Newsgroups: rec.arts.theatre
From: carsontr@dgp.toronto.edu (Carson T Schutze)
Subject: Two North-American premieres in Toronto
Organization: CSRI, University of Toronto
Distribution: na
Date: 26 Jul 92 02:13:44 GMT

I recently saw the Toronto productions of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor
Dreamcoat and Kiss of the Spiderwoman, and thought I'd share some impressions
(really not enough details to call them mini-reviews even).

These shows are so different (How different are they?) it seems wrong to put
them both under the heading of "musical".  From this you may surmise that I
loved one and hated the other.

Joseph was amazing.  Possibly the most fun evening I've ever had in the theatre.
This is essentially a clone of the current London production that I saw last
year, but it gained the second time around (there were a few new touches,
including a Donny Osmond joke).  It doesn't take itself seriously at all,
except for one brief moment, so we can laugh with it all the way through.
There's really not much else to say, virtually every aspect of the show was
wonderful.  (Exceptions: the narrator's miking was incredibly tinny; the
sound operator missed several microphone cues; the lighting operator missed
several lighting cues.)  The ending effect is much more spectacular than in
London (no spoiler here).  Donny Osmond as Joseph is much better than I
expected--I had no complaints about his acting, and his singing was great,
much better than Jason Donovan's.  Boy how I envy the conductor, Phil Reno.
His last job was the Starlight Express tour, and now this.  I would pay big
bucks to lead his life for him.  He even gets to bop around and do the dance
steps along with the cast during the last couple of numbers.

Now for the bad news.  I haven't seen the movie of Kiss, or read the book,
so I am responding to the show on its own.  My god, what a catastrophe!
It should have died after Frank Rich's review of the workshop production.
This could have made quite a good straight play, but as a musical it is a 
disaster because none of the musical numbers work at all.  The acting was good
(Brent Carver is amazing as Molina, you feel like you are seeing him in a
one-man show much of the time, and he carries it brilliantly), the singing
was fine (except for Chita Rivera's ridiculous baritone range), but that's where
the good stuff ends.  Even just by itself, the music was mediocre, with not
a single number that did anything for me emotionally at all.  When you add in
the fact that the accompanying action is totally incongruous, you have, well,
a failed attempt at a musical.  It is like changing TV channels between
Rivera's Las Vegas act and the story of Kiss, with no connection whatsoever
between them.  Gee, the drama's at a lull, let's get Chita to do a dance number.
Please!  Molina's and Valentin's songs were only marginally better integrated,
but the channel-flipping sensation was too compelling for them.  And the final
ten minutes of the show were absolute nonsense.  I think the audiences are
showing up just because it's a world premiere, and I predict it will flop
in the West End.  (Footnote: How's this for unprofessionalism: immediately
after the Act I curtain fell, the conductor spend at least a minute bawling
out the orchestra for something they had screwed up--whatever it was, I didn't
notice it.  I couldn't hear what he was saying, but even from the back of the
house I could tell from his gestures what was going on.  This just confirms
the rumours around town that Jeffrey Huard, the conductor, is a lunatic.
Why Drabinsky hired him is beyond me.)

So, to summarize: Joseph, great; Kiss, shit.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Carson T. Schutze                 Dynamic Graphics Project
               			  Computer Systems Research Institute
(416) 978-6619			  University of Toronto
				  Toronto, Ontario, Canada   M5S 1A4

Internet:	carsontr@dgp.toronto.edu
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