Welcome to the first edition of Radar, where we run down the up-and-coming arts events to mark your calendar for. Our inaugural event is a kitschy new production by the folks at M.A.D. Theatre:
Only disco-riffic, psychedelic acid trip of a musical—and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat delivers. Often presented as the sequel to the dynamic duo’s rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar, Dreamcoat is another journey into the bizarro world of Webber, and includes everything from an Elvis-impersonating servant singing 70s-inspired hits like “Go, Go, Go Joseph” to country and western numbers, to the rousing curtain call, the “Joseph Megamix.” Once you get over the initial weirdness, Dreamcoat is an entertaining version of Joseph’s tragic tale. When Joseph’s father gives him a beautiful coat, it incites the jealousy of his brothers, who follow the all-too-familiar path of envious siblings and sell him into slavery. Well, maybe it’s a slight overreaction. Lucky for Joseph, his eerily accurate dream interpretations elevate him from slavery to the most powerful man in Egypt, second only to the Pharaoh. When famine strikes and his brothers beg him for food, Joseph seeks to exact revenge, but sees their penitence and all is forgiven—and, hey, all’s well that ends with an upbeat musical number. July 31-Aug. 9, 7:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 3 p.m. Sun., HCC Mainstage Theater, Ybor City Campus, 2112 N. 15th St., Tampa, $18 in advance, $22 at the door, madtheatre.com.—Franki Weddington
