For one night, and one night only, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was live in concert at Lincoln Center in New York City. The concert was in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Andrew Lloyd Weber musical, but it gave us something much more important: Jewish actor Noah Galvin as Joseph in denim cutoffs and a pink kippah. Essentially, the Joseph of our dreams.
Let me back up: The musical — which you may know from the movie starring Donny Osmond (which my sister and I must have watched hundreds of times) — is a retelling of the story of Joseph from the Book of Genesis. It features a mash-up of different musical genres (the Pharaoh as Elvis! Prisoners as go-go dancers!) and is simply the best.
That’s why I am obsessed with the concert version, starring Noah Galvin as Joseph, that occurred on February 17. (I love Noah, I’ve established this already.) On Instagram, he shared a video from the musical from his pal Molly Gordon (whom I also adore), and wrote, “I got to live my gay Jew fantasy tonight in a theater I never thought I’d have the opportunity to perform in. And it was perfect.”
The rest of the cast featured Eden Espinosa, Alex Newell, and Jessica Vosk sharing the part of the narrator; husband-and-wife duo Andy Karl and Orfeh as Potiphar and Potiphar’s wife; Chuck Cooper as Jacob; Merle Dandridge as Pharaoh (gotta love a genderbent casting); Brooks Ashmankas as the Baker; Gavin Lee as the Butler; and lots more. Plus, the concert featured a chorus of 300 singers from across the United States.
Since I was unable to be there (slash I would’ve been there in a freakin’ heartbeat had I known. @Lincoln Center, please let me know next time), I’ve gathered all the videos and Instagrams and tweets I could find to tell you all about this show:
1. Noah Galvin was amazing! (We know this.)
He wore a pink kippah and jorts:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8tgbfxJkvf/
— Noah Galvin (@Noahegalvin) February 18, 2020
His performance was an “extremely thigh forward Joseph”:
https://twitter.com/4evrmalone/status/1229585811076763648?s=20
More clips of Noah? Yes!
https://twitter.com/roIIyham/status/1229901060451586048?s=20
2. The show ended (as it does) with a seven-minute megamix featuring everyone:
Another video in case that one doesn’t work:
3. Genderbent characters!
Pharaoh was played by a woman, Merle Dandridge, a “Beyoncé/JLo moment”:
One of Joseph’s brothers, Gad (who sings “Those Canaan Days”), was also played by a woman, Bonnie Milligan (who received the loudest applause of the night, according to Vulture):
4. Potiphar as a Trump parody! Amazing! (They were played by husband-and-wife duo Andy Karl and Orfeh).
5. Here’s a rehearsal of “Go, Go, Go Joseph”:
(Please make a cast album of this. It’s all we want and need.)
Here are more rehearsal clips, including “Those Canaan Days”:
6. More show clips? Yes, please!
Here’s Benjamin, played by Mykal Kilgore, singing during the megamix:
Here’s one of the narrators, played by Jessica Vosk:
7. Instead of a camel, they had…
Screaming over the live camel they used in the one night only show of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat at the Lincoln Center last night pic.twitter.com/kdX4ZtPAg8
— Courtney (Taylor’s Version) ✨ (@CourtneyB1209) February 18, 2020
When they were selling Joseph to the Ishmaelites they rode out with a big white piece of cardboard that said [live camel] END ME
— Molly (@musicalmollay) February 18, 2020
8. The show celebrated inclusion
As Jay Armstrong Johnson, who played Reuben, wrote on Instagram: “I am beyond grateful to have been a part of an evening that celebrated inclusion, queerness, love, forgiveness, and heaps JOY!”
Here’s the whole cast:
A dream. Mazels to the whole cast and crew. (But seriously, invite me next time.)
