Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Musical)

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Logo of Joseph

The musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was written in 1968 by Andrew Lloyd Webber (music) and Tim Rice (book, lyrics). The best known song is the title Any Dream Will Do / As seduced by dream , which at the beginning of the piece (sung by Joseph) introduces the flashback to the actual plot and later again as a duet between Joseph and the narrator introduces the grand finale.

action

The musical tells the biblical story of Joseph in Egypt , also called Joseph the dreamer. He was a son of the patriarch Jacob and later adviser to the Egyptian pharaoh .

The narrator tells a larger group of children ( children's choir ) about a story from Canaan , which is presented from the children's perspective: Jacob's favorite son Joseph is sold by his brothers to the rich Potiphar out of jealousy . His wife tries to seduce the young man, which leads to trouble in Potiphar's household: Joseph is thrown in prison. Thanks to his successful dream interpretation, Joseph can save his skin by warning the "King" Pharaoh of a seven year famine and leading Egypt through this difficult time as Minister of Economics . He meets his brothers again and forgives them.

Artistic design

Musically, the musical consists of a large number of parodies of various musical styles and homages to well-known musicians. The title Benjamin Calypso sounds a lot like Harry Belafonte ; Pharaoh not only looks strikingly similar to Elvis Presley , but also sings his Song of the King in his style; One More Angel in Heaven is a typical Country - ballad , Those Canaan Days one with Yiddish - French accent sung Chanson and The Brothers Come To Egypt a Cha-Cha-Cha , to name just a few.

The texts are characterized by the tongue-in-cheek narrative, rapid pun, many modern references and intelligent rhymes. Therefore, all translations of the piece lag far behind the original version. This can already be seen in the fact that several international productions do without a translation of the musical title and only advertise the piece as Joseph (also the German version in Essen ).

Performances

The musical had its world premiere as part of a school performance at London's Colet Court School on March 1, 1968. Due to the positive response, other performances took place in the same year, including in St Paul's Cathedral . At the beginning of 1969 a recording was released that has since appeared on CD .

In 1973 the musical was staged at the Albery Theater in London's West End as a result of the great success of the Webber / Rice work Jesus Christ Superstar . In 1980 the German premiere of the English original followed by the musical group of the Goetheschule Wetzlar . 1982 was followed by the Broadway - Premiere at the Royale Theater.

As a result, the musical increasingly served as a popular children's musical that was performed in schools around the world. Andrew Lloyd Webber was so dissatisfied with this development that he produced a revised version of the measure of all things at the Palladium (West End, London) in 1991 (with Jason Donovan in the role of Joseph). This version was subsequently shown in Los Angeles , on Broadway , in Toronto , as a tour production , in Vienna and in Essen . An example of the technical effort involved is the electric camel, which was supplied by robot designer David Buckley in adapted versions for various guest performances and tours . In 1999 a musical film based on these productions was made: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1999) . Separate versions have been developed for school and amateur performances, which differ in terms of performance duration and requirements (especially for orchestral accompaniment).

There was a second West End revival in 2003–2005 when a long-running touring production set up shop at the New London Theater . This time Stephen Gately of Boyzone took over the title role.

The Freilichtspiele Tecklenburg showed the musical under the direction of Werner Bauer and the musical direction of Klaus Hillebrecht from June to August 2014. The title role of Joseph was played by Alexander Klaws . The production was voted the best "Short Term Musical" at the Musical Awards of the music magazine "Da Capo"; Werner Bauer took 2nd place in the "Best Director" category .; Alexander Klaws # 2 Best Male Actor 2014 .; In the musical elections of the online musical magazine "Musical 1", the production was voted the best "open air production" with 100,000 votes cast. Alexander Klaws was voted best musical actor with 33%.

Track list

1st act
  • prolog
  • Any Dream Will Do (As if seduced by a dream)
  • Jacob and Sons / Joseph`s Coat (Jakob & Co / Joseph's dress)
  • Joseph's Dreams
  • Poor, Poor Joseph (Poor Joseph)
  • One More Angel in Heaven
  • Hoedown
  • Potiphar
  • Close Every Door
  • Go, go, go Joseph
2nd act
  • Pharaoh story
  • Poor, Poor Pharaoh (Poor Pharaoh)
  • Song of the King (Seven Fat Cows)
  • Pharaoh's Dream Explained
  • Stone the Crows
  • Those Canaan Days (Once upon a time in Canaan)
  • The Brothers Come To Egypt / Grovel, Grovel (The Brothers Come To Egypt / EINLEIM, SCHLEIM)
  • Who's the Thief? (Well who was it?)
  • Benjamin Calypso
  • Joseph All the Time (Joseph now as before)
  • Jacob in Egypt (Jacob in Egypt)
  • Finale: Any Dream Will Do (Reprise) (As if seduced by a dream / Give me my dreamer dress)
  • Joseph Megamix

Translations

  • The German version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was created by Heinz Rudolf Kunze .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 4 versions of the electric camel for musical performances, on the homepage of their designer David Buckley.
  2. ↑ detail. In: www.musikundbuehne.de. February 8, 2016, accessed November 21, 2016 .
  3. ^ Stage Tecklenburg: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
  4. ↑ http://www.musical1.de/wahlen/
  5. ↑ Chapter Maskenball - Die Musicals (p. 147 ff) in: Holger Zürch : Silbermond samt Stirnenfuß - Texts and music by Heinz Rudolf Kunze between 1980 and 2005. Leipzig 2005, ISBN 3-938873-31-0