[NEohioPAL] Joseph’s Amazing Misconception - Mercury Summer Stock

[John Glover]

Joseph’s Amazing Misconception: Too much concept kills Joseph
 
 
A director’s concept, their vision and implementation of that vision, can either lead to an innovative and truly exciting piece of theater or an offensive or meaningless production.  Meaningless is the operative word here, with yet again, another Cleveland production of Joseph, presented by Mercury Summer Stock.
 
The root of the trouble lies with the director’s new twist on the familiar narrative of Joseph and his coat of many colors. This "Joseph” is set on, “an MGM soundstage in the Golden Age of Hollywood Cinema.  Rudolph Valentino, W.C. Fields, Mae West, The Little Rascals, Charlie Chaplin and the Marx Brothers are all on hand to playfully spin the Old Testament tale, but will a young cameraman with big dreams become the ultimate star”?
 
But there’s a fatal layer of disconnect between the Old Testament narrative, and this glam, razzle-dazzle that usually saturates Broadway touring productions. One can’t follow the story-line! The director’s concept doesn’t serve the text as much as it overwhelms it and this misguided concept sinks this musical faster than the cast members can pop their prop balloons.
 
A measure of how poorly the story is told is that the press release is forced to provide a plot synopsis. What you get, in place of narrative drive, are production effects.  Even the children on stage are largely used as decoration. 
 
A musical which once possessed its own buoyancy has been turned into a piece of gaudy, chocolate-box commercialism.  And as demonstrated by more effective productions of “Dreamcoat”, it's possible to reduce this pop-rock opera without diminishing its force.
 
Additional gripes about the show -- the dancing is at times unpolished, the potentially heart-warming reunion scene is handled superficially, performances are adequate rather than thrilling, and at times, the singing is off-pitch, shrill, and poorly modulated. Somewhere inside this big, fat show there is a small, delightful musical struggling to get out.
 
  		 	   		  
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