With Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, the Georgetown Palace Theatre demonstrates once again the blend of professional standards and excitement of community theatre that makes it the premiere venue in the greater Austin area for musical theatre.
Webber wrote this piece well before his hit Jesus Christ Superstar, for a school performance in London. The structure hints at that, for when the lights go down, cheery Patty Rowell comes on stage, beckoning, and down the aisles of the Palace come two scampering files of young persons in jeans and white t-shirts. They hug her and squat in a semi-circle in front of the curtain; the music starts, Patty smiles, gestures, and then launches into a lilting melody. We understand quickly that this is a class, probably a Sunday school class, as she and her classroom assistant Stephen Jack begin the story.
From that spare but charming beginning the story of Joseph expands.
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