of fun and fantasy spoiled the Denver audience for anything less.

Or maybe it was PHAMALy’s (Physical Handicapped Amateur Musical Actors League) poignant production last summer that added a dimension to Joseph that would be difficult to match. Director Steven Wilson’s ingenious concept of setting Joseph within the context of a mental institution provided an overwhelming breath-taking quality going far beyond fun and games.

Either way, the current touring production of Joseph comes across as a poor excuse. A new national tour playing at the Buell through June 4 looks, sounds, and feels as though it was thrown together as a second thought in the last minute. Produced by Nicholas Howey for Florin Entertainment, this production was directed by Dallett Norris and choreographed by Arlene Phillips, featuring Patrick Cassidy as Joseph. Having been in the spotlight for several years, with an impressive list of acting credits to his name, Cassidy gives us Cassidy with a strong voice in Joseph’s costumes.

The production also features Amy Adams as the Narrator, a vital part of the story. For unknown reasons, Adams did not perform on Opening Night, and understudy Lisa Christine stepped in. No question Christine contains a beautiful soprano voice, but it isn’t big enough to capture the fun and intensity of the story of the Canaan boy sold to Egypt as a slave. The role of an understudy remains as one of the most difficult, having to be ready to step in at a moment’s notice, never knowing when that moment will appear. It was clear Christine wasn’t prepared enough to own the role.

No matter who plays Joseph, or who commands the position of the Narrator, the star of the show written by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber has to be the coat. The coat for this production was indeed a mish mash of color as it is suppose to be, but this coat is ugly with its horizontal stripes. The glitzy coat at the end of the show, no matter how Las Vegas the show wants to parody, looks out of place. It’s the Arvada Center’s fault the bar of expectation has been set so high. Beautifully designed and constructed with its multi-colored fullness of vertical stripes the image remains imbedded in the mind forever. Anything less becomes a disappointment.

In many ways Joseph remains a choreographer’s dream with its bright upbeat-varied music. Imagination is the only thing standing in a choreographer’s way to burn the boards. In this production choreography went the way of the obviously simplistic. Even then the cast found it difficult to master the steps in sync much of the time. Yes, there were moments when everything seemed to look like it was coming together, but that was an illusion.

The set designed by James Fouchard gave the impression he worked from a budget that wouldn’t and couldn’t stretch far enough into the imaginary horizon to provide adequate background for the story. It looks cheaply thrown together as a last minute thought.

The costumes, particularly those worn by Joseph, Jacob (Nicholas F. Saverine) and the Brothers looked like Goodwill rejects with a mish mash of confusion, as though someone didn’t quite know which way to go for inspiration and ended up going in all kinds of directions.

With tongue in cheek and a Las Vegas twist, Rice and Webber originally wrote Joseph as a one-act as a pop-cantata for a children’s choir. As it grew and developed it quickly became a major popular musical. Throwing fun to the four winds, it capitalizes on wild over exaggeration imagination as it follows the Biblically based story of Joseph, favored by Jacob, ballooning jealousy from his brothers, being sold into Egypt as a slave, winning the Pharaoh’s (Todd Dubail) attention with his ability to interpret dreams, rising to power, being able to stick it to his brothers, then graciously offering forgiveness.

As the story rides the roller coaster of love, betrayal, revenge, heartbreak, prophecy, drought, hardship, and forgiveness, so the music captures the emotions from Any Dream Will Do, Poor, Poor Joseph, One More Angel In Heaven, Go, Go, Go Joseph, Stone The Crows, Those Canaan Days, and Benjamin Calypso. The sky’s the limit for the off-the-wall exciting music, but the arms of the cast don’t seem long enough to box with God, much less touch the sky.

The Evergreen Children’s Chorale known for its artistic expertise under the direction of Elaine Sohrweid, won the opportunity to perform with this particular touring production. Undoubtedly it has to be a thrill for them, but even they looked uncomfortable and uncertain in their role and expectations during the performance. Some of them had difficulty maintaining attention to the action. Even the minutest inattentiveness stands out as a hammered thumb.

For those who haven’t seen Joseph, or are not familiar with the music, perhaps they won’t notice the mistakes, the hesitancy, the simplistic dancing style, the over bearing sound system that gets in the way because the speakers are too small for the Buell Theatre to do the production justice. For those who remember the Arvada Center and PHAMALy, this touring production doesn’t measure up to what could be. Following on the heels of the complicated, magnanimous perfect production of Les Miserables certainly didn’t help the wanting and expectation. There is a truth deeply imbedded in the song Any Dream Will Do, but first of all there has to be a dream.