Joseph and the Amazing
Technicolor Dreamcoat

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is always a fun show to see because of its pastiche of song styles by Andrew Lloyd Webber, its amusing Tim Rice lyrics, its anachronistic references and its brevity. This one-night-only production did not disappoint in any way.  In fact, with the always-spectacular David Burnham in the lead, it was a stunning, enjoyable evening of theater that never took itself too seriously.

Burnham succeeded Donny Osmond on the national tour of the show several years ago, and he stepped back into the lead role for this staging in complete control — seeming wide-eyed and innocent at the beginning and growing in confidence and maturity as the story progressed. And that voice!  Burnham turned “Close Every Door” into a three-act play, starting slowly and quietly, then building to a climax, then raising the key and using the full power of his voice to electrify the audience.  He expressed real joy spinning around in his coat of many colors (“Joseph’s Coat”) and sincere purpose in the uplifting “Any Dream Will Do.”

Misty Cotton as the Narrator enunciated perfectly, though she seemed a bit shrill at times—which may have been the fault of an over-amplified microphone—and Lorenzo Lamas as the Pharaoh was in his best Elvis mode — making his entrance from a side door of the theater and moving through the audience to bound onto the stage in leather jacket and chaps to take control of his brief moment in the spotlight.  However, when he left the stage with the declaration, “Pharaoh has left the building,” Lamas apparently took himself seriously — failing to return for the curtain call, though he was visible in the lobby after the show, posing for photos.

There were two other standouts in the cast:  Jim Borstelmann, utilizing his best Fosse moves as Potiphar, and Lonnie Henderson, all lithe body and swiveling hips, as the calypso soloist in “Benjamin Calypso.”

Oddly, despite the presence of six women as the “Narrator ensemble,” seven members of the “men’s ensemble,” seven women identified in the program as “wives/dancers” and a children’s chorus of nearly 50, there were only seven brothers visible, despite numerous references in the lyrics to 11.

This production, a 75-minute concert version without sets or costumes, flowed easily, despite apparently limited rehearsal time.  The solid orchestra was under the direction of Greg Haake.

The show was staged by the Musical Theater of Los Angeles and sponsored by the Find Your Light Foundation (formerly the Josh Groban Foundation) as a fundraiser for music education for children.

(Pictured: David Burnham; Photo by Daniel M. Lam)

Elliot Zwiebach
Cabaret Scenes
February 15, 2012
www.cabaretscenes.org