The Midnight Train Crossing

This is combined from all, unless otherwise indicated. Also I sat in various places, so I might indicate a specific place where I was sitting when I noticed something.
Also, when I refer to Robbie, I mean Robbie Roby of Nintendo fame.

High points of the show were the Narrator (Pharoah's story), One More Angel In Heaven, the butler and the baker, Pharaoh, and Benjamin Calypso.

I saw the very first "offical" incarnation of the show (previews being "unoffical") so things may change later. It usually happens.

Since there were so many little things going on in the background that I loved, I decided to just make a List of the fun things I saw. Some of the things on the list I'll write about here, some not.

The first thing that you can see is a curtain with a purple sand dune and palm trees (Kinda looks like an oasis) and a path leading off to some purple pyriamids. My guess is Canaan is by the palm trees and the pryamids are by Egypt. It was very purple and sparkly. I liked the trees, my friend liked the pyramids.
As the show started, the overture began to play, the house lights lowered very gradually and the light on the curtain grew brighter, the purple sparkly things growing even more purple and sparkly.

And then, as the house lights went down completely, the stage was lit from behind and the curtain actually turned out to be a scrim with the scene painted on it. Behind it, you could see the Narrator, Ms Amy Adams.
I thought that was a pretty darn cool effect.
The usual crowd of kids (From the Milwaukee Youth Choir btw) darted out on stage.

The first time I saw the show was the closest I paid attention to the opening bit, mostly because I'd been very eager to hear what she would sound like. I'd heard good things. I'm pleased to report that she did not disappoint. Amy Adams has an awesome voice, and she absolutely nailed Pharaoh's Story at the begining of the second act.
The only negative comment I have about her is that I wish she would have played a bit more, done more things in the background.
But, as the run continued, she seemed to think of more things to do, which made her more amusing to watch. I've faith that she'll become more fun to watch as the show progresses.

During Any Dream Will Do Joseph (Patrick Cassidy) made his entrance. As I feared, this show did hit one of my pet peeves about Joseph productions. I always think that Joseph just looks... wrong if he's blonde.
I'm sorry, but there weren't any blonde people in this area at this time.
I know, like this show is soo accurante anyway ;)
Anywho, from up above, the light makes rather cool patterns on the floor.
As he was singing, I couldn't help but think that he pronounced some words a little... well, odd. I can only write it exaggeratedly, but it sounded a bit like, "A flash of li-ight, my golden coat flew out of si-ight"
Other than that, he sounded fine.

I liked the set for Jacob and Sons . They fly in a large tent that says "Jacob and Sons" and everyone enters from there.
I also adored the costumes for the girls during this scene, it looks like a lot of fun patterened gauzy material.
At this point in the show, when Jacob came out talking on a cell phone, I knew (Or at least I hoped) that I was in for a lot of fun background stuff.
I loved the entrance of all of the brothers, they all were a little different each time and most of them did interesting things
I especially liked Benjamin and Judah's entrance - Judah comes out with Benjamin's hat, and is holding it out of reach as Benjamin chases him around Jacob.

I've seen several different patterns for the coat, and I've decided that I much prefer just basic geometeric designs rather than actual pictures of something. That said, I still liked the coat. It's all rainbow-y and pretty and stuff.
If it's intended or not, there are little teasers views of the coat before they actually reveal it.
the coat is behind the tent, and as the wives come out, it's possible to see little bits of it before the tent is raised and they bring out the coat.
Ribbons are hidden in the hem of the coat, and the wives pull them out when they list the colors, and then twirl them around.
This looked really cool when it worked. Fortunately, there were only two times when some of the ribbons decided to make a break for it.
I always liked the part when Joseph's coat gets all spread out while he's wearing it.

Joseph and the Narrator looked pretty cute strutting around together as Joseph did his "I look handsome, I look smart, I am a walking work of art"
I also loved watching the brothers react to the coat, in varying degrees of disgust.

The brothers bit during Joseph's Dreams Was great, especially since they all came out with shades when they start: "The dreams of our dear brother are the decades biggest yawn"
I loved this song. As a general rule, I don't usually have much of an opinion on this song either way, but this choreography was pretty funny. I think that in general, I paid more attention to the brothers. For... um... understood reasons :)

I thought that Joseph had pretty good expressions during Poor, Poor Joseph . He doesn't have a whole lot of lines during that song, but he reacted well.
The Ishmaelites had interesting costumes, all in black. I spent a good portion of the time that they were onstage wondering what their costumes were made out of. It looks like black lame'. Maybe someday I shall find out...
Ishmaelites are also, aparantly, very smelly. They were fun to watch though, taking care of their camel.
I did think that the "passing goat" was a little silly though.

One More Angel in Heaven was just really awesome. I always liked that song anyway, and they didn't disappoint. Reuben (Brad Madison) and his wife (Aryn Lawrence) were brilliant. I loved their voices, but one of the best parts was watching them off to the side when they thought nobody was watching. Except me of course, because I always watch stuff in the background
I also enjoyed Jacob's (Nicholas F. Saverine) expressions during the begining of the song. After Jacob left, I liked how all of them tiptoed around until they were sure he was gone.
The dance sequence was rather impressive to watch. One of the most amusing parts was when Reuben had his solo dance, and his siblings were rather unimpressed.
And I loved when Jacob returned, the look on all of their faces. Definately an "Eeep!" moment.
"There's one more angel in heaven, there's one more star in the sky, Joseph the things that you stood for like truth and light never di-DAD!" says Reuben.

Then, there was a little reprise of Poor, Poor Joseph with the Ishmaelites (sans camel) dragging Joseph around the stage.
I imagine that this was to buy time for a costume change for the guys.
But... well... it was decidedly silly. Like, even for this show.
It involves a singing snake puppet, and, well, makes no sense. After a bit of discussion, based on the expressions that Joseph has, we decided that Joseph is hot and tired and dehydrated and thus, hallucinating the snake.
That didn't make it look any less silly. So all together, this portion of the show was not really one of it's shining moments.

Then, came what I thought to be the absolute coolest part of the show - the transition from Canaan to Egypt.
First though, I have to explain the set a little bit more.
On either side of the stage, there were five (more or less) pillars. The narrator walks on on stage and gestures, and, at the cymbal roll, palm front sprout out of the tops, turning them into trees. It was VERY well done. (It looked even cooler once Ms Adams consistantly got the timing right). The Narrator had a cool expression as well. the audience would react, and she'd give kinda a smirk/smile like, "Yeah, that's right"

Potiphar (Nicholas F. Saverine) entered to purchase Joseph, one of his servants (One of which I took a particular interest in - yay Robbie!) comes in with an oversized stack of bills and takes Joseph off.
At first I thought that the costumes for Potiphar and his household looked a little silly - they're blue plaid. But, it's supposed to be like, golf outfits. And as I saw it again and again they kinda grew on me. They still look a little silly, but it's in the nature of the show to be a little silly.
As I said, Potiphar enters with a golf club, followed by his entourage - his caddy and another one with a chair and an umbrella. I want to say Derek Ferguison (Benjamin) and Marque Lynche (Judah) but I'm not positive.
On the line "having made a fortune buying shares in pyramids", he swings his club and there's a sound effect of him hitting the ball and the pyramid behind him lights up. This was done correctly... the last three shows. The other times it was decidedly off.

The Narrator gets her own trio of Potiphar's servants to follow her around. They sing into little megaphones. I'm not entirely sure why... It didn't look dumb or anything, but I did kinda wonder the reason.

I thought it was really funny that they decided that the leader of Potiphar's household wears a silly white hat. Still, it was a good idea because it showed the message pretty clearly.
Again, I took special interest in the "former" leader of the household. (Again, yay Robbie!) It was just... funny

Mrs. Potiphar is played by Melissa Hurley Cassidy, Patrick Cassidy (Joseph)'s real life wife. She has beautiful black hair. In keeping with the blue theme, she wore a sparkly blue costume.
Mrs. Potiphar has two "servants". Yeah, guess what they're for :)
I did kinda wonder though, as the leader of Potiphar's household, what exactly Joseph was doing dusting her bed/boat thing. But anyway...
I'm under the opinion that there is just no way to say the line "Please stop, I don't believe in free love!" without sounding silly.
This production did not change my opinion.
Honestly, I wasn't too impressed with this scene. It wasn't bad or anything, I just... wasn't impressed.

It was more interesting when Potiphar returned on the scene, "counting sheckles" on his mac laptop ;)
After Joseph was taken off, there was more play on the white hat, as it was reclaimed by it's former owner. Only to have Mrs. Potiphar pull him into her bed next.

For me, Close Every Door was not the show stopping number it's supposed to be. (Actually I don't absolutely love the song anyway). Again, I kept being distracted by Joseph's odd pronunciations.
Also, from this point on, Joseph spends the rest of the show running around shirtless, and while you'd think that would be nice to look at, it wasn't especially. Joseph (Patrick Cassidy that is) looked kinda... well... odd. I suppose my first thought was that he looked like a body builder, except, a little disproprtionate. At any rate, I didn't find it remotely attractive, and after the first time, tried to find other things to look at.

The set at this point, doesn't really look all that much like he's in jail. Although they do lower this eye shaped window, which does look cool in and of itself.
I guess that from certain angles, the ever present pillars might look a little like bars... but I only thought of that when I was sitting on the side.
When the scene changes, the only thing besides the window that's supposed to indicate that it's a jail cell is this... well it looked like a tiny pryamid, but with a flat top.
The entire purpose of this bit of set was for Joseph to sit/lean/stand on it.
I dunno, I thought that they could have made it seem like a jail better.

I thought it was an interesting choice to have the guards to the "Hey dreamer, don't be so upset" etc. at the begining of Go, Go, Joseph rather than some other prisoner, but I suppose it works. After all, Joseph is "in with the guards"

I absolutely LOVED the butler (Craig Cady) and the baker (Timothy A. Fitz-Gerald). They worked so well together, vocally and onstage. And they were so very funny.
The butler didn't want to be the one to go first, and it was only with some very firm nudging by the narrator that he was convinced, and so "nervously he spoke of what he saw"
After hearing that the butler's dream was good, the baker takes his turn, considerably more confident... only to be shot down.
The whole scene with those two was just awesome.
Go, Go, Joe Was just... very colorful. All bright oranges and greens and pinks.
I'd figured out who Derek was, he does kinda a gymanist entry on a trampoline.

Pharaoh's Story is the first song in the second act. For me, this is kinda the song that makes or breaks the show. The Narrator must have a good voice for me to enjoy the show (well, actually considering she's the one that sings the most, it makes sense...)
Anyway, I am pleased to report that every single time, Ms Adams nailed it. Have I mentioned that I adore her voice?

Then the curtain comes up, revealing Pharaoh's court, with a bunch of egyptian people, I'm gonna call them the courtiers, because I like that word, the guys in gold, purple and turquoise, the gals in orange. (Odd color combaination, but it worked)
To give a bit of a hint of things to come, there is a Sphnix wearing sunglasses.
Throughout the course of the week, Pharaoh had several different entrances before they finally settled on one they liked. I thought that they made a good choice, because in the final incarnation, you don't see Pharaoh until his song starts. He's sitting in a high chair with his back to the audience.
It's to keep what Pharaoh is like a secret as long as possible. I think it worked well.

Pharaoh is played by Todd DuBail and, had I not known he was recovering from a sprained ankle, I would not have known.
He was AWESOME. After seeing him perform, the scene with Pharaoh promptly became my favorite part in the entire show. I thought that the costume designers did a good job in combining the trademark white sequin jumpsuit with an egyptian style.
At the very end of the song, when the audience applauded, he urged for more, and had a look kinda like "Yeah, you know you love me"
It was great :)

The way the script runs, Pharaoh tells his two dreams, and Joseph asks him to repeat it.
At this point, Joseph had a brilliant expression on his face, which is hard to describe, but was very funny. That's informative, isn't it? :) It was kind of like he was saying: "Well. That was interesting.... No bloody idea what it means though"

When the Narrator returned after Joseph said what Pharaoh's dreams meant, she cleared her throat loudly, and the butler turned Pharaoh slightly to see Joseph, just as all the spot lights fell on him.
Not at all subtle, but funny. This show really is more about funny than subtle anyway

During Stone the Crows , the Narrator and Pharaoh were fun to watch in the background as they chatted, while the girls gathered around Joseph.
It almost seemed to me like she was trying to keep Pharaoh from getting jealous of all the attention Joseph was getting.

Ordinarily I find Those Canaan Days to be... well, kinda boring. I generally fast forward through it during the video.
But I wouldn't call this version boring at all! Sung by Simeon, (Matthew LaBanca) this song was one of the more amusing bits of the whole show.
As this song is a mocking french ballad, it's set in a run down french cafe... the "Cafe du Canaan", according to the old fashoned sign that they fly in. Or... "Cafe du Cana_n", because one of the A's in the sign flickers and dies out. I thought that was pretty funny, although in a "real" review the clever reviewer didn't seem to realize that that was SUPPOSED to happen.
Anyway...

This version of the song was quite amusing, especially Jacob (Nicholas F. Saverine) who kept bursting into tears whenever anyone would say the name "Joseph". And then someone, usually Simeon would hand him a bright red handkerchief... except at the end of the song when all of them held out handkercheifs to Jacob.
The part about this song that always used to drag for me was the bit with the Apache Dancer. I always thought it was kinda random.
This production took a new twist on it. Since Canaan Days is set in a resturant, the Dancer was dressed as a waitress, and the dance sequence was her walking around with a covered dish while the brothers tried (Unsucessfully) to take it.
This made MUCH more sense and was, in general, better to watch.
The brothers all go around the table and sing little bits of the last verse, so I got to hear that Benjamin (Derek Fergusion) does have a pretty spiffy voice indeed.
To end the song, Jacob started directing the brothers, but lost interest and broke down in tears while they were holding a long note. He had to be poked so he would cut them off.

All I gotta say about the bit when they decide to go to Egypt is "But in Egypt there's food going spare" :)

Now, Levi and Pharaoh are both played by Todd DuBail, and he doesn't have time to change, so although there are 11 people onstage during Canaan Days, he isnt' one of them. I watched carefully to see him sneak in when the brothers got to Egypt.
They altered the lyrics a tiny bit here. Joseph usually sings: "I shall give you what you came for and lots more besides!" and then starts to hand out the food.
But in this production, he repeats the "And lots more besides" at least three times as he handed out the food - which, by the way, was spit out from the Sphinx's mouth.
I thought it was quite interesting that Joseph grabs the first sack and tosses it to Benjamin, and then let's his butler do the rest of them. Equally interesting was that Benjamin is really the only one that comes over to thank him.

Many of the times that I saw the show I thought that Joseph wasn't going to get the golden cup into Benjamin's sack in time (I mean with the music). But he always did.
I was glad when Levi rejoined the group (Todd DuBail had a sprained ankle and for the first performances was only onstage as Pharaoh) - Without him the timing for the searching was off.
I absolutely loved the look on Benjamin's face when the (female) guards grabbed him. Poor Benjamin.

The first night I saw the show, Benjamin Calypso sounded a bit off, but the rest of the nights it was excellent. I loved Judah (Marque Lynche)'s voice, especially when he hit the high note: "Not heeeee"
While Judah having a nice voice made the song good, it was also great fun to watch.
At the begining of the song, Zebulun (ahem... ;)) gathers some of the others around him and they 'sneakily' (Which means not at all) make their way over to the guards and grab Benjamin away from the guards. Two of the brothers, Simeon and... dunno who the other one was... distract the guards... by flirting with them. So funny.
The girls come out with yellow fans to add to the general calypso feeling of the song, and to add to the atmosphere, the butler comes out with a steel drum,
At the end of the song, they form a conga line, with Benjamin near the end. Well, actually he wasn't part of the line, he was hiding behind it.
Joseph and Judah are at the front of course.
the two guards hold out their spears to form a sort of limbo thing. The first time I watched it I thought, I bet they're gonna grab Benjamin as he goes through.
They did.

Watching Benjamin in this song was also fun. He did spend a good portion of the song hiding among his brothers, but when he was center stage and Prince Joseph wasn't watching, he started to dance. Wow can he dance...
Then, as soon as Joseph turned to look at him, he brought his hands together and gave the most angelic face. - set me off on giggles nearly every time.

The reunion of the brothers and Joseph was cute, especially when all the kids joined in. There was this one girl, that together with one of the handmaidens, looked like she was having a grand time.
And, to bring back the reoccuring theme of cell-phones, Ruben pulls out his cell to call Jacob and give him the good news.
What's Supposed to happen is Ruben pulls out his phone, dials, Jacob walks onstage, ringing sound effect, Jacob answers his phone.
Well... I'd guess less then half the time the ringing was right on. Oh well.
Jacob does a cute dance, hugs the narrator and hurries off to Egypt.

The Sphinx head flies up to reveal Joseph in his most princely outfit, standing in his chariot (which totally looked like it had wings).
Unfortunately, for the last few performances, instead of wearing the little circlet crown, Joseph wore this golden...thing. It was supposed to be a helmet I think, but, well, it looked like a bucket. Again, this resulted in some serious holding back of giggles.
Jacob joins Joseph and the others all gather around, except for the Narrator - Jacob throws her his phone and on the last note of the song, she snaps a picture.

Joseph comes down as they lower a scrim over the chariot for the Any Dream Will Do - Reprise
And this is where the professionalism of the show vanished I think.
Any Dream Will Do is supposed to be this big dramatic song, but unfortunately it is also rather soft, and the stage crew had to clear off the chariot for the Megamix.
This was not a good combination, because you could very clearly hear them changing the scene... while Joseph was singing, there were a lot of thumps and footsteps.
It was awful!
Thankfully, when he was wearing the silly golden bucket - I mean helmet - Joseph took it off for this song, otherwise I think that the whole entire song woulda been shot.

During the megamix... a whole lotta people danced. Not much to say really. Derek Ferguson does an impressive dance during the little part of Benjamin Calypso.
Todd DuBail (Pharaoh) got quite a bit of applause at his part, but nothing beat out the audiences reaction when Amy Adams came out "Strange as it seems, there's been a run of crazy dreams..."
She definately got the most applause out of everyone.

So to sum up, my favorite parts of the show were, in order, One More Angel In Heaven, Pharaoh's Story, Song of the King, Canaan Days and Benjamin Calypso.

For me, for a production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat has to have an awesome narrator, so from that point of view, the show rocked!

Joseph page

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