Milwaukee kicks off its fall theater season with a brand-new national tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Although much of the staging is new, the leading man, Patrick Cassidy, is not. He has quite a few performances of Joseph under his belt, since he also headlined the 1999 Joseph tour as well.
The musical started out as a college project for Lloyd Webber and Rice, and was meant to tell the biblical story of Joseph and his brothers in a way that would attract young audiences. Each song is performed around a different musical theme, ranging from reggae to boogie. The fun of watching Joseph is to revel in the smart-aleck lyrics of the youthful creators and to enjoy the bump-and-grind of the dancers. Through the years, Joseph has gotten progressively more outrageous and outlandish, to the point where the story all but disappears. In this new tour, Joseph's father is first seen talking on a cell phone. The phone appears in several scenes, mainly to take digital photos of the proud family. In another instance, a country-inspired hoedown ("One More Angel in Heaven") is blown up to enormous proportions. If an audience member should suddenly reawaken from a brief snooze, he'd think he had been transported to a production of Oklahoma!.
As Joseph, Cassidy comes across as a tan, blond surfer dude. He's also extremely well-muscled and radiates such health that one never doubts he'll come out OK. The other headliner in this production is Amy Adams, notably from TV's "American Idol." Appearing with a shock of bright red on her punky brunette hairdo, she is an appealing addition to the show. However, although her singing is a highlight, Adams definitely needs to work on her acting skills. She's a bit stiff as she strolls around the stage.
With its story about 12 brothers, Joseph is, of course, populated with a large cast. In addition to the adults, there are also about 40 kids who sing and mainly keep out of the way as the dancers strut their stuff. Let's not forget the show's non-human characters, which include a camel, a goat and a snake.
The glitzy sets and costumes are as over-the-top as the staging. The choreography, which owes credit to basically all major Broadway choreographers, is basically redundant from start to finish. For all the slickness of this production, Joseph still manages to dazzle audiences with its bright, energetic style. However, persistent sound problems plagued opening night.
