Limon Puts on a 2nd ‘Coat’ but Retains Original Color

Back in 1992, Ray Limon staged a goofy “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” at the small Curtis Theatre in Brea. Now, he brings his souped-up, more polished Fullerton Civic Light Opera version to the larger Plummer Auditorium with the same engaging results.

Limon has kept the silly essentials that distinguished the first show. That’s smart with this musical, one of the slightest to come from that commercial wonder-duo Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.

As before, we get to see more than actors mugging in camel costumes during the “Poor Joseph” number; there’s a dancing Camel cigarette pack strolling through it all. And when Joseph is stalked by his brothers early on, they come at him with everything from cartoon-sized mallets to bombs. A little hokey, but it still clicks in a broad, music-hall way.

Limon, after all, is just responding to “Joseph’s” natural irreverence. Based on the Old Testament story, Webber’s score and Rice’s lyrics winkingly follow Joseph as he smirks his way through boyhood as dad Jacob’s favorite. Sold into slavery by his spiteful brothers, he does time in prison only to become a political power in Egypt after meeting Pharaoh. Finally, after many years, Joseph reunites with his grieving family.

Heavy stuff in the Bible, but not here. All these tragedies and triumphs are set to a menagerie of musical styles, including rock, country, even calypso, which help leave the seriousness behind. Set designer Jim Oxley’s fanciful touches (huge sphinxes look solemn until their heads start bobbing to the music) add to the comic tone.

Limon doesn’t give the audience much time to brood anyway. The show runs about 75 minutes (plus a 15-minute intermission) and rarely sputters. Until the end, that is. The closing “MegaMix,” where the cast reprises snippets of the signature tunes, is dull and anticlimactic.

The cast, featuring several professionals, is strong. Kip Driver has a confident voice (he delivers on “Joseph’s Coat” and “Any Dream Will Do”) and a low-key style that catches both Joseph’s early callowness and later self-assurance. Driver is complemented by Ilysia J. Pierce as the ubiquitous narrator; she’s also an accomplished singer able to navigate the score’s changing directions.

In one of the bigger smaller roles, Jim Hormel tickles the crowd as Pharaoh, playing him as Elvis rocking the faithful at the sand dunes. It’s a mildly funny turn, but haven’t we had it with Elvis impersonators by now?

BE THERE

“Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” Plummer Auditorium, Chapman Avenue and Lemon Street, Fullerton. Thursday through Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday and Saturday, 2 p.m.; this Sunday, 7 p.m. Ends Nov. 2. $14 to $32. (714) 879-1732 or (714) 526-3832. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.