Review: JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT at White Theatre

The White Theatre at the Jewish Community Center closes out its eighteenth season with an excellent production of a story ripped from the scrolls of Genesis, chapters 37-50.  It is an early sung through musical collaboration by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT.

Way back in 1965, a seventeen-year-old Andrew Lloyd Webber, then a student at Magdalen College, Oxford, opened an unexpected letter from twenty-year-old fellow student Tim Rice.  Rice was a budding music lyricist and playwright looking for a composer.  The exact contents of the letter are lost to time, but Lloyd Webber was interested and invited Rice to meet at his family home in South Kensington. 

Their meeting must have gone well.  It began a partnership that endured for more than a decade and produced some of musical theater’s most enduring entertainments.  A first collaboration entitled THE LIKES OF US in 1967 went unproduced. In 1968, a Lloyd Webber family friend, Choirmaster John Doggett of Colet Court School in London, commissioned Andrew and Tim to write a new piece for the end of term concert.  The result was a fifteen minute “pop cantata” containing the founding kernel of JOSEPH. 

The pair continued working.  JOSEPH was put aside for their rock opera JESUS CHRIST, SUPERSTAR.  After difficulty finding a SUPERSTAR producer, the team released the show as a “concept album.” It became a tremendous hit in the UK and in America. A rock concert version toured the UK. A full Broadway production opened in 1971.  

The success of SUPERSTAR allowed Andrew and Tim to return to and to expand JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT from short cantata to full musical; first performed at the 1972 Edinburgh International Festival.  

The White Theatre production of JOSEPH features soprano Kelly Edgar as story Narrator and tenor Matthew Briggs as Joseph.  Both are excellent voice talents.  Edgar and Biggs are supported by a super six-member pit band and an energetic cast of twenty-four. There is not less than an excellent voice in this entire cast.

JOSEPH is directed by Dustin Pence with choreography by Alex Gumminger and sets by John Rohr.  Musical Director is Brant D. Challacombe. Pence and Gumminger have done a super job with this cast.  Especially impressive is the attention to detail not only regarding dance but with stage movement overall.  The White Theatre is a tremendous venue for a set designer and Rohr has taken full advantage of the facility.

Lloyd Webber and Rice have taken significant liberties with the original bible story.  It is modernized and features a variety of musical styles, including rock, country, calypso, and disco.  JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT is a sung-through musical.  Although the various musical numbers are from a variety of genres, the show is akin to a rock opera.  This can make the lyrics and the jokes difficult to understand on initial hearing.  Potential audience members are encouraged to listen to available YouTube renderings or other recordings of the show to get the most out of sung through lyrics.  

The show is introduced and explained throughout by a Narrator (Kelly Edgar).  Joseph (Matthew Briggs) is the eleventh of twelve sons of the patriarch Jacob (Ray Zarr).  He is the oldest son of Rachel, Jacob’s second wife.  It turns out that Rachel was Jacob’s first choice as a wife, but that is another story.  This is important because it may explain why Joseph is Jacob’s favorite son.  

Jacob gifts Joseph a wondrous colored coat and anoints him as the successor leader to the clan of Jacob.  Joseph is gifted with the power to interpret prophecy.  He foresees his brothers will one day bow to him.  

Joseph’s brothers are jealous.  They consider offing him, but settle for selling him into Egyptian slavery.  The Technicolor Dreamcoat is stolen. The brothers tell their father Jacob that the favored son is dead.  Jacob grieves.   Years pass.  A drought overcomes Canaan. The brothers are sent to buy food from the neighboring Egyptians.

Meanwhile, Joseph’s gift of prophecy has served him well in Egypt.  He has risen from slave to a position similar to Chief of Staff to Pharoah.  In a bow to modern days, Pharoah (Matt Walberg) is portrayed as an Elvis impersonator attended by a bevy of young ladies in poodle skirts.  Joseph is unrecognized by his brothers.  He sells them the needed grain, but decides on a prank before revealing himself. Joseph accuses one brother of theft.  The remaining brothers beg for Pharoah’s mercy.

Joseph sees that his brothers have changed and gained empathy.  He reveals himself and a reunion with the brothers ensues. The father, Jacob, is sent for.  He rejoices at being reunited with Joseph. Jacob restores the Dreamcoat to Joseph. A medley of the greatest hits closes the show.

JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT is a very pleasant evening at the theater.  It is not a long show.  This production is well sung, well danced, and entertainingly performed. 

JOSEPH continues at the White Theatre through July 23.  Tickets can be purchased online or by telephone at 913-327-8054.

Photos by Ryan Bruce 

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