I was fairly young the first time I saw this filmed special, maybe back around the time it first came out, and I liked it a lot back then. As such, I’m glad The Shows Must Go On replayed it, because it was one that I missed when they showed it at the start of the lockdown and it was nice to revisit it.
A musical rendition of the biblical story. Joseph is his father’s favorite son, which puts him in the crosshairs of his eleven brothers. When, in a fit of envy, they throw him into a pit and then sell him into slavery (Joseph’s brothers don’t mess around,) God helps him survive his new circumstances through his gift: the ability to interpret dreams.
It needs to be said that this is an incredibly-cheesy rendition of a moderately-cheesy musical, and I don’t just mean Donny Osmond’s performance as Joseph. A number of the songs are very winking and most of the actors are mugging for all they’re worth. A few years ago, I saw a fantastic regional production of Joseph that admittedly blows this filmed version out of the water, but even if the cheese factor is even hammier than I remember, I enjoy it for the nostalgia aspect.
This isn’t one of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s best-known scores, but I like it. “Any Dream Will Do” is a solid Lloyd Webber ballad, and I like the early Narrator-led numbers like “Jacob and Sons” and “Joseph’s Coat.” The score plays around a lot with a variety of genres cranked up to eleven, and while most of these are very hokey, they can be fun – the Elvis-themed “Pharaoh’s Song” is a crowdpleaser. (Side note: in that regional production I saw, Pharaoh was actually played by a Black man in drag who performed the song as a Diana Ross-style number. Awesome.)
The best part about this production is probably Maria Friedman as the Narrator. Her singing is fantastic, and she brings a lot of snap and personality to the proceedings as practically the only woman onscreen apart from scantily-clad ensemble members (part of the trouble with musicals based on Bible stories.) As Joseph, Donny Osmond of course sings well, but his acting? Eh. He’s earnest, I’ll give him that. Seeing the film again all these years later, I picked up on some extra familiar faces: Ian McNeice (Doctor Who’s Winston Churchill) as Potiphar, Alex Jennings (David on The Crown) as Pharaoh’s butler, and Robert Torti (Jesus in Reefer Madness) as Pharaoh – Torti must specialize in doing biblically-based rock-star numbers in musicals, hehe.
Finally, it’s hardly a surprise, but this movie features a ton of white people playing Egyptian characters (I mean, Ian McNeice, possibly the whitest guy, as Potiphar.) White actors playing Egyptians, especially in adaptations of Bible stories, are still rampant today, so of course this hokey filmed musical from 1999 wasn’t going to pay attention to that kind of thing. At the bare minimum, they do have Judah, the brother who sings “Benjamin Calypso” (complete with a thick Caribbean accent,) played by a Black actor, but that’s about it.
Warnings
Some suggestiveness/brief sexual content, scenes of violence, drinking, and thematic elements.
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