STAGE TUBE: First Look at Ace Young, Diana DeGarmo and More in Highlights of JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT Tour

[Alan Henry]

Posted: 3/14/14 at 5:18pm

New video preview of the Joseph tour. Not sure I am liking this version of the song. Thoughts?
Click Here to Read STAGE TUBE: First Look at Ace Young, Diana DeGarmo and More in Highlights of JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT Tour

[VernonGersch]

Posted: 3/14/14 at 7:57pm

I've never seen this show and might check it out when it comes to LA. Is it odd that they don't feature the vocals of the guy playing Joseph? Just saying

[Marie2]

Posted: 3/14/14 at 8:06pm

I think when you have Diana Degarmo in your show you'd be crazy not to feature her voice over just about anyone else.

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 3/14/14 at 8:20pm

I don't get why they have handheld mics and I'm not a huge fan of the costume or overall dark stage, but it looks very well put together. I'm excited to see it!

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 3/14/14 at 9:02pm

"Is it odd that they don't feature the vocals of the guy playing Joseph?"

The Narrator (Diana DeGarmo) really carries the show, more so than Joseph. A great Narrator can save the show if the Joseph is mediocre, whereas a great Joseph would have to be the best thing ever to save the show from a weak Narrator. So it does make sense to use a song that really highlights DeGarmo, and we do still hear Ace Young singing, so it's not like he's totally ignored in it.

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 3/14/14 at 9:28pm

@BraveSirRobin2 I think this particular performance is part of a season announcement presentation or for a press event...

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 3/14/14 at 9:34pm

"Is it odd that they don't feature the vocals of the guy playing Joseph?"

It was only odd that we didn't see enough shirtless Ace Young.

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 3/14/14 at 11:54pm

Wow!
That was Awful!

[darreyl102]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 12:13am

"It was only odd that we didn't see enough shirtless Ace Young. "
DAMN RIGHT!

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 12:34am

Who would have thought chest waxing was a thing during Biblical Times?


I find this 1 Million times more attractive as his chest hair grows in beautifully.

[darreyl102]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 12:49am

I think a lot of the waxing/shaving is done to show more definition in the muscles- body hair can sometimes make the definition look a little less defined, while shaved/waxed everything is bare and visible. At least coming from personal experience.

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 12:51am

Still should have left it on. He's got arms & pecs for days, I can deal with not being able to make out every ab.

[bwayobsessed]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 9:42am

I think it's weird that they feature him at all in the prologue.... like it's an interesting idea but still

[NPHCreel]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 12:16pm

I haven't seen the show but I read something about Ace Young and Diana DeGarmo doing a duet reprise of the prologue that ends the show. Actually I think the megamix ends the show but this is right before it.

[amoni]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 12:56pm

"Who would have thought chest waxing was a thing during Biblical Times?"

Blame Donny Osmaond

[sbflyfan]

Posted: 3/15/14 at 4:57pm

I saw this in Cleveland last weekend. The version of the song played over that promotional video is in fact a reprise they sing at the very end, after "Any Dream Will Do" and before the Megamix.

The Narrator and Pharaoh are the only characters to use a hand-held mic during the show, except for the Prologue reprise and Megamix.

The Ensemble cast are very talented and energetic (they must be exhausted with the amount of running, twirling and jumping the choreography demands). DeGarmo is very nasal, especially when she goes into her upper register. Young just seemed weak and underpowered vocally.

I was mostly underwhelmed. For a production promising a new contemporary take on the choreography and orchestration, this really wasn't anything we haven't seen or heard before in various productions of "Joseph."

The main set is a tan false proscenium which projections are shown on throughout the evening. There are 4 sets of curtains hanging in a semi-circle which also have projections on them. Set pieces (non-automated) and actors enter and exit through the curtains.

Pre-show is a bare stage with a narrow vertical black scrim. About 5 minutes before the performance starts, a bed gets pushed on with Ace Young sleeping in it, and on the scrim is a projection that looks like smoke. When the overture starts, the 'smoke' turns out to be a representation of dreams happening inside of his head. Trains, crayola crayons, astronauts, etc. The scrim rises and he gets up wearing a hoodie. Ensemble members come onstage in hoodies and we're in modern times, in a library. Diana DeGarmo sings the Prologue. The other people leave one by one, until Ace Young is left, and at the line "And it could be you..." she pulls his hood off.

The "Any Dream Will Do" teaser is eliminated. The Narrator and Joseph turn around and the big orchestral introduction to "Jacob & Sons" starts, the 4 sets of drapes I mentioned rise from the stage floor, and the show is pretty standard from there. Cartoon-like projections, costumes and props, lots of spinning choreography. At various points, the actors hold up props and wear white costumes that look like something out of the original "Jesus Christ Superstar" and projections are shown on them, but it happens so fast you really can't tell what they're supposed to be.

At "Journey to Egypt," the proscenium closes in (kind of like the black curtains in "Aida") and there's just enough of a gap for an already shirtless Joseph to be led through in chains, while a cartoon animation on the scrim makes it look like the audience is driving through a Las Vegas Strip-like Egypt with neon signs advertising "Camels For Sale" etc. The proscenium opens up again to a giant rectangle (like the monolith thing in "2001: A Space Odyssey") lit up with neon orange hieroglyphics. This gets lowered clunkily to the stage and is a giant table for Potiphar, and later on a big pink sheet makes it double as a bed for Mrs. Potiphar to seduce Joseph on.

There's also a giant Egyptian eye which lowers.... again, very "Aida." Joseph gets dressed, then undressed, then lands in prison. (A few triangular sets of bars fly in with ensemble members crouched behind them in cloaks).

"Close Every Door" is dreadful. Ace Young whimpers and gasps after almost every phrase. I think he was going for sad and in despair, but instead he sounds out of breath. At the climax of the song he was totally overpowered by the orchestra.

The scene with the Butler and Baker is pretty standard, although they cut the "We've been outside and you're on the marquee" line. "Go, Go, Go Joseph" is pretty standard, no retro costumes or cheerleaders, thank god.

For the first few minutes of intermission, the stage is awkwardly exposed with that semi-circle of drapes. Then a scrim lowers and the show logo is projected on it.

"Pharaoh's Story" stars with a big animation of rainbow-colored pages of a Bible flipping, and then the scrim raises with the Narrator sitting on a blue staircase that looks like it was left over from when Sarah Brightman sang "Nessun Dorma" on her "One Night In Eden" tour.

Two more staircases are brought in from either side and all of the Egypt scenes take place on and around the staircases, which are constantly shuffled and pushed around by the ensemble. There's no giant sphinx head or anything.

"Those Canaan Days" includes an added instrumental sequence where the brothers clink and shuffle forks, knives and plates along a banquet table. Reminded me a lot of that scene in "Beauty & The Beast." The song ended with Simeon directing the brothers like a choir, lowering their voices, harmonizing, singing louder, etc. The audience ate it up and gave several rounds of applause afterwards.

Pretty standard brothers in Egypt scene.

Joseph's 'chariot of gold' as you can see from the promo video, is a large sheet of gold fabric held by a few female ensemble members standing around him.

At "Give me my colored coat..." he's standing on the Pharaoh's Story staircase, but it's turned around, and they attach the big semicircle of drapes to him and project rainbow colors on it. Then the "Prologue" reprise happens with lots of riffing. It reminded me of one of those contemporary "pop" duet versions of the Disney songs that used to play over the credits of the animated 90's films.

Then they go "MEGA MIIIIIIIIIX!!!" and the audience is blinded the whole time with lights flashing into their eyes from the proscenium. There's no "Pharoah's Story" reprise, but instead an instrumental "Those Canaan Days" reprise where they do the clink/shuffle thing again with the plates, knives and forks.

At some point, the semi-circle of curtains falls away and there's some weird metallic circle hanging from the back of the stage with lights flashing on it like a Peace symbol. Looked like something left over from "Hair".

That's about it! Is this bigger and flashier than anything you'd see at your local community theater? Absolutely. Is it at least more interesting and more of an effort than throwing the old Troika tour back on the road? Yes. But it's nothing 'groundbreaking' or spectacular.

Also, would there be any different type of contract the actors might be on that didn't require their character names to be listed in the program?

The only credited characters are "Narrator, Joseph, Jacob, Reuben, Reuben's Wife, Potiphar, Mrs. Potiphar, Baker, Butler, Pharaoh, Simeon & Judah." The other actors are all listed as "Ensemble" and "Swings."

Updated On: 3/17/14 at 04:57 PM

[trpguyy]

Posted: 3/17/14 at 2:03am

"The only credited characters are "Narrator, Joseph, Jacob, Reuben, Reuben's Wife, Potiphar, Mrs. Potiphar, Baker, Butler, Pharaoh, Simeon & Judah." The other actors are all listed as "Ensemble" and "Swings." "

Those are the named characters who have solos in the show. Everyone else IS ensemble, either a brother or a wife.

[darquegk]

Posted: 3/17/14 at 7:36am

In at least the "Blue" Joseph score, if not the "Pink" one, each brother has a solo on his own name during the prologue, thus insuring one line each and a name credit.

What does Reuben's Wife sing in this one?

[sbflyfan]

Posted: 3/17/14 at 8:30am

^ That makes sense. I think it was the Narrator saying the brothers' names when they first appear.

And I think Reuben's Wife's solo must be that sort of operatic vocalizing during "One More Angel In Heaven".

Updated On: 3/17/14 at 08:30 AM

[rorschach37]

Posted: 3/17/14 at 4:07pm

So where exactly does this reprise of the prologue take place? Is it after "Any Dream Will Do (Finale)" or "Give Me My Colored Coat"?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 3/17/14 at 4:12pm

^It's after the "Give Me My Colored Coat" finale and right before the Megamix. It replaces the "Close Every Door" encore that was used in the Palladium production to allow the ensemble time to change their costumes for the Megamix.

[Joviedamian]

Posted: 3/17/14 at 4:15pm

[NPHCreel]

Posted: 5/30/14 at 3:30pm

I saw the tour in Durham, NC a couple weeks ago. I'm not a huge fan of "Joseph" overall but the current cast has a great energy level and some fantastic dancers. I'm "eh" on Ace Young as Joseph. I could see what he was TRYING to do to demonstrate Joseph's growth but he just doesn't have any heft as an actor. He's not terrible but the range where his singing voice remains pleasant is... limited. He is pretty to look at so there's that I guess.

On the other hand I loved Diana DeGarmo as The Narrator and I suppose a "tagging along" Ace Young isn't too much of a price to get her to do the show. She killed it vocally. I STILL want to see her play Elphaba or Glinda in Wicked. Someday, someday!

My favorite part of the show was "Those Canaan Days." It's a real show stopping number for the Ensemble cast. Kudos to the choreographer and cast for that one!





Updated On: 5/30/14 at 03:30 PM

[VernonGersch]

Posted: 6/6/14 at 1:59am

Just saw the show in LA at The Panatges. I had never seen the show before so there weren't any strong opinions going in, well, except for some very low expectations.

Who the heck designed the sound for that show? Anything that came out of Diana DeGarmo's microphone was in audible Literally couldn't hear what she was singing - and I was sitting in the front orchestra.

Don't want to beat up the show too much but not having a decent audio mix really underscored the bus n truck-yness of the show. Could look at Ace Young shirtless for hours. Only wish his voice was stronger on Any Dream Will Do.

Curious to read the LA reviews

[Wildcard]

Posted: 6/7/14 at 8:26pm

Whoever thought it would be ok to charge $140 tickets for this should be flogged. An orchestra seat to this production should be worth $40, $60 at most. It's quite amateurish and poorly put together. I loved Diana in the other roles I've seen her in but like the previous poster said, she was very nasal in this. Ace had little charisma... the balance of the show was off and making it even more of an ensemble show. Indeed the best number was "Those Canaan Days" with the Pharaoh's Song second. One would think "Close Every Door" would be the highlight but it is not. The Rent-ized Potiphar's wife scene was uncomfortable for a children's bible musical. And it made Joseph a willing participant to the act. The "director" barely directed this show, it's a mess and it's obvious he focused on choreography more (and even that is not very good). It's derivative of Bring It On and Beauty and the Beast. Creatively, the best part was the lighting but even that was more apt for a rock concert than a stage musical trying to tell a story.