To anyone who has been in Joseph...

[Bwaybaby109]

Posted: 6/22/05 at 12:01am

I'm currently playing the Narrator in our production and I was curious about the score. It's soooo different from the different recordings of heard, including the Canadian, London and Bway. The recordings and the professional touring production have more vocal parts, reasonable keys, more harmony, etc than the actual written score. I just realized how much the score sucks compared to the wonderful recordings. What's up with the Queen Victoria part in One More Angel?! Talk about random! Anyways, for anyone who has done this show, is there only one score available or do they have other scores that are more like the ones on the recordings. Does anyone else feel this way about the score or is just me.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/22/05 at 12:04am

not sure which parts you mean. as far as I can remember ours was pretty close to the version used for the DVD... I played Benjamin.

[Bwaybaby109]

Posted: 6/22/05 at 12:06am

like why is the whole big square dance thing like in the movie not in the score?! that's the coolest part. and just many vocal parts like in the background of some songs are not there, esp in Grovel Grovel.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/22/05 at 12:11am

oh, well the "One More Angel" dance is cut out on most of the Joseph CDs but it IS on the DVD soundtrack as well as the apache music for "Those Cannan Days". I've never seen the soundtrack in stores or on Amazon. I got mine at reallyuseful.com ...

ours had the square dance and there was a reprise of "Jacob and Sons" without the naming of the brothers at the very end of our show, before the bows and after "Give Me My Colored Coat" that served as our finale, but I never had it in my vocal book, I think our director added it...
Updated On: 6/22/05 at 12:11 AM

[StageStud]

Posted: 6/22/05 at 12:11am

Having done the show twice I have seen 2 scores...however I dont remember any differences. Joseph's rights have switched company's in the past so it's possible that the scripts changed in the move. I believe really useful group also gives rights and they would most likely hold the most updated score do to it being ALW's company. Hope that helps in some way. ~Mike

[singingwendy]

Posted: 6/22/05 at 12:27am

Yes...there are different scores to this show. There is the original original...the really short one that ALW did for his school. Then there is the original Broadway show...I did that one in college. It starts with "Jacob and Sons". Then there is the Broadway revival....the one the DVD is based on...(although even that score is different...and doesn't have the square dance of "One More Angel") I did that show with one of the high schools here a few years ago. That score is the one that incorporates the children's chorus and moves "Any Dream Will Do" right to the beginning.

[trpguyy]

Posted: 6/22/05 at 12:46am

Often times, new music is added for big productions. Like, the sqaure dancing in the Donny Osmond Joseph, and the big Ug-A-Wug dance in Cathy Rigby's Peter Pan.

Big shows can get permission to make cuts, additions, and changes.

[birdboy782]

Posted: 6/22/05 at 1:10am

I did the Donny Osmond production you mentioned.

There are a lot of differences in that revival that are not in the show that is currently licensed. A lot of theatres seem to try to add those extra parts in (however, illegally.) It is unfortunate though that that version is not currently licensed.

I guess you gotta stick with what you got.

[PennyLou]

Posted: 6/22/05 at 1:29am

I to have done the show twice and with 2 differnt scores, the frist time my high schooldidn't have the music for the squear dance but the second time in a cominty theater 2 years later there was music in the score for it..

[theatrefanatic17]

Posted: 6/22/05 at 5:00am

Hello there,
I`ve been In "joseph..." before and to be honest with you, I really don`t know the answer to your question. Sorry,but if you have any other questions about this AWESOME musical, I`s be glad to help.

Posted: 6/22/05 at 4:09pm

This thread makes me think of Laurie Beechman -- gosh, I miss her!

[MusicalDirector109]

Posted: 6/22/05 at 5:02pm

I miss her also. What a wonderful talent. I had the privilege to see her perform the Narrator at the Walnut Street Theater production of "Joseph". The production I recently finished had the big square dance for the brothers and more of the childrens chorus material. I really love this show.

[Bwaybaby109]

Posted: 6/22/05 at 5:38pm

I'm pretty sure we have the one that's loosely based off the revival...not sure. I hate it that when you get the rights to this score, you just get music with no stage direction suggestions. Anyways, I hope it turns out to be good. I'm having a fun time...being the Narrator is so awesome!

[hyperchet]

Posted: 6/22/05 at 8:54pm

I was in last year's tour with Jon Secada...it was great...he actually sang a reprise of Close Ever Door in Spanish, because he's latino...and then OF COURSE you have to have the megamix!

RED YELLOW GREEN BROWN SCARLET BLACK OCRE PEACH RUBY OLIVE VIOLET FAWN LILAC GOLD CHOCOLATE MAUVE CREAM CRIMSON SILVER ROSE ASURE LEMMON RUSSET GRAY PURPLE WHITE PINK ORANGE...

Haha I think that's how it goes...I only had a few hours to learn that and it was hard...

[CostumeMistress]

Posted: 6/22/05 at 9:02pm

.

Updated On: 2/7/06 at 09:02 PM

[temms]

Posted: 6/22/05 at 9:02pm

The licensed version of "Joseph" is still, and has always been, the original '70s version with a male narrator. None of the changes made for the '80s Broadway version or the revival version are in this version. Enough people have done other versions that scores to other versions are pretty easy to come by, so there's usually a bit of rearranging done (none of it technically legal.)

But yes, you are correct that those are terrible keys and some odd arrangements (like the "Superstar" fanfare at the end of the show) and I have no idea why they have never made the later versions available, as there is clearly interest in them. (I like the Laurie Beechman version best, personally.)

[Necromancer07707]

Posted: 6/22/05 at 9:23pm

My production might or might not have gotten a full score of the Donny tour. :-P


--Joseph

Updated On: 6/22/05 at 09:23 PM

[Act4ever]

Posted: 6/22/05 at 9:33pm

i was in the kids chior of the show at a local equity house a few years back and we did the square dance, etc. and they are such a reputible company and have such a good relationship with liscencing houses, they would never do something illigal. so for some reason i think it is available for you to do out there.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 6/23/05 at 9:17am

I've seen a few community theatres add the mega-mix to the curtain call, which I believe is still illegal. To my knowledge, they still aren't licensing that version.

One other question though...I recently saw a production that used about 6 narrators throughout the course of the evening. Was that legal or (as I suspect) illegal?

[Bwaybaby109]

Posted: 6/24/05 at 12:48pm

I don't see the bid deal of the legality on it. Who siad there has to be one narrator? Besides I'm sharing the role with another girl and it works out perfectly. 6 may seem a little silly and since the show is so male dominated I don't see the priblem of just splitting the narrator role up between 2 or more women. If it's illegal, then that's ridiculous. They are not changing the show in anyway, they are just adding originality to the show.

[hellacoolmichael]

Posted: 6/24/05 at 1:07pm

I was Benjamin in our production. Queen Victoria was odd. We couldn't figure out why their were so many typos.

And our One More Angel dance was a humongous pain in the butt. It was, "Let's just finish this up so we can get offstage", because by One More Angel the brothers had been through 5 songs.

[WonderBoy]

Posted: 6/24/05 at 1:23pm

I believe it is legal to split the parts up. However, it is illegal to do the megamix.

[Bwaybaby109]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 2:02am

there are a lot of dang typos!!! Like when JAcob sings "Jacob's mother, she was quite my favorite wife" and the list goes on! It's soo awful the way it's written.