In the beginning
Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber created a Sunday school lesson called JOSEPH
AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT. At the end of Turtle Lane’s remarkable thirty year
reign, Rachel Bertone returns JOSEPH (playing through Dec. 30th) to
its roots. Not to worry, it’s the JOSEPH you know, just infinitely better.
Bertone directs
and choreographs, making story and dancing inseparable. The result? The dancing
is so tight and the story so moving that you see JOSEPH through new eyes. (I
personally never understood its appeal before. This JOSEPH I would happily see
again!)
The children,
who are usually shunted to the sides of the stage as window dressing, are
center stage here, as if the Narrator character (the remarkable Shonna Cirone)
were teaching them a spirited Bible lesson. They’re part of the action, as if
they were imagining the story as she reads it to them. (The Turtle Lane children, in fact,
contributed the drawings which are projected behind them as scenery.) And they
sing beautifully!
Bertone has a
dream cast. (Not just the usual “any dream will do” cast.) The TLP performers pull
off the wild satire without sacrificing sentiment. When Joseph (the exceptional
Peter Mill) is reunited with his father (an impressive Rick Sherburne), I had a
tear in my eye. It’s never been anything but comic in other productions. Who
knew it had heart!
From Kyle W. Carlson’s magnificent Presley of
a Pharoah to the spectacular “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” hoedown
(captained by Alex Nemiroski); From Dan Rodriguez’ savvy music direction to the
surprise rewind at the end (Be careful what you wish for) this JOSEPH is a
Biblical gas!
