I was at first wary of seeing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, as the title evoked a 70's hippies feel that I had enough of w/ Jesus Christ: Superstar. And to watch Donny Osmond? Willingly?!?So thank God (no pun intended) it was good. And fun. And funny. Great catchy songs, ironically by the guys who made the previously maligned JC:S, Andrew Llyod Webber and Tim Rice. Even though Osmond played the title character, it was almost as if he was a supporting player in this film, and most of the cooler musical numbers (evoking a mixture of genres like country western, reggae, disco and Elvis, among others) went to the Narrator, the Pharaoh and brother Simeon.
Other name actors like Sir Richard Attenborough, Joan Collins and Ian McNeice weren't given much singing lines, w/c was just as well. Look what it did for Pierce Brosnan in Mamma Mia!:
(Move to 00:46 to listen to the horror)
But I digress. Next!
My copy of Wicked was courtesy of a diligent patron who diligently recorded the entire performance on a camcorder from the view of the theater balcony. Sure , it got shakey sometimes and I swear I heard someone sniffling at the final duet between Elphaba and Glinda (crybaby...), but the whole play was recorded (and uploaded-- thanks, Demonoid!), and it was spectacular. And since I also watched my last live musical from the balcony I was used to the angle. Stephen Schwartz's music and lyrics here more than makes up for the insomnia curing Disney versions of Pochahantas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. (Then again, it was the movies that sucked, not the music. Focus, man. Focus.)From what I've read it's only faithful to the original novel by way of the outline, but still I loved the foreshadowing w/ the origins of the Tin Man and Scarecrow, and did not see that bit w/ the Cowardly Lion coming. Favorite line: "Well, we can't all come and go by bubble!"
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