Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat - Orginal Broadway Cast (1982)

Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics: Tim Rice

An obvious predecessor to Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar in both Biblical theme and rock opera style. This is a cast recording from the Broadway production that ran for 749 performances between January 1982 and September 1983. The best performances here are from Laurie Beechman and Tom Carder. I didn't have this recording on LP, but I may have been given a dubbed cassette at some point in high school. But I have a long history with this musical (see below), so when I saw this CD in a used bin recently, I bought it for pure nostalgia. Now I can't listen to these songs without having flashbacks while I sing along with the cast and cackle when a line brings back a memory from 30 years ago.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: This was written in 1968 and even at age 20, Lloyd Webber had a great ear for melody. Most of the songs will have the audience humming on the way home. The only tunes I want to skip are the ones that are ill-advised parodies: the country/western One More Angel, the 1920's burlesque sounds of Potiphar, and the French waltz ballad Those Canaan Days.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD:  I've performed this musical twice, once in April 1984 and again in November 1985; both times I played the title role of Joseph. No video of these performances exist (even if that isn't true, let's say it is). My voice wasn't too bad, although my big solo number (Close Every Door) pushed my range a little. My real problem was the fact that I was too self-conscious to really let myself go and give the role the over-dramatic tongue-in-cheek shtick it calls for. Below is a picture of me in the multicolored coat from the 1984 production that was put on by my church during the spring of my senior year in high school. Two years later and 360 miles away from home, I played the role again in college. The 1985 performance was better, but only marginally.

I've only seen one professional production of the musical. This was in 1983 at Houston's Music Hall with former teen idol David Cassidy in the title role. I went to the show with the youth group from church that would later make up the cast of our hometown production in 1984.