Review of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1999) by Ben S — 10 Aug 2008

I was at first wary of seeing this, 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 (Maria Friedman), the Pharaoh (Robert Torti) and brother Simeon (Jeff Blumenkrantz).

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!