Joseph and the Amazing Golden Apple Dream Machine
The first recording was made in 1969, and in 1973 it opened in the West End at the Albany Theatre. It didn't reach Broadway until 1982. And as I spent most of the Seventies and all the Eighties and Nineties in Germany, I'd never really been interested in theatre as a whole and especially not in West End shows, since a) Germany's big cities never really opened up to UK or US musicals back then - "Cats", "Starlight Express" and "Phantom of the Opera" were the only ones that I recall being performed on German stages in German at that time - and b) I could never have afforded to see them anyway. So when Joseph first became popular in London in the Seventies, the show and the accompanying "Joseph-Mania" went right over my head.
Around the end of the Eighties, I remember the UK and Continental Europe going bananas about the spate of Australian soaps that took over day-time TV; the series' stars would then come to Britain to become even more famous. Two of them, Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan, starred in the extremely popular soap "Neighbours", and of course eventually became an item privately (albeit for a short time), making them fodder for the tabloids. Whether it was a publicity gag or they really did like each other, I'll never know, but it worked and they became household names. They even sang a duet together entitled "Especially for You", and sold over one million copies in the UK in early 1989. I met Kylie in London in 1990 when I was promoting INXS and she was going out with lead singer Michael Hutchence (the song "Suicide Blonde" was written about her).
Jason eventually fell into obscurity, but before he did, he took over the lead in Joseph in the expanded show, which was restaged in 1991 at the London Palladium. I think that this was when I first became aware of it. Donny Osmond became Joseph from 1993 - 1997, and released a video version in 1999. He also toured North America in the role.
In 1997, a revival of the 1991 Palladium production was the subject of BBC TV's search for a new leading man to play Joseph. Introduced by Graham Norton, more than 3 million viewers cast telephone votes during the series final on June 9 2007 and made 25-year-old West End understudy Lee Mead "officially the people's Joseph".
And so here we are, and until Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat opened last week at the Golden Apple Dinner Theatre directed by Kyle Ennis Turoff, I still hadn't seen it or bothered with the music. This is the Apple's third Joseph production, after successful romps in 1989 and 1993.
So imagine my joy when the charismatic Heather Kopp (Narrator) opened the show and the cast gradually grew on the stage in size and song, each one with a smile bigger than the other, as they began to tell the story of Joseph in Genesis through Andrew Lloyd Webber's music and Tim Rice's lyrics.
I loved this production. The melodious songs go down like a good wine, the cast performs the show with gusto and wonderful temperament, and Kyle has put her stamp on it with some hilarious tongue-in-cheek numbers. As we have come to expect at the Apple, John Visser keeps a tight musical ship, Dewayne Barrett has laid down crisp choreography, Dee Richards' costumes are fun, imaginative and colorful, and Michael Newton Brown's set are very attractive and variable, allowing extremely fast set changes.
Heather, who has blossomed into a wonderful leading lady on the SW Florida theatre scene over the last two years with principal roles in Oklahoma, Urinetown and The Producers, takes the stage once again with Craig Weiskerger, who plays a very lovable Joseph. It's delightful to watch Apple boss Robert Ennis Turoff on his stage again as Jacob and Potiphar, as well as Dewayne Barrett reviving his role as Pharaoh with a fantastic Elvis impersonation ("Song of the King"), accompanied by a doo-wopping bunch of hilarious fainting groupies in perfect sync. Berry Ayers (Levi) gets to show off his vocal talents with "One More Angel In Heaven", as does Roy Johns (Reuben) in "Those Canaan Days", the French cabaret number that features some great choreography from the beautiful Samantha Barrett (Potiphar's Wife) in the arms of Mr. Six-Pack himself, Charles McKenzie (Zebulon).
Kyle has cast a great ensemble of vocal and dancing talent: the usual Apple suspects, of course, but also brand new actors to the area: Sarah Farnam ("Carnival" and "Golddiggers"), Jared Walker, Keone Dent, Matthew Mello, J. Paul Wargo, Mike Calijan, Toph McRae, Jonathan Hall (Felicity, Sarasota's most famous Drag Queen), Kirk Hughes ("Candide", "The Spitfire Grill"), Keone Dent, Pamela McKenna, Geena Ravella, Casy Shea, Erin Weinberger and Garie Jean Williams ("Gypsy"). And needless to say, I fell in love with the scantily clad wives and slave-girls!
Go and see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Golden Apple - it'll make you happy and send you home with a broad smile on your face.
I'm glad I waited forty years to see it. But don't just take my word for it - Jay Handelman has written a great review for the Sarasota Herald Tribune at
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20090330/ARTICLE/903301033/2073/FEATURES?Title=Golden-Apple-has-fun-interpreting-Joseph-
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the
Golden Apple Dinner Theatre
Runs thru May 31
Call 941-366-5454 for reservations
http://www.thegoldenapple.com/
25 North Pineapple Ave.
Sarasota, Florida 34236
Phone: (941) 366-5454
1-800-652-0920
Tags: amazing, and, apple, dinner, dreamcoat, golden, joseph, technicolor, the, theatre
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