Aaron Young Struts and Sings Sensationally as the Favored Son of Biblical Fame

Reviewed by Tom Jones
November 19, 2017

“Yes,” he claims, “I look handsome. I look smart. I am a walking work of art, such a dazzling coat of many colors. How I love my coat of many colors.” So sings Aaron Young as Joseph, as he unabashedly taunts his 11 brothers with his new robe. Seems Joseph is the favorite son of his father, Jacob, and wears his new coat with great élan. Too much élan, as the brothers devise a plot to not only rid themselves of Joseph’s coat, but of Joseph himself. Joseph does more than annoy his brothers with his fancy coat, he sings about it with an “amazing” voice. Rarely has Joseph sounded so good.

Sound familiar? The story of Jacob and his 12 sons has been around since the Bible began. There were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Naphtali, Issachar, Asher, Dan, Zebulun, Gad, Benjamin, Judah, and Joseph – his father’s “favorite son.” The musical version, crafted by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, seems to have been around “forever.” But it has been less than 50 years since they worked on a little show for a boy’s school in London – a little musical fable which originally lasted about 20 minutes.

The “little show” has been expanded substantially and has become one of the most successful musicals in history. The Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities has produced the show six times in previous years, but not since 2009. When I learned it was to be the Center’s Holiday Musical, my initial reaction was “Ho Hum. Not very Christmassy.” How wrong I was. No, it does not have a Holiday theme, but is perhaps the best “present” that the Center could provide to audiences this season. It is a joy to see and to hear.

The show has sometimes been stylized so severely to be hardly recognizable. Director Gavin Mayer has wisely gone back to the more traditional performance, and has provided a show for the ages. The excellent performer Aaron Young is in great company, as the entire cast is talent to be reckoned with. Sarah Rex played the Narrator several years ago in Arvada, and has returned to charm the socks off the audience and to raise the roof with her voice. Stephen Day is excellent in two roles – that of Jacob and as Potiphar. Norrell Moore is an alluring and temping Mrs. Potiphar. James Frances gets “all shook up” as the (Elvis Presley) Pharaoh.

The crazy diversions of song and dance styles are more fun than ever. P. Tucker Worley is the country western voice as Levi in the “One More Angel in Heaven Hoedown.” Jake Mendes is Reuben as a French charmer looking back on “Those Canaan Days” while the family is on the verge of starvation. Emma Martin and Michael Russell give even more excitement to the French Cabaret of “Those Canaan Days” in a French Apache Dancers routine. Michael Canada is excellent as he rouses the brothers in Egypt with his “Benjamin’s Calypso.”

Kitty Skillman Hilsabeck provides the delightful chorography, with Roberto Sinha as Musical Director, and Brian Mallgrave as Scenic Designer. Lighting is by Sean Mallary, sound by David Thomas, and Costumes by December Mathisen.

The entire show is less than two hours, including intermission. The audience was having such a terrific time, however, that no one was eager to leave. But they could go home humming such great melodies as “Any Dream Will Do,” and remembering just how handsome and how smart was Joseph as a walking work of art in his “Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”

“Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”
Where: Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities.
6901 Wadsworth Boulevard, Arvada, CO 80003
When: Through December 23, 2017
Tickets: 720/898-7200
Click Here For More Information: