Humor, sincerity define Paramount's 'Joseph'
With all due respect to Disney World, the happiest place on earth these days — theatrically speaking at least — is Aurora's Paramount Theatre, where shiny happy people sing shiny happy show tunes on a bright and shiny stage.
The source of all that luster is director/choreographer Stacey Flaster's joyful, effervescent revival of the family-friendly, endlessly upbeat “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” which is about as ingenuous a production of the Tim Rice-Andrew Lloyd Webber musical as a fan could hope.
The show marks the second in Paramount's self-produced Broadway series. So far, the theater is two-for-two.
Everything about this “Joseph” rings true — from fresh-faced newcomer Brian Bohr's winning performance as Joseph, to the 12 very real kids who make up the children's chorus, to the full-bodied, rock'n' roll vocals of Naperville resident Lara Filip, whose performance as the Narrator marks her return to the stage following a two-year battle with breast cancer.
“Joseph” is what it is: a middling, pop-infused celebration of compassion, forgiveness and reconciliation inspired by a Bible story. It doesn't try to be what it's not. Flaster and her sharp, well-honed ensemble understand that, and the result is a production underscored by a gleeful sense of humor, with not a hint of guile.
Filip's Narrator spins the story of favorite son Joseph, played by Bohr, a Wheaton native and Northwestern University senior who possesses an engaging demeanor and an impressive voice. Beloved of patriarch Jacob (George Keating), the gifted Joseph's jealous brothers express their animosity by selling him into slavery.
Soon after, Joseph winds up at the home of Potiphar (also played by Keating, who channels Austin Powers), whose wife's attraction to the young slave lands Joseph in prison, where he's hailed as an interpreter of dreams. Word of his ability reaches Pharaoh (Vasily Deris), the ancient world's answer to Elvis Presley, who's so impressed with Joseph's abilities, he makes the young man his second in command.
Bohr and Filip dominate the narrative. But it's the brothers — a mighty group of singer/dancers that includes Mike Erickson, James Earl Jones II, Cory Stonebrook, Chris Carter, Bobby Johnson, Brian M. Duncan, Robert Deason, Jay Reynolds Jr., Alex McCrary, Vincent McPherson and Liam Quealy — who nearly steal the show.
Try to sit still during Jones' infectiously entertaining “Benjamin Calypso.” Try to keep a smile off your face during the deliciously wry and beautifully sung “Those Canaan Days,” a sendup of Parisian torch songs led by Erickson's Reuben that owes its belly laughs to a most unusual prop. And try not to be charmed by the loping country tune, “One More Angel in Heaven” sung by Stonebrook's Levi.
They don't get the showcase Bohr gets with the soaring “Close Every Door,” but these bros deliver with glorious harmonies of their own.
Speaking of glorious, music director and conductor Shawn Stengel's 16-piece orchestra supplies the kind of sumptuous accompaniment you'd expect in a palace this grand.
Also deserving mention is Flaster's fresh, spunky choreography which — like Webber's retro score — crosses genres to incorporate hip-hop, country and 1950s style jive; along with Kevin Depinet's urban-industrial-meets-ancient-Egypt set strikingly illuminated by designer Jesse Klug, who lights up the Paramount stage like a Las Vegas show room.
“Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”
★★★
<b>Location:</b> Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora, (630) 896-6666 or paramountaurora.com
<b>Showtimes:</b> 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 4 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 1 and 5 p.m. Sunday; through Sunday, Nov. 20
<b>Tickets:</b> $34.90-$46.90
<b>Parking: </b>Nearby garages and metered street parking
<b>Rating: </b>For all ages