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Donny Osmond has made a name for himself on Broadway by starring in this particular musical for quite some time. It's always difficult for another performer to step into a role that has 'belonged' to another person for years on end. Anyone playing the King in "The King and I" faces inevitable comparison with Yul Brenner, for instance. That's why it's important that the actor strike a balance between keeping the role recognizable and making it their own. Unfortunately, Jon Secada has not yet found that balance with the role of Joseph.

Mr. Secada's vocal presence was acceptable, and he seemed to have a solid grasp of rhythm, melody and harmony. This would be expected, considering his background as a pop music star. Unfortunately, the director failed to impart some important differences between performing in a concert setting and performing in a musical theatre production. Mr. Secada has difficulty in pulling focus to himself, his physicality rarely being strong enough to pull the eye away from the other things that were happening onstage. In Act I during the song Close Every Door, Mr. Secada knelt in the center of the stage, singing, and doing absolutely nothing else. Some actors can make that stillness a powerful emotional moment, but in Mr. Secada it seemed to only denote an inability to come up with the internal intensity that the song requires. There was no sense of the mingled despair and faith that the text and melody call for from the actor.

The lead also seemed to have difficulty with the idea of moving to a mark onstage, planting himself, and taking control of the stage with presence as he sang from that spot. His movements seemed nervous and uncontrolled, with little power of personality or charisma behind them. He would constantly shift his weight while singing, as though he'd rather be moving. If the instinct to move is that strong in him, then he and the director need to make the blocking work with that need rather than trying to force him into a mode that he's not fully comfortable with yet. It was extremely distracting and annoying. I had the urge to go backstage and grab him and tell him that I would expect to see him at the Scarborough Faire Performing Company's workshops in the spring as much of what is learned there would do him a lot of good.

Monica Patton, playing The Narrator, was not performing for the Sunday afternoon matinee. Instead the role was played by her understudy, Amy Goldberger. Ms. Goldberger was a second disappointment. Her voice had a wonderful tone to it in the mid to lower range, a lovely mellowness that was, unfortunately, under-utilized in this production. When she slipped up into the higher portions of her range, Ms. Goldberger had a tendency to fall into a style known as 'belting', which is standard for many Broadway productions, but can be difficult on the sound team when said production is miked...as this one was. The difference in volume between her ranges caused repeated difficulties in sound levels, causing the sound system to actually pop at one point when she flipped ranges and became much louder and harsher.

Ms. Goldberger's physicality was also a disappointment, joining with Mr. Secada to create a vacuum where the two strongest performances should have been. It began with her entrance and went downhill from that point. She exhibited an obviously faked saccharine cheerleader persona that set my teeth on edge almost instantly. The Narrator is the person onstage who is supposed to be the bridge between the Ordinary Audience Member and the bright, primary colored fantasy that is occurring onstage. Unfortunately there was no bridge in this particular performance, there was only a yawning chasm that the rest of the performers had to work to overcome.

The other performers are the ones who redeemed this show and took it from being a potential waste of time and money to a show worth seeing despite it's faults. The brothers were multi-talented and quite amazing to watch. They could dance, they could sing, they could do acrobatics, and they could stand out as individuals when needed but had the ability to blend into a unified force when appropriate. Joseph's Dreams, One More Angel In Heaven, Those Canaan Days, and Benjamin Calypso were definitely the highlights of the show. All eleven of the men had excellent voices, and knew how to use them to best effect. They created impressive harmonies, blending with little obvious effort and allowing the various soloists to stand out as the music called for it.

The ensemble, as a whole, threw itself with unrestrained enthusiasm into the various styles of music called for in this show. Country/Western, Calypso, and the infamous French Cafe scene all came together visually, harmonically and stylistically. The majority of the choreography was what is considered to be standard for this show, but with enough original touches that it was never allowed to fall into cliche mode... except when it was SUPPOSED to do so. Watching the ensemble pieces was a breath of fresh air after sitting through the solo work of the leads.

The costumer for this production had an excellent eye for providing individuality while maintaining the flow of color and line from character to character. The brothers all wore similar cut and material but with enough differences that each had his own personality. While I might have preferred a different approach to Potiphar and his wife, the direction chosen still worked. Potiphar's Wife, especially, was an acceptable representation of the character with her Vegas Showgirl look (feather headress and all). I would have liked to see Potiphar look a bit more different from the Pharoah's Guards, but his costuming was decent enough.

In the more technical areas, the stage dressing was...well...the only word that I can find that applies is "cheesy". For a Broadway show's touring company, I expected rather a bit more from the sets. I've seen better set dressing on local productions of this same musical. The best piece was the large Sphinx head with the Elvis sunglasses. The rest of the set was unremarkable at best and cheap looking at worst. I do have to say, however, that my husband did enjoy the floppy stuffed goat that was used during Poor, Poor Joseph.

The lighting crew excelled, creating the proper ambience for each musical number and flattering the cast without exception. There were no shadows in awkward places or badly lit corners of the stage that I could see. They achieved what a lighting crew strives to achieve...a lighting scheme that enhances the show without being so obvious as to attract attention to itself.

Overall the show was a pleasant way to while away an afternoon, but the lack of quality leads made it fall a bit short of what I expect from a Broadway touring company. I would have to give it a B+, raised from a C because of the excellent ensemble.