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REVIEW: "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat"
Published: 12/16/2012 9:10 AM
Last Modified: 12/16/2012 9:10 AM

Some reviews are easier to write than others. All that really needs to be said, “This is a great show. Go see it as soon as you can.”

That’s the case with Tulsa Project Theatre’s production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” which opened this weekend at Assembly Hall in the Tulsa Convention Center.

This is without doubt the best show this company has produced in its relative brief history. Other productions have been more ambitious and elaborate, such as its multi-media presentations of “The Rocky Horror Show” and “Rent” at the Hard Rock Casino, yet “Joseph” is the show in which all the elements that go into making a piece of musical theater have been fitted perfectly together.

Take the singing. Tulsa Project Theatre has put together the best ensemble of vocalists I’ve heard in a local musical production in years. On every level –– adult individuals, adult ensembles, children ensembles –– the singing I heard at Saturday’s matinee performance was just about faultless.

For example, the men’s number “Those Canaan Days” was almost worth the price of admission by itself, from Sean Patrick Rooney’s deliberately faux French accent that set up a wonderful visual gag to the seamless blend and impressive stamina of the 10 voices at the song’s high point –– a moment that also managed to be as silly as it was sublime.

And that points to another reason why this production works so well. The cast, under the guidance of director and choreographer Heather Hall Newman, bring just the sort of rambunctious, child-like energy and knowing, sly humor this relatively accurate yet still highly stylized retelling of the biblical story of Joseph needs to be effective.

Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice originally wrote “Joseph” to be performed at an English school, and even as the show evolved over the years into a full-scale musical, it has always benefitted from an understanding that children are its principal audience.

So the 13 children in the show are dressed up in parochial school uniforms, with the Narrator (Carly Casey) as their very stylishly dressed teacher, telling them the story of how Joseph (Robbie Bennett) and his dreams that one day his brothers would bow down to him as if in reverence landed him in all sorts of trouble –– from being sold into slavery by his disgruntled brothers, to being tossed in jail by his owner because the owner’s wife couldn’t keep her hands to herself.

Casey, who started her career with local companies such as Theatre Tulsa and Theatre Arts and joined the “Joseph” cast after touring the country in “Beauty and the Beast,” handles the variety of singing styles the Narrator has to employ with ease. She shifts neatly from operatic high notes to full-out Broadway belting, with no loss of power or lack of clarity.

Bennett, last seen in TPT’s “The Rocky Horror Show” as Brad Majors, played an innocent of a different kind as Joseph, from the boyish wistfulness of “Any Dream Will Do” to a powerful rendition of what is one of Lloyd Webber’s best songs, “Close Every Door.”

Chris Middlebrook channeled his inner Elvis in “Song of the King,” as Pharaoh described his dreams. Jared Jirele demonstrates athletic dance moves and a good country singing voice in “One More Angel in Heaven,” and Roderick Hudson sways through “Benjamin Calypso” in a most light-hearted way.

Chris Rose’s scenic design was simple but effective –– the sphinx head that dominates the second act is very well done –– and augmented by some clever video animations created by MW Productions.

Kent Dennis led the 11-piece band that tossed off Lloyd Webber’s melange of musical styles with panache.

“Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” continues with performances at 2 p.m. Sunday and Dec. 23, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 21, and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 22. For tickets: 1-877-TULSA-CC, tulsaworld.com/tpttix.



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ARTS

James D. Watts Jr. has lived in Oklahoma for most his life, even though he still has people saying to him, "Don't sound like you're from around these parts." A University of Oklahoma Phi Beta Kappa graduate, Watts has received the Governor Arts Award, Harwelden Award and the National Conference of Christians and Jews Beth Macklin Award for his writing. Before coming to the Tulsa World, Watts worked for the Tulsa Tribune.

Contact him at (918) 581-8478.

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