Joseph and his Amazing...Everything!

Bring your mummy and the whole family to The Lexington Theatre Company!

Comments and Observations by Kevin Lane Dearinger

Andrew Lloyd Webber is a prolific and wildly popular composer. He can be grand. He can be pompous. He can be bombastic. He can be undone by musical hubris.

 But none of this applies to his earliest success: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. 

With Joseph, Lord Andrew is dear. He is sincere. He is fun. 

So is lyricist Tim Rice. Very. 

Joseph takes a famous Bible story about family, dreams, forgiveness, and redemption, and keeps its story about just those things. 

Simple and true.

Ah, but the story is told with great invention, a warm heart, and a lovely case of the sillies.

All of which are evident in the intricate and inventive work of director-choreographer Lyndy Franklin Smith. As Lexington theatregoers should now know well, she doesn’t just direct scenes and stage exhilarating dances; she constructs an honest narrative that can dazzle with entertainment and then move you to sudden tears. 

Dr. Brock Terry’s musical guidance keeps the tempos crisp and the lyrics crisper; he consistently inspires actors and musicians to bring their A-Game to every moment. Elizabeth Payne makes the costumes pop in the bright swirl of Tanya Harper’s lighting, as the performers strut and sing and tell their ancient story on a colorful and playful set, designed J Branson and built by Kevin D. Nedberg and his crew for this production. Keep an eye open for the visual jokes Easter-egged here, there, and just where you don’t expect them. 

In other words, The Lex continues to uphold its tradition of excellence and creative ambition. (More on that later!)

Joseph is theatrical joy!

Darian Sanders leads the way as an ebullient Joseph, singing with emotional vulnerability, electric presence, and megawatt smile. When he opens up his top notes, he takes us to church and upward into the heavens. Does he, like most musical Josephs, take his shirt off? Well, just maybe. He certainly looks great in that Ancient Egyptian headcloth thingy with the crownlike band. 

For the record, that headgear is called a “nemes.” And that broad ornamental collar that Darien gets to wear is called a “wesekh” or an “usekh.” Use this knowledge to amaze your friends. Feel free to fake the pronunciation!

So, you can see that Joseph might be educational—if you insist. 

Hysterically historical. 

Or historically hysterical. 

The sillies abound in this show. 

Audrey Belle Adams is the joyously omniscient Narrator. Oh, Audrey Belle! She owns the stage with a generous soul and sings with a voice like sunshine, warm and nourishing. She weaves together the threads of the story with skill and controls the strings of action with a delicious finesse. When the right moment arrives, a wave of her hand and a compassionate nod of her head can stir the conscience of a hardened heart. She can also get down and boogie with Joseph! Her performance is a gift.

As Papa Jacob, Tim X Davis is a suitably bewildered patriarch who might have been happier with fewer sons and wives, and he doubles delightfully as Potiphar, a man gleeful with earthly success. 

And made miserable by one troublesome spouse. 

 Cleopatra? Nope. Or perhaps, Nefertiti? Nope! It’s the biblically-left-unnamed “Potiphar’s Wife!” That wayward wanton is played by the invaluable Abby Hesselroth. In full vamp. 

Ethan Zeph’s lip-curling Pharoah swaggers from Memphis on the River Nile to Memphis on the Mississippi, finding his inner-King, unleashing some extraordinarily silly hip action. Watch this actor’s full commitment to the iconic body movement of his character! Contained, sustained, and priceless! Giggle and snort if you must, but stage maidens will be swooning!

And could that be a hooded cobra on Pharoah’s gilded microphone? 

Very Egyptian!

In a very silly way! 

Joseph wags its tale with such anachronisms.

A special shout-out to Esther Neel and her props crew who were given a theme and cheerfully ran with it to the giddy land of Monty Python by way of the Book of Genesis. Watch for an adding machine, some silly signage, a coy feather duster, piles of gilded Egypto-crypto, and, just perhaps, a gigantic goat. 

Watch also for an outrageous assortment of hats: straw boaters, cowboy Stetsons, a chef’s toque blanche, a peasant bonnet with basket firmly affixed, feathered-headdresses from a casino runway, truncated coneheads, and glittering faux-Egyptian pill-boxes. 

Joseph’s brothers may not be old Jacob’s favorite sons, but they are audience favorites. A flash mob of Marx Brothers? The Three Stooges times four, minus one? They showcase their bubbling silliness in a rousing barn dance with the high-kickin’ womenfolk, an island calypso pulsing to maracas and bongos, and then a Parisian number, larded with Canaanite rue and deeply French-fried on some Rue by the Seine.

Togezzer zhey tilt zher berets, toast wiz zee bit-taah vin, zmoke zee ziggurat, and zing of zee bon-temps of zee bezzer daze zo long ago. 

C’est bon, n’est-ce pas?

C’est aussi ridicule. 

Merci, bon Dieu!

(Silly promised. Silly delivered.) 

Joined again by the equally-talented women of The Lex’s summer company, the brothers also perform an Egyptian choreographic turn that suggests Fosse stalking a sphinx while addressing the age-old archeological question, “What happens when hieroglyphic jazz hands are flattened by an Acme steamroller...in a disco...on the Vegas Strip?” 

“Bap! Shu wa du wa, bap bap!”

With an emphasis on the “du wa!”

Through it all, silliness included, the stage is blessed by the presence of an impressive children’s chorus, watching, listening, learning, and chiming in with crystalline harmonies. They anchor the show’s innocence and demand its honesty. They are full of the exuberant talent that is the future of musical theatre. 

Joseph is, well, amazing! 

Of course. 

In my first blog-commentary this summer, I stepped out of third-person to recall the “Show Me!” attitude that accompanied me to the first production at The Lex ten years ago. I just didn’t know then what sort of theatre company it was going to be. 

Now, I know. 

Oh, how I know. 

Season after season of excellence on and off the stage! 

Ten years of beautifully cast, beautifully produced, beautifully performed, beautifully realized musicals. 

The Lex has excelled in honoring the golden classics and investigating the challenges of the newer shows. The Sound of Music and White Christmas soared with song and sincerity. West Side Story and Memphis devastated the heart and gutted the conscience. Chicago and Jersey Boys sizzled the soul. A Christmas Story and The Little Mermaid delighted and enchanted. Newsies and 42nd Street kicked up their heels to celebrate the human spirit. 

Each show also kicked up the expectations for The Lex. Higher and higher. Never a disappointment. Always a new thrill accomplished.

So, what have I learned? 

I have learned to trust The Lex. 

I look forward to the announcement of each new season, not to ask, “Why this show?” but to say with certainty, every time, “I can’t wait to see what they do!” 

Full disclosure: I am not just the company historian. I am a long-term subscriber (Orchestra, row B on the aisle) and a donor. I often attend every performance of a production. Proud! That’s what I am! 

I believe in The Lexington Theatre Company. 

I believe in their skill, their artistry, their professionalism, their reverence for the theatre, their education program, their high standards, their goals, and their long-term commitment to Central Kentucky’s cultural community. 

I have been asked why I never offer criticism. I do write that I feel—in words that I mean. I have spent my life in the theatre, on stage and out in the audience. I would like to think that I write with an experienced and discerning eye. I know firsthand that musical theatre is very hard to get right. 

At The Lex, I watch. I smile. I cry. I applaud. I cheer. I am grateful.

And I believe! 

See you in November for A Christmas Carol! 

Can’t wait!

The Lexington Theatre Company’s production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat plays the Lexington Opera House for six wonder-filled performances, July 31-August 3. Curtain time on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening at 7:30, Sunday at 6:30, with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 1:00. 

Kevin Lane Dearinger is a retired actor, singer, and teacher. His published works include four theatre histories, six volumes of poetry, several plays, and two memoirs, Bad Sex in Kentucky and On Stage with Bette Davis: Inside the Fabulous Flop of Miss Moffat. His theatrical career took him to Broadway, on tour across the United States, Canada, and Japan, and to many of the best regional theatres in the country. Cast lists have called him Freddy, Cornelius, Motel, Albert, Henrik, Enoch, Enoch, Jr., Jim, Etienne, Courtice, Herman, Charlie, Lucas, Sam, Paul, Mac, Josiah, Frank, Billy, Sylvester, Waldo, Teenager, The Boy, Androcles, Dromio, First Bartender, Footman, Flunky, Also Featuring, Others in Cast Include, and quite a few other character names. When he was very young, he sang in a Broadway tribute to director Joshua Logan at the Imperial Theatre; his last professional performance was in a Broadway tribute to Stephen Sondheim at the New Amsterdam. He is proud of his Actors Equity Pension and counts among his blessings the privilege of sitting in on rehearsals with The Lexington Theatre Company.