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'Joseph' prevails over craziness
(by Herb Hammer - June 16, 2010)
THEATER, BY HERB HAMMER
'Joseph' prevails over craziness
The 40-year-old "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" has played just about everywhere by now. From Broadway to community theater, the Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice biblical musical has rarely been rejected. Audiences just plain love it.
Mercury Summerstock, the newest of the local theater companies, is staging "Joseph" at its temporary home in the Brooks Theatre of the Cleveland Play House.
Director Pierre-Jacques Brault has thrown caution to the winds with a curious staging he hopes will bring new life to the ancient tale.
As if Mr. Rice and Mr. Webber hadn't done enough to update the story from Genesis, Mr. Brault has given the show something audiences have never seen. It's like turning Shakespeare into vaudeville.
Gone are the costumes of biblical times. This time around, Joseph's brothers are dressed in checkered pants, black vests and bow ties. And that's just the beginning. This staging is risky, to say the least. Much of these are pleasant changes, but some do not work at all. Yet, once you get used to the razzle-dazzle, the show's new life becomes a pleasant change.
This production manages to keep all of the songs in order, and, while the show has a new look, the music has stayed exactly as the authors intended.
The choreography is another story. The crowded Brooks stage is loaded with talented dancers. Mr. Brault has kept the dances simple, but you'd never know it, for his exuberant and talented cast appears to be heaving a terrific time.
The story is much like the biblical legend. Joseph's 13 brothers sell him into slavery. Their jealousy gets the best of them when their father, Jacob, gives Joseph a spectacular colorful coat.
Joseph proves his resourcefulness by winding up as the Pharaoh of Egypt's right-hand man. When Joseph returns home, his brothers, now in deep trouble, welcome him. There's more to the story, but, basically, it's the music and the dancing and the constant humor that carry the day.
Jonathan Ramos, dressed mostly in his underwear, plays Joseph. The likable performer holds the show together and does wonderful work. His supporting cast, however, practically overpowers him.
While the music is purely delightful and the chorus could hardly have been better, Mr. Brault's overwhelming cleverness often goes too far.
A children's chorus drags an old Hollywood movie camera around the stage and snaps an action board. This hardly fits. Popping balloons and a whole array of silliness do some minor damage.
You do get used to the giant scaffold that serves as the set, even though the entire structure appears to be about to collapse.
The Mercury production wavers early on, but don't go away. The longer you hang around the more you like it. By the final curtain, "Joseph" has been sold. You find yourself forgiving the craziness and enjoying the rest.
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