So what is it about Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat that makes it such an irresistible show to so many people? I cannot figure it out. The story is one of the most famous stories out of the Old Testament, but in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s telling, it offers up a rather convoluted moral that I’m still not sure about. Is it “don’t play favorites with your kids”? “If your dad makes you his favorite, watch your back”? “Don’t get caught canoodling with your boss’s wife, even if it was entirely her idea”? “If you end up imprisoned in a foreign land, be sure to work on your dream interpretation skills”? I don’t know. By the end of the show, pretty much everyone is living happily ever after- but the plot line that gets us there is not exactly tidy nor completely logical. And the score of “Joseph” is certainly catchy- and it offers up an almost dizzying array of different styles – but musically, this is no masterpiece.
So what is the secret of this musical’s hold over people? Why are so many people, young and old alike, drawn to it? Why did the RTG’s auditions for the show draw such an amazing array of talented people who wanted to be part of it? Why is it that so many singers who are accustomed to singing major roles with us are perfectly willing – and actually excited – to sing in the ensemble of this show? And why is this show already shaping up to be one of the biggest sellers in RTG history?
And here’s one more question that has me baffled: Why do I love this show so much?
Maybe by the end of this run of performances, I will have that figured out. Meanwhile, I’m just thrilled to be part of one of the happiest experiences in my fourteen years of doing musicals here at the Racine Theater Guild. This production has felt charmed from the moment we announced auditions and a throng of talented singers came out of the woodwork to audition. Stage Director Doug Instenes, choreographer Mary Leigh Sturino and I faced the most enviable problem we could have possibly had – too many talented people! (The opposite problem is SO much worse!)
We have ended up with a cast that is packed with talent- but also a group that is undertaking this show with such joyous energy as well as with a really sweet spirit of cooperation and goodwill. Rarely have I seen a group that was the proverbial “one big happy family” as much as this group is. Maybe it is the good-natured sweetness of this show …. which is not to say that everything in this show is happy- but rather that it’s all about telling a great story to children in a way that will keep them engaged and entertained. And there is something really wonderful about having children and adults together in the same show. (I really applaud the way in which director Doug Instenes has incorporated the children into this production in all kinds of ways. They are not relegated to the background the way it sometimes is in Joseph productions.)
And maybe I also enjoy this show because it does not present backbreaking musical difficulties. I don’t mean to minimize the musical challenges of this score- but it’s just challenging enough to be interesting and stimulating for the cast. And one of the things that is most challenging about it is that the ensemble is given SO much to do. In fact, I dare say that our ensemble members probably have to learn more music than they would as the lead in many shows. In many ways, they are the show! And for many of the adults in the show, this is an opportunity for them to reconnect with a show that has meant a lot to them for years and years. Certain shows represent that to people, and “Joseph” is one of them, for sure! I know that’s the case for Kara Ernst-Shalk, our marvelous narrator, who has loved this show for more than twenty years and who has long dreamt of being the Narrator. What feels better than being able to cross something off of your bucket list?!? We’re also blessed to have a really fine Joseph in Noah Chartrand, but I’ll say more about him on another occasion.
And last but hardly least, this show – and our production – is all about one of my favorite things: COLORS!
Our staging is alive with bright and vibrant colors- plus Noah is wearing a coat that was actually worn by Donny Osmond during his last national tour in the show. (His name is right in the label.) So when you come to the theater, you will find yourself bedazzled even before a note of music has been sung – or a single move has been danced. (This cast really knows how to dance, and our choreographer, Mary Leigh Sturino, has done a brilliant job in her very first RTG gig, of filling this production with dazzling dance.)
But I find myself coming back again and again to those incredibly cute and talented youngsters who comprise our children’s chorus and who are such an essential element in our production. (And I’m not just saying that because one of those young people is my talented niece Lorelai.) When we first began rehearsals, they were very shy around each other – scarcely talking except if there was someone that they had already known. They were a group of strangers, no doubt about it- and I remember expressing concern to Kathy about whether or not that rather icy shyness would ever thaw. Kathy has been around the block when it comes to children (after all, she’s taught music in public school for over thirty years) and she assured me that before long they would become good buddies to each other – and she has never been more right about anything than she was about that! This group has been great in every way, and I could not be happier. And it is thrilling to know that several of them who are doing their very first show of any kind have fallen head over heels in love with this thing called theater. And maybe that’s at the heart of why people love “Joseph” so much – because it seems to embody so much of what live theater is all about ….. telling a story, enthralling an audience, working together, having fun, and sharing all of the colors of the rainbow with a world that can sometimes seem so very gray. One of Doug’s touches in our production is that at the very beginning of the show, he has the children’s chorus going out into the audience and welcoming people to the performance. Chances are that some of those people who have come into our theater are tired or discouraged or worried about the world. But how can you not look into the eyes of these warm, welcoming children and not feel the gray lift away?
