Pure Entertainment All The Consummate Talent And Skill In ‘Joseph’ Makes The Production A Lot Of Fun To Watch
“Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” Tuesday, Sept. 26, the Opera House
Well, it certainly isn’t dull.
That’s an understatement, considering that this show is best described as a cross between a Las Vegas revue, a Super Bowl halftime extravaganza and an elementary school glee-fest.
The latter element comes from the presence of 44 kids from Adams and Jefferson elementary schools, who are on stage practically the whole show and who seem to be enjoying themselves immensely.
However, the Las Vegas and Super Bowl elements predominate in this big-budget national touring show. It’s an Andrew Lloyd Webber camp-fest, an excuse to toss in every bit of kitschy pop culture in existence: an Elvis impersonator, a cowboy romp, a Maurice Chevalier French number, a calypso tune and a ‘60s go-go freakout, which seems to have come directly out of a “Laugh-In” skit.
All in service of the biblical story of Joseph and his coat of many colors. Gee, is this the way the story was told in Genesis? Call this the Saturday morning cartoon version of Genesis.
As goofy as it is, the whole thing is performed with consummate polish, talent and skill, so it ends up being a heck of a lot of fun. This is theater as pure entertainment and pure spectacle. Elvis appears in front of a gigantic Ramses-style monument; Joseph rides on stage in a golden-winged chariot pulled by golden lions.
Sam Harris is a good choice to play Joseph. He looks like a golden boy himself, with flowing blond locks and a gym-sculpted body (he spends half the show without a shirt on). He looks for all the world like a cross between Jon Bon Jovi and Harry Hamlin.
He has an outstanding voice, put to best use in the emotional ballad “Close Every Door,” sung while he is in the Pharaoh’s prison. This is one of the few numbers in the show not played for laughs.
The show’s other star is Kristine Fraelich as the Narrator. She, too, has a strong and commanding voice, and she moves around the stage with the grace of a cat.
The best comic performance belongs to Glenn Sneed, who plays the Pharaoh’s butler, who is made up to look like some kind of First Dynasty Jeeves. Sneed steals his scenes.
The rest of the big cast (30-plus, not counting the kids) does some terrific work in comedy, singing and especially dancing. Some of the dance numbers are knockouts, especially the cowboy-themed “One More Angel in Heaven.”
All of this talent and stagecraft is lavished on a musical that is as shallow as the oil spot on your garage floor. You’ll be hard pressed to detect a story at all. This is the first musical that Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice wrote, and it does not exactly show a lot of sophistication or polish. Rice’s lyrics are heavy on cliches (“Really missed the boat”) and on rhymes that are a bit of a stretch (“All these things you saw in your pajamas/Are a long range forecast for your farmers”).
Often, though, the lyrics are campy and funny. During the “One More Angel in Heaven” number, which looks for all the world like the Canaan-ese version of “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” the brothers shout, “Adios, buckaroo! 10-4, good buddy!”
Sex is not bypassed in this show’s relentless quest to explore every possible avenue of selling a musical number. The “Potiphar” number, in which Potiphar’s wife attempts to seduce Joseph, features the female ensemble in nude-looking body stockings and plenty of suggestive choreography. To me, this was in questionable taste, considering there are fourth-graders on the stage during all of this.
The children, by the way, acquit themselves well. Their singing is strong and crisp, and they show enthusiasm in their choreography. They must have been monumentally nervous, but they didn’t show it.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo
MEMO: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat continues through Sunday. Call 325-SEAT for tickets