Candlelight Dinner Playhouse Hits Yet-Another Home Run with Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Reviewed by Tom Jones
November 26, 2023
The narrators singingly open the story with “Jacob lived in the land of Canan many centuries ago, not long after the Bible began …a fine example of a family man.” He has twelve sons, with the latest one, Joseph, being his favorite. Jacob provides Joseph with a fancy new coat, and when Joseph puts it on, he flaunts his place in the family singing, “I look handsome, I look smart. I am a walking work of art.” This doesn’t rest well with his 11 peers. Sound familiar? Yes, the story is familiar, but this telling-in-song on stage in Johnstown this season is an “amazing” evening of enormous talent, great fun, and glorious entertainment.
This production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” is a continual delight from the moment the narrator begins to sing the story until the lights go out after a dancing/singing mix of the entire show. The stage is ablaze with color, the air is enlightened with clever music The audience is in continual awe as choreography has to be seen to be believed.
Part of the show’s enchantment is the inclusion of a variety of musical styles – country/western, Parisian cabaret, swinging calypso, and rock and roll disco. The sound system provides clarity to everything sung, and the orchestra is a sensation of its own.
Jalyn Courtenay Webb and Sarah Forman share the Narrator role on alternating performances. I have seen both of them in action. They are both sensational as they appear to love the story they are telling – that of an “awe-shucks” young man who looks at his life as a dream. Both have experience at the Candlelight, both with great voices. They openly seem to nourish Joseph as he goes from being the favorite son in Canaan to being a prisoner in Egypt and finally being the Pharaoh’s right- hand man later in life.
Although he has every right to become ostentatious and an ego-maniac, Caleb Wenger portrays Joseph as a somewhat low key young man who subsequently realizes his potential and becomes successful. Wenger’s voice is very good as the dreamer whose dreams come true.
While Joseph and the Narrator are the show’s leads, the supporting cast is brilliant on their own. Many are familiar to Candlelight audiences, including Ryne Haldeman who delights the audience in three different roles—Jacob, Potiphar, and the Baker. He is in fine voice and clever in every role and in every costume.
Chas Lederer is a winner as one of the sons, Levi, who delightfully tells Jacob “There is One More Angel in Heaven” in a raucous Country/Western hoe-down. Elton Tanega has all the right moves as Judah, taking the audience on a pulsating Calypso journey. Hugh Butterfield has a history of believability in a variety of roles over the years. This year he is the brother Issachar, and stepped in at the last moment to take the role of Pharaoh a few days before the show opened. He brought the house down with his Pharoah/Elvis impression.
Choreography is outstanding. The brothers’ dancing is extremely skillful. Cory Michael Klements and Jessie May Hobson are spellbinding, taking the audience to see them as French cabaret dancers.
Hobson is also an inventive Potiphar’s wife trying to seduce Joseph. Klements also portrays one of the brothers (Zebulon) and is the show’s dance captain.
Everything is in great shape for this show. Bryan Bell is the Director and shares choreography responsibilities with Matthew Dailey as Associate Choreographer. Bell is returning to Candlelight after 13 years of amazing audiences in a variety of theaters. Janice Vlachos is Music Director and conducts the excellent orchestra. Dailey wowed Candlelight audiences in “Singin’ in the Rain” and recently directed the theater’s “The Little Mermaid.” Vlachos recently retired from teaching at Boulder’s Fairview High School and has conducted music for more than 30 musicals, including “Joseph.”
Joseph’s tale has been around for centuries. Basic story comes from the Book of Genesis in the Bible’s Old Testament, verses 37-50. This musical version began as a 15-minute boy’s school cantata in England in 1968. It was the work of musician Andew Lloyd Webber and his schoolmate, lyricist Tim Rice. It took a back seat in their priorities as they gained great acclaim with the release of the concert album recording of ”Jesus Christ Superstar” in 1971. They then returned to their “Joseph” cantata, opening it in expanded version London’s West End in 1973, and the next year at the Haymarket Theatre as a full musical. It opened on Broadway in 1982 and has been a worldwide favorite for more than 40 years.
Andrew Lloyd Webber went on to further acclaim as musical composer of “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Sunset Boulevard,” “Starlight Express,” “Aspects of Love,” “Evita,” “Love Never Dies,“ “Tell Me on a Sunday,” ”Whistle Down the Wind,” “The Beautiful Game ”and more!
There is even a talking camel! Joseph will be wearing his technicolor dreamcoat through January 28, 2024. Tickets will be difficult to obtain for this heartwarming spectacle.
“Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
To January 26, 2024
Candlelight Dinner Playhouse
Johnstown, CO 80534
Box Office 970/744-3747
Online: www.coloradocandlelight.com
Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis & Carl Perkins Are All Back In Town
Elvis Presly gained instant stardom when he signed with Sam Phillips at Sun Records, but has said goodbye to Sun and signed with RCA. Sun Records is floundering. Unbeknownst to Phillips, Johnny Cash has signed with Columbia Records when his contract with Sun is up. There is still friction between Presley and Perkins. Presley soared to fame with a song written by Perkins – “Blue Suede Shoes” and Perkins is still ticked that Presley got the fame that Perkins sought. All is not sunny and bright, but there is an obvious comradery among the group whose music was taking the world by storm.
That December get-together is the interesting basis of reviving great music of the ‘50s and sharing some of that era’s musical history with today’s audiences. The show is a wow! The music was famous more than 60 years ago, and much of it remains amazingly familiar.
Chas Lederer is Sam Phillips, the Sun Record owner/founder. He doesn’t sing or dance, but is effective in moving the story along and keeping the audience well-informed between the terrific musical memories. The set is an interesting look at Phillip’s recording studio, an very impressive look at the1950s, abounding memorabilia and a touch of tackiness.
“Quartet” was written by Coln Escott and Floyd Mutrux and opened on Broadway in 2010 after several tryouts and regional productions. It has subsequently been produced in several venues in the United States, England and Canada.
Greatness On Stage At The Candlelight
Susanna Cathryn Ballenski and Jack Wardell head the cast. Ballenksi is the beautiful mermaid, living under the sea, but interested by the “humans” she has seen on her visits to the shore. Wardell is the handsome, human, Prince Eric. He is onboard a ship when cast into the sea in a violent storm. Under the water Ariel finds him and takes him to the surface to survive. Ballenksi and Wardell are flawless. They are beautiful, handsome, excellent performers.
Candlelight Dinner Playhouse Triumphs Yet Again!
Entering the Candlelight Theater at the same time we did on opening night an elderly couple mentioned they had already seen the show twice, in other venues, and were looking forward to seeing it again. The woman noted, “I love this show.” As we sat down to order dinner, we asked the waiter if he had seen the preview the previous night. He said, “Yes. I still don’t know what it was all about, but it is sensational.” I realized that maybe I had been missing something that first time around so many years ago and decided to give it my best attention.
British musical genius Andrew Lloyd Webber became acquainted with the poems of T. S. Elliot when he was very young, being especially enamored with his “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.” Webber’s musical theatre success began in 1968 with “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” followed by “Jesus Christ Superstar” in 1970, and” Evita” in 1976. Shortly thereafter he began setting Elliot’s feline poetry to music. This became a difficult process, involving other lyricists and writers to possibly make a coherent musical out of the Elliot poems. Everything began to fall into place and he went full speed ahead to produce the musical – only to find backers not as interested as he was. Despite his early successes, he mortgaged his own home to finally come up with funds needed for “Cats.” It opened in London in 1981 to mixed reviews, but audiences were enchanted and began to tell their friends, who evidently liked it better than I did.
“Cats” subsequently began garnering every award possible, including “Best Musical” in London and America’s “Tony Award for Best Musical” in New York City. As of last year, “Cats” has turned out to be an incredible financial success – worldwide gross of 4.5 billion dollars. Webber didn’t stop writing, but went on to provide the world with such amazements as “Phantom of the Opera” in 1986 and “Sunset Boulevard” in 1993. He currently has a new version of “Cinderella” playing in London.
During the space of about two hours the cats sing and dance about themselves, several indicating why they should be chosen for the “reborn honor” that year. There are cats with all manner of different occupations, personalities, and traits. Probably the oldest and least-liked is Grizabella who is somewhat ignored by others when she comes into the yard. She is probably the most mis-understood, and it takes some support from Old Deuteronomy to result in the other cats better appreciating their “old” friend.
Mystical Village in Scottish Highlands comes to life. It is a beauty!
