Review: Beit Zvi Maintaining the Tradition in a Revival of JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT

The renowned Beit Zvi School of the Performing Arts has a long history with the internationally acclaimed musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat given the 7 different productions performed by its students for 7 consecutive years, starting in 1999, but just like Pharaoh's dream a drought had to come at some point and since 2007 the musical wasn't revived again until this year and it's very clear this production was well worth waiting for.

This almost 50 year old musical, the first to be produced out of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's many musicals, tells the biblical story of Joseph, the youngest of Jacob's dozen sons, who thanks to his ability to interpret dreams manages to recover from being sold into slavery by his jealous brothers all the way to becoming Egypt's Pharaoh's second man. The musical presents this journey in a fun and light way and thankfully this production kept loyal to it while presenting the same spirit.

The cast, all third year students at the school, is led by Gal Goldstein who charmingly plays Joseph with a beautiful silvery voice and although he doesn't always connect to the lyrics while he's singing, something which is sadly true to most of the leading actors in this cast, he sure is a wonderful casting for this colorful role. Joining him is Danielle Eve who plays the Narrator (alternately played by Amit Zittoun and Elinor David) and tells the story devotedly and with a blissful voice, even though it would have been much better if she didn't occasionally add an irrelevant riff or two throughout the show.
All the other leading roles had great voices and stage presence, especially Daniel Hasin as Reuben, Gal Hayun as Simeon and Guy Gabel as Pharaoh. Also, despite having such a small but original part as the Accordionist and a few not so great lines in the script, Noa Kadaria instantly won over the audience during "Those Canaan Days" with her on point comedic timing.

Taking a double role in this production is director Oz Morag who just like at the show's first production in Beit Zvi is its choreographer. While quite a bit of the choreography wasn't very fitting or sufficient to tell the story this might be because of the unusually designed Ramat-Gan Theatre stage. Despite that, in many cases Morag took advantage of the design, especially during the song "Benjamin Calypso" where the entire cast looked like they were having a blast while dancing to the joyful choreography that makes perfect use of the challenging stage's space.

Completing the choreography were the brilliant harmonies of the choir, thanks to the choir director Michal Solomon, and the mostly great sound balance led by soundman Elad Dadon who despite a few background noises and only a few sound glitches managed to give both the vocals and music their proper place. As for the orchestra, conducted by musical director Ariel Keshet, there were a couple of times where the music and the choir were out of sync but the conductor impressively corrected them so quickly that it was hardly noticed.

Running time: 1 hour and a half, including an intermission.

Photo Credit: Yossi Zwecker.

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