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Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is a musical with lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The story is of a young man with a penchant for dreaming. These dreams tend to annoy his eleven brothers who finally decide they have had enough of “Daddy’s favorite” and plot to rid themselves of the kid with the shiny new coat. They end up selling him to some Ishmaelites and off he goes to Egypt where, through a few bumps along the way ends up being second in command of the Egypt. And it’s all set to music.

Joseph, played by Thomas Copas, started out somewhat timid, but warmed up and gave a positive performance. Ellie Borzilleri as The Narrator had some mic problems and tended to drop out on some of the higher notes, but showed real emotions and stayed engaged in the action on stage even when she was not singing.

Jason Damaso is perhaps the youngest Jacob we’ve ever seen in the part. Perhaps a beard would help make the Father of the Twelve Tribes appear older. Damaso was also Potiphar and a guard in Egypt. Damaso swayed to the music and seemed to thoroughly enjoy his various roles. Bill Brown also played a few different roles, the most notable was Pharaoh. Borrowing heavily from another “king” Brown swiveled and jiggled his way through the songs, to the delight of the audience.

The ensemble cast had their dance choreography (Megan May) down pretty well. Lee Michele Rosenthal had a slightly different take on the costumes, which made the show original. Instead of the traditional Biblical garb, Rosenthal went with colors and baseball caps for each of the 12 brothers. This worked well, except when the caps were pulled down and their faces disappeared. Keeping the caps up allowed us to look and feel the emotions on the brothers’ faces as they glared malevolently at the “golden child.”

Even though the stage at the Arts Barn is small, Set Designer and Director Rachele A. Horn made creative use of the space. Having parts of the wall become a boat and the jail coming out and set up, as well as the fence for the song ‘One More Angel in Heaven’ were creative as well as smoothly brought on and removed. One minor problem was the bars of the jail cell obscured the butler for the entire scene.

With a total running time of 75 minutes, including intermission, DTC’s production of Joseph is in the running for the “Most Gratuitous Intermission Award.” There really wasn’t a need for an intermission only 30 minutes into the show. But overall, this was a fun, lively musical that refused to take itself seriously. It was obvious that most of the audience at the performance we attended were getting their first introduction to Joseph, and they were having a great time.

Photo Gallery

Photos by Elli Swink

Cast

• Narrator: Ellie Borzilleri
• Joseph: Thomas Copas
• Jacob/Potiphar/Guard: Jason Damaso
• Asher/Egyptian/Slave: Bryant Nguyen
• Simeon/Egyptian/Slave: Bryndon McNellage
• Issacher:/Pharaoh/Camel: Bill Brown
• Benjamin/Egyptian/Slave: Camryn Shegogue
• Judah/Egyptian/Slave: Matthew Rosenthal
• Reuben/Butler/Egyptian/Slave: Jonathan Cagle-Mulberg
• Mrs. Potiphar/Woman: Megan May
• Levi/Egyptian/Slave: Harry Lemont
• Dan/Egyptian/Slave: Patrick Schubert
• Naphtali/Egyptian/Slave: Neal Davidson
• Gad/Egyptian/Slave: Matthew Kopp
• Wife/Camel/Baker/Woman: Sam Kelvie
• Zebulun/Egyptian/Slave: Ivan Carlo
• Wife Ishmaelite/Woman: Julia Donato
• Wife/Ishmaelite/Woman: Nikki Mazza
• Children’s Chorus: Svea Johnson, Katherine Judge, Haley Mazza, Jamison Shegogue, Gabriella Sanchez, Brooke Touchette, Darcey Touchette

Artistic & Production Team

• Director: Rachelle A. Horn
• Co-Producers: Carol Boyle & Elli Swink
• Music Director: Marci Shegogue
• Choreographer: Megan May
• Technical Director/Lighting Design: Rick Swink
• Properties: Maria Littlefield
• Set Dressing: Maria Littlefield
• Costumes: Lee Michele Rosenthal
• Set Design: Rachelle A Horn
• Spotlight Operator: Milaena Hamilton
• Master Carpenter: Jim Korte
• Set Painting: Maria Littlefield
• Painting/Construction Crew: Barry Bratburd, Judy Feola, Jim Korte, Maria Littlefield, Megan May, Elli Swink
• Photography: Elli Swink
• Program: Performing Arts Press

Orchestra

• Music Director/keyboard: Marci Shegogue
• Flute: Lesley Cooper
• Reeds: Chris Condon, Charlie Condon
• Trumpet: Mark Allred
• Guitar: Claudio Ferreira
• Bass Guitar: Thomas Lipe
• Drums: Alex Krasniewski
• Additional Percussion: Jamison Shegogue

Disclaimer: Damascus Theatre Company provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review. DTC also purchased advertising on the ShowBizRadio.net web site, which did not influence this review.