Joseph And The Technicolour Dream Coat

Jeff Green | May 15, 2025

Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was first performed, as a 22 minute mini-musical, as a school production in 1968. It was the first collaboration between 20 year old Tim Rice and 17 year old Andrew Lloyd Webber, who did pretty well for themselves over the next 40 years.

I was not aware of this when I attended the NFLT production of the play on opening night, nor was I familiar with the play.

That is why it was such a surprise how much it felt more like a student production, with adults in the cast, than a community theatre production with children in the cast. I also wondered about the mixing of musical genres in the production. There were classic musical productions that could have come from Rodgers and Hammerstein, a country song, an Elvis number, and even a reggae type number.

This was not a specific innovation from NFLT, it was in the original.
With that said, this production was appealing to the audience, and it received a rare standing ovation on opening night, as much from the energy and infectious enthusiasm of the performers as from the performance itself.

The cast were having a ball, and we were all along for the ride.
Among the standouts was Marc Giroux in the lead role of Joseph. Marc’s last NFLT production was as a teenager in Brigadoon over 25 years ago. An accomplished musician and singer, he brought confidence and energy to the role, and was tickled to be able to perform with three of his children in supporting roles, along with his mother, Pam, who first performed with the NFLT, as the lead role in the company’s inaugural production of Alice in Wonderland, 46 years ago.
As Pharaoh, Ryan Michie delivered that Elvis impersonation with aplomb, and also anchored a family of performers including two children, and niece, and his wife Christina, who had a small role on stage but a massive role, directing the production.

Other standout performances came from Joelle Parr as the narrator, Beth Freeland, as Joseph’s brother Naphtali who delivered the country performance of the year, Sara McCullough as the Baker, and Taylor Trussel, who led a production number, did a solo dance, and played Potiphar’s wife.

Because the entire production is performed in song, any actor with a line, also had a solo, and whenever any of the actors was not leading a song, they became part of the chorus, in a seamlessly inclusive production.
Adam Parker arranged and performed all of the music, pre recording some, and playing live on the keyboards at the same time. His leadership role was only matched by that of Christina Michie, whose directing style gave a lot of leeway to the performers to express themselves, while making sure that the production never slowed down, even with the tight quarters in the small stage area. She also tapped into the enthusiasm from the actors that made the production so appealing.

Actors had to enter and exit the stage in four directions, cycling behind the stage, in the aisles, and outside the hall at times, in order to complete the entire production, including intermission, in two hours. This was followed by a ten minute reprise, a highlight reel for the audience who were still wanting more entertainment.

A large backstage crew made everything run smoothly. Special mention to Tim White for his choreography and young actor wrangling skills, and to Art Holloway and Jan Levitt for all their work behind the scenes, and in front of the stage for Art, who was drafted to play the role of Jacob at the last minute.

The next NFLT production is “The Complete Works of Shakespeare – Abridged” which is set for the fall, with auditions in the late summer. See northfrontenaclittletheatre.com for details.And another musical is coming in 2026. ■