By BRUCE DENNILL
Joseph And The Technicolor Dreamcoat / Directed by Anton Luitingh and Duane Alexander / Pieter Toerien’s Montecasino Theatre, Fourways, Johannesburg
The phrase “reimagined for a South African audience” is often enough to make the hearts of theatre fans fall through the floor, not because that necessarily guarantees something that was great losing its original essence, but because a South African audience, in the most general sense, is a diverse thing. Race, language, age, gender, sexuality, taste and more – unless all of those are represented in the “reimaginers”, what results from the overhaul is likely to be different, but not inevitably better (or even good).
Happily, what the creative team here – director Anton Luitingh; director and choreographer Duane Alexander; musical supervisor Charl-Johan Lingenfelder; choreographer Jare Schaedler; set, costume and prop designer Niall Griffin; lighting designer Oliver Hauser; sound designer David Classen and musical director Amy Campbell – have done, is take strong, snappy source material and amplify it. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s music and Tim Rice’s lyrics – poppy, animated, fun, cheesy and just occasionally poignant – has worked well since 1972 (and around the world since 1974 when the South African production became the first to be staged outside of the creators’ native England). Given that enduring appeal, a simple tweak here and there would be sufficient to keep each new vision of the musical enjoyable.
This version does a lot more than that. There’s a phrase from Spinal Tap that talks about “turning it up to 11” that comes to mind, but it’d be more accurate to say that everyone and everything on stage turns it up to about 17! That implies a lack of subtlety or dynamics, but the technical skills of all involved combine to ensure there is light and shade, even if the lows are not as low as usual and the highs are stratospheric.
The result is loud in every sense, and in the best way possible. Brassy, bold costumes vie with belted ensemble vocals in leaping out at the audience; choreography is as pumped up as it is precise; a raked stage and rainbow lighting pitch the cast and the action into the auditorium and details in facial expressions and movement speak to attentive directing and effective rehearsals. In all of this, the “reimagined” and “South African” touches come through. None of them take away from the mood or flow of the original ideas, all of them work and there is a sense that, while not getting even close to offending the sensibilities of older audiences who saw Jason Donovan or Richard Loring in their versions
Like everything else, the considerable humour in the piece is intensified by the almost absurdly joyous efforts of the cast, with One More Angel In Heaven, Those Canaan Days and Benjamin’s Calypso being guffaw-inducing.
Everyone is superb, but a few performers merit special mention. Dylan Janse Van Rensburg, big and buff but possessed of a pure, clear singing voice, is an engaging, striking Joseph. Lelo Ramasimong as the Narrator is a potent vocalist who also does a wonderful job of connecting all the characters and scenes, all with a twinkle in her eye. Chris Jaftha is everywhere, playing Jacob with patriarchal restraint; Potiphar with hilarious, exaggerated mannerisms; and Pharaoh with charming, goofy arrogance fitting for the role. Outside of the leads, Gianluca Gironi as Dan appears to have more fun than it’s appropriate to get paid for, and Danie Conradie, with his stubble and six-pack, unintentionally makes it look like Ryan Gosling is on stage – Ken from the Barbie Movie with a fantastic bass voice – which is its own delightful running gag on top of all Tim Rice’s efforts.
The likelihood of smiling for the entire running time here is extremely high, and that’s just one fitting reward for efforts and execution of this standard.