Theater Review—    

An Entertaining Family Package Returns To Its Roots

By Julie Stern

 BRIDGEPORT — We may not have a President-elect yet but the holiday season is in full gear with Bridgeport Downtown Cabaret Theater’s new production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. The show marks the inauguration of the company’s twentieth anniversary.

Created in the seventies by the team of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber as a more upbeat counterpart to their rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph is primarily fun — for the audience as well as for the cast. It was probably fun even for the composer, who stitched together a pastiche of distinctive styles, from country to disco to bistro to calypso, all supremely easy on the ear while allowing the cast to dance their hearts out on a stage that becomes at times a psychedelic light show.

For anyone who hasn’t seen this show before, it recounts the story of Joseph, the son of the Biblical patriarch Jacob, whose 11 brothers so envied the favoritism their father showed him — as exemplified by giving him the coat of many colors to wear — that they plotted to get rid of Joseph, sold him into slavery in Egypt and told their father he had been killed by a wild beast.

Once in Egypt Joseph is made a servant in the house of Potiphar, but Potiphar’s wife seduces him and he ends up in jail. Freed on the strength of his ability to interpret dreams he ends up as the assistant to the Pharaoh, in charge of economic planning. When his starving brothers come to Egypt to beg for food they do not recognize him, allowing Joseph to get both his revenge and then reconciliation.

As a chorus, the brothers go from being cowboys — as they explain Joseph’s death to their father “Thar’s one more angel in heaven,  Thar’s one more star in the sky…” — to French peasants reminiscing about “Those Canaan Days” (“eh bien, lift your beret…”) to Calypso dancers  (“Not him!,” while pointing to Benjamin). In between there is the beautiful ballad by Joe Paparella as Joseph in jail (“Close every door to me”), a fine turn by Todd DuBail doing Pharaoh as an Elvis impersonation, and above all the powerful voice of Kristen Howe as the ever present narrator.

Every song is catchy and easy to listen to. Indeed if Joseph had lasted twice as long, the audience would have been just as happy. This is a delightful entertainment to bring the whole family to, but judging by the full house recently weekend it is soon going to be hard to get tickets. Plan ahead!

(Downtown Cabaret’s celebration of its return of Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which was first produced in Bridgeport in 1980 — well before the show went to Broadway — continues through February 18 with performances every Friday through Sunday; call for the holiday weekends schedule. Tickets are a$30.50 and $32.50, with senior, student and group discounts available. Call 203/576-1636 for details or reservations.)