Brian Justin Crum and the ensemble
Reviewed by Joel Beers
Musical Theatre West at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center
Through July 26
RECOMMENDED
Ryan Perry Marks, Ali Vesey, and Brandon Halvorsen (Photo by Jason Niedle)
Of the three major Bible musicals that emerged in the early 1970s — Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat — the latter is by far the most disarming, approaching its biblical source material with far less theological baggage and far less potential for controversy than its counterparts.
That is somewhat ironic because its source material occupies nearly half the Book of Genesis, not exactly the most disarming of reads. Joseph’s story bridges Genesis and Exodus, explaining why the Israelites end up in Egypt and setting the stage for Moses and the eventual invasion — er, journey — to the Promised Land. The story contains many of the Book’s recurring themes: sibling rivalry, family betrayal, forgiveness and the use of dreams as a mechanism of divine providence through which the architecture of history is revealed.
What it lacks, however, is Genesis’s more colorful excesses. No serpents tempting humanity in the garden. No worldwide deluge. No Towers of Babel or drunken, naked patriarchs banishing their sons. No Sodom and Gomorrah. No epic UFC bouts with angels.
In fact, despite beginning with Joseph thrown into a pit and abandoned by his 11 brothers before being sold into slavery, the story is arguably the happiest narrative in all of Genesis. Joseph rises from slavery to become Pharaoh’s trusted adviser, saves Egypt from famine and ultimately reunites with the family that betrayed him. It ends not with destruction or punishment but with reconciliation and forgiveness.
Yet while this is the longest and arguably the most drama-filled story in Genesis — a tale of betrayal, redemption, political intrigue and a remarkable reversal of fortune — it’s centered on one of the least dramatically complicated figures in the Book. Adam is defined by choice and failure. Abraham struggles with faith and is asked to sacrifice his own son. Jacob is a trickster who spends much of his life wrestling with consequences. They are complicated, contradictory figures.
Joseph is not.
He is betrayed, but he does not betray. He is tempted, but he does not fall. He is ambitious, but never corrupted by ambition. He is essentially a biblical hero without a fatal flaw — which makes him admirable, but dramatically limited.
That lack of internal conflict is reflected in the musical itself. Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice wisely avoided turning Joseph into a solemn religious epic and instead embraced its feel-good resolution with a musical kaleidoscope of characters, songs and anachronistic pop-culture references. The score moves — not always effortlessly — from country and French cabaret to calypso, disco, pop ballads and rock ’n’ roll, transforming an ancient biblical story into a constantly shifting modern musical playground. The result is less a traditional narrative musical than a joyful celebration of theatrical invention.
Musical Theatre West’s production embraces that philosophy completely. It is big, bold and, appropriately, oh-so-iridescent.
The dominant impression is not simply color — though there is plenty of that — but sensory overload. And not just in Joseph’s famous coat. Color explodes everywhere: pom-poms, flags, costumes, projections, choreography and massive lighting shifts. The cumulative effect is like being dropped into a giant Slurpee machine and selecting every flavor at once.
By the finale, you almost expect Joseph to be launched from a cannon and explode into a cloud of multicolored cotton candy.
And perhaps that is the point. This production, like the show, is less interested in examining Joseph’s psychological complexity than in creating an exuberant theatrical sugar rush.
It also has genuine star power in Brian Justin Crum, who expanded his already successful musical theater career as a finalist on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent.” Crum brings both vocal firepower and reality-show charisma to the title role.
He also spends a surprising amount of the production with very little clothing, which perhaps underscores director Larry Raben’s decision to update this highly adaptable show for a new millennium by leaning hard into 21st-century pop culture. The music remains the same, but the characters channel everything from Beyoncé — in the person of the highly talented Daebreon Poiema as the Narrator — to K-pop, represented by Joseph’s 11 brothers, with not a weak link among them. Jarey Sayeg’s lighting design and the costume design of Adam Ramirez and Geovanni Virella-Torres feel more suited for a music awards telecast than a traditional musical theater production.
There is even a distinctly campy, queer aesthetic running throughout. The combination of leather, chains, stiletto heels and chaps evokes the imagery of gay leather culture and would not look out of place in one of Robert Mapplethorpe’s less provocative photographs — if such a thing exists.
It stretches the family-friendly marketing label, but that is not necessarily a criticism.
Still, the production is never mean-spirited and isn’t nearly as tawdry as many parts of the actual Book of Genesis itself. It understands that Joseph has always been less about biblical reverence than theatrical exuberance, and that its adaptability stems from the fact that it is not a character study as much as a musical playground.
The challenge is that the same qualities that make it accessible also limit its dramatic weight.
Unlike Jesus Christ Superstar, which wrestles with betrayal, sacrifice and mortality, or Godspell, which explores community and spirituality, Joseph is ultimately about optimism. It is a story where every conflict resolves neatly — every wound heals and every dream comes true.
That makes it a dazzling burst of theatrical color and energy.
It also makes it the least complicated of the great Bible musicals.
But based on the overwhelmingly enthusiastic reactions among the audience at a recent Sunday matinee, sometimes that is exactly what an audience wants.
Carpenter Performing Arts Center, 6200 E. Atherton St., Long Beach. Thurs.-Fri., 7 pm. Sat., 2 & 7 pm. Sun., 1 & 6 pm. www.musical.org. Runtime: approximately 2 hours with an intermission.
