A Bible story — ho-hum. Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice — clunky and populist. “A contemporary twist inspired by some of the biggest music icons of the last two decades,” says the press release, “[…] such as Beyoncé, Bruno Mars, Adam Levine” — purveyors of some of the most dismissible pop in the last 30 years.
But I’m here to tell you that you can feel this way and still dig Musical Theatre West’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, a perfect example of how musicals can win on pure spectacle.
In case you don’t know your Torah, Joseph (Brian Justin Crum) is father Jacob’s (Harrison White) fave, but it’s a bridge too far for the old man’s 11 other sons when daddy signifies that favoritism by giving Joseph a fly “coat of many colors.” Initially planning to murder him, they settle on selling him into slavery, a bondage that brings Joseph to Egypt, where — partly due to his clairvoyant dream interpretation — he survives a series of misadventures to become a major player in Egyptian society, saving many lives during a seven-year famine.
But I don’t care about that. And as far as I’m concerned, Webber & Rice couldn’t write a Chicago or a Grease or even a Godspell (playing across town right now in a fabulous production) if they had a hundred lifetimes. Disney is more their level — and I dislike Disney.
And yet, there I was having a helluva time right from the jump.
In case you don’t know (I certainly didn’t), in terms of aesthetics and subtext, Joseph has got to be one of the queerest shows on God’s gay earth. Like, wow. Smartly, Musical Theatre West does everything short of unfurling Pride flags onstage to emphasize that queerness. It’s a joyous, campy ride from start to finish (says the reviewer who doesn’t find camp inherently charming). And did I say fierce? Fierce, girl, fierce.
I don’t usually mention mise en scène this early in a review, but between Kevin Clowes’s set (no more pieces than necessary, all of scale and quality), Jared Sayeg’s lighting (you better bring it to a show with “technicolor” in the title), and the costumery of Adam Ramirez, Giovanni Virella-Torres, & Garrett Ruiz (combine Village People vintage with 21st-century urban street life, add a dash of drag, shake vigorously, sprinkle liberally with leather), director Larry Raben and his cast have a perfect frame for strutting their stuff.
And strut they do. The casting is fabulous. For obvious reasons, many companies get the best singers they can find and hope the rest will take care of itself. Often that’s a big mistake, because if the show doesn’t deliver on spectacle — a quasi-tangible gestalt — then you’re better off going to a concert or sitting home with your cast album. (Sure, bad singing can ruin the proceedings, but you think Angela Lansbury was the original Mrs. Lovett because of her vocal virtuosity?) But it seems Musical Theatre West’s number-one priority was making sure everyone — leads, ensemble, the 20-strong student chorus — was capable of bringing the requisite energy, physicality (Corey Wright could not have choreographed this show more aptly), and pure presence.
A highlight from Act One is the lengthy and very funny sequence “One More Angel in Heaven / Hoedown”, a total cast triumph, though the spotlight is on a fantastically droll Zane Camacho. And Brian Justin Crum is a powerhouse Joseph — something I didn’t notice at first, because to me the music isn’t special. But at the end of Act One, with “Close Every Door” and then “Go, Go, Go, Joseph” (something Wham! might have come up with had they ever tried their hand at musical theatre), it was obvious he was the total package.
Because I couldn’t care less about the story, I would have been perfectly satisfied had the show ended at intermission. But Act Two was even better. I begrudgingly admit that Webber deserves credit for some fun(ny) stylistic shifts, such as “Those Canaan Days” and “Benjamin Calypso”, both of which the 11 non-Joseph brothers sell delightfully. As Pharaoh, Kenneth Mosely brings the house down with “Song of the King”, and then even more so with its reprise. Considering that the latter’s musical style simply did not exist at the time of Joseph’s composition (late 1960s), special credit here (and elsewhere, such as the “Megamix” that closes the show with a twist on the practice of reprising a film’s entire score during the credits) is due music director Anthony Zediker.
I never would have guessed I could enjoy anything involving Andrew Lloyd Webber. And I doubt there are many ways of doing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat that would work for me. But this is damn sure one of them.
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at Musical Theatre West
Times: Fri 7pm, Sat 2pm & 7pm, Sun 1pm
The show runs through July 26.
Cost: starting at $20
Details: (562) 856-1999, musical.org
Venue: Carpenter Performing Arts Center (6200 W. Atherton, Long Beach)