By Jacqueline Monahan
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Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor® Dreamcoat Rocks Super Summer Theatre

The Old Testament provides material for a new production at Spring Mountain Ranch with Super Summer Theatre’s rock n’ roll version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Performances run Wednesday-Saturday throughout August. This is Super Summer Theatre’s (SST) 37th season.

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Directed by Terrence R. Williams, the Tim Rice/Andrew Lloyd Webber musical is based on the "coat of many colors" story of Joseph from the Hebrew Bible's Book of Genesis.

One of twelve sons, Joseph is his father’s favorite, causing jealousy among his brothers, especially when he is given a brightly colored coat. Joseph also has dreams and can accurately predict the future with them. Sibling rivalry boils over as the brothers sell Joseph into slavery, telling their father Jacob that he died as a result of an encounter with an “attack goat.”

Joseph’s tribulations and temptations as a slave in Egypt are chronicled through his own songs and those of a Narrator and large ensemble cast. The rock element is strong; a live five-piece band accompanies the singers, who are NOT in period costume. That’s how Williams gets away with Pharaoh looking, sounding and acting a lot like Ozzy Osbourne, complete with groupies.

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Eric Ball (center) as Ozzy-like Pharaoh

Jonathan Tuala’s Joseph literally lights up the stage in his Dreamcoat. The slender actor has a big, Broadway-caliber voice that conveys anguish, joy, and sadness, and an expressive face while a smile that rivals the coat’s brilliance. Tuala’s charisma and vocal talent make him easy on the eyes and ears.

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Jpnathan Tuala as Joseph (left) and Jen De La Torre as Narrator

Other standout performances include Narrator Jen De La Torre, who literally sings out the sequence of events, using body language to connect the lyrics to the action. Erik Ball, in a dual role as Jacob AND Pharaoh, keeps Williams’ rock vision alive by portraying legendary lookalikes. Jacob could be a bearded member of ZZ Top, and Pharaoh is the spitting image of the headliner at OzzFest, right down to the red highlights and British stutter. Ball looks and acts like he has a ball with both roles.

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The Entire Ensemble - Eric Ball as Jacob (long white beard)

A Children’s Choir and an Ensemble each have eleven members and Joseph has eleven brothers. Add a Narrator, a Pharaoh/Father, a Rich Man and his Wife to the mix and you have a huge cast to perform twenty songs with titles like Joseph’s Coat, Pharaoh Story, Stone the Crows, Who’s the Thief? and the show’s most popular tune, Go Go Go Joseph, a rousing cheer of optimism to the young man while he keeps dreaming the events of a future that includes his freedom.

Producer/director Terrence R. Williams, who also choreographed the show along with Miki Horiai, offers up a vibrant reinvention with his rockin’ Joseph, which happens to be his final production for Super Summer Theatre. He has more than seven SST shows to his credit including Annie, West Side Story, and 1776 and currently works in Production for the hit show Absinthe at Caesars Palace.

It’s August in Las Vegas, hardly the time for any kind of coat, unless of course, it’s Joseph’s. It provides a different kind of warmth.


About Super Summer Theatre ’12:
Tickets are $12 in advance, $20 at the gate (if seating is available) and can be purchased at the UNLV Performing Arts Box Office, Prestige Travel’s Summerlin location, 7550 W. Lake Mead Blvd., online at unlvtickets.com, or through the new print at home option at ShowTix4u.com

Guests may bring a blanket or chair for use in general-admission grass seating, suitable for enjoying a picnic or treats from the very reasonably priced concession stand which stays open until 9:00 p.m.

Gates open at 6 p.m. Performances run Wednesday through Saturday beginning at 8 p.m. Spring Mountain Ranch is located 10 miles west of the Charleston/215 exit.

For further information:
Super Summer Theatre
(702) 594-PLAY (7529)
http://www.supersummertheatre.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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