When I saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was coming to Charlotte, I freaked out a little bit and told Ryan we had to go. The only other time Ryan has seen Joseph was when I convinced him to join me for a random community theatre production in a small town in Florida. Though I am a big-time fan of community theatre (we went all the time in Ocala and thought it was great!), this particular show left a lot to be desired, so I was excited Ryan would have the chance to see Joseph on a big stage with a full orchestra and all that jazz.
We were fortunate to easily find parking outside of the Belk Theater at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center and arrived about 15 minutes before the show began at 7:30 p.m.
I cannot remember the last time I felt as giddy and exited to see a musical and as we took our seats, I flipped through the program and the name Diana DeGarmo caught my eye. She was playing the role of the narrator (my dream role if could ever actually sing) and I knew I recognized her name from somewhere, so I flipped to her biography page and saw that she finished second on American Idol a few years ago. How cool!
I then started reading other cast member bios and saw that Ace Young, the actor/singer playing the role of Joseph, was also an American Idol contestant who is now married to Diana. So awesome! How fun would it be to travel around from city to city performing in musicals with your spouse!? Ryan and I have a new goal in life…
Yesterday was actually our first time visiting the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center and Ryan and I both commented on how wonderful the theatre was, as it seemed like there truly was not a bad seat in the house.
The balconies didn’t extend too far back and the theatre isn’t overly large, giving it a somewhat intimate feel for a city performing arts center.
As the musical began, I made myself promise not to sing every word aloud for the benefit of those around me, but it was really hard not to get into it and sing along! I love every single song in this musical so darn much.
The whole show was absolutely fantastic and Ryan and I chatted at intermission about the athleticism of the performers (the choreography was seriously intense!!) and the beautiful vocals of Diana DeGarmo. She was so charismatic and absolutely killed it as the narrator.
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The show also incorporated a lot of humor and kept things lively and upbeat the whole time, so it passed by in a flash. Before I knew it, we were walking back to our car, trying our best not to sing, “Go, Go, Go Joseph, you know what they saaaaaay…”
It was such a fun night and I am still so happy I was able to see my favorite musical on stage again, performed in such a wonderful way. If you are a Joseph fan, or if you simply love energetic musicals, you can see the United States and United Kingdom tour dates for Joseph here. I promise you will love it! (And no, I have no affiliation with Joseph other than being a die-hard fan.)
And just because I’m all hopped up on Joseph love this morning, here are links to a few of my favorite songs from the musical just in case you want a little preview:
Question of the Morning
- Musical lovers: What is your all-time favorite musical?
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I total remember Ace from American Idol! -haha!
I adore musical theater as well. My favorite show is Wicked…but this one is at the top of my list as well.
I have never seen Joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat! But it sounds awesome!! My all time favorite play is definitely Wicked! My now fiance bought us tickets years ago for my birthday and the play was life changing! SO good and the music was just outstanding! I am only a 30 minute train ride from NYC and do not get there often enough to see a play, we need to put more of an effort to start though!
Wicked is SUCH a great musical! I loved it, too!
How fun!! That theater is BEAUTIFUL! I’ve only seen one musical which was Wicked and I loved it! I was SO impressed at how the props looked so real and the talent of the performers. It was really colorful too! Glad you had a good time!
So cool! I have never been to a musical. 🙁
I have been to an opera. I had always wanted to go and when I finally did I wasn’t that into it. I fell asleep. Can’t take me anywhere.
i saw joseph as a little girl in palatine too! ‘close every door’ had me in tears and i was hooked. joseph is the best!
This is my all-time favorite musical. It is so upbeat and listening to the songs instantly puts me in a good mood! I have seen fantastic community theatre productions of the show, but never on the big stage…I was so bummed when this tour came to a city near me last year and we weren’t able to go.
My husband and I had a tradition for a while where we would see at least one “big stage” musical a year – I also love The Lion King – it is beautiful! The costumes, scenery are incredible and the overall creativity of the production…it just gives you goosebumps. Chicago is a fun one too! But Joseph just takes the cake:-)
We did this show when I was in high school. I was in the chorus, and my sister was the Baker, and one of the brothers (we didn’t have enough guys in theatre to cover all the brothers. Three brothers were played by girls). A few weeks back, I was reading my Bible (using an app on my Bible called YouVersion, where you can read through the Bible in a year), and I realized I hadn’t seen Joseph in FOREVER, so I mentioned it to my dad, and he grabbed the DVD, ready to watch the Donny Osmond musical with me right then. It brought back a lot of memories, and I’m amazed I still remembered the lyrics.
I think my favorite musical is Roger’s & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, though. I absolutely adore it!
How fun!! I love musicals. Out of all the musicals I’ve seen I would have to say “Cats” in NYC was the coolest.
Ahh I loved them on American Idol! What a beautiful theater! I’m glad you got to enjoy the play!
My favorite musical is Legally Blonde! I saw it on Broadway with my dad and it’s one of my favorite memories. 😀
I was in a production of Joseph at summer camp during high school! I was one of the brothers–Asher, I think. (We had waaaay more girls than guys who wanted to be in the show 🙂 )
I performed in this show during high school! Don’t want to make you jealous or anything 😉
I would LOVE to see this. I have never seen Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat. I need to watch for a production where I live. Thanks for the great date night idea!
ive only seen the lion king which I thought was entertaining. I would love to see wicked some day because I heard how awesome it is! I love your purse … will you share the details? 🙂
I would love to see Wicked! I read the book and it was so good! Unfortunately it seems that I keep somehow missing when it comes to town! Either I’m not in town, have prior engagements, or, like this past time, I moved just before it came in! I’m dying to see it and I’ve heard such good things about it!
I LOVE Joseph! My church put on a full performance of the show when I was in the 4th grade and I’ve been obsessed since. I was a little Ishmaelite and my dad was one of the brothers. Too funny. I also love Wicked and Les Miserables! Do you know if there is a way to sign up for show alerts with the Blumenthal theater? I live an hour away and would love to come up for shows!
I’ve never seen Joseph, but I adore musicals and I’d love to see it sometime. I think my favorite musical is Wicked, but I also really love Les Mis! Ahhh now I want to go see a musical soon 🙂 Glad you had such a great time!
I’ve been a huge fan of Wicked and have seen it a few times! Looks like you guys had an awesome night! I love go to musicals but don’t do it nearly enough!
We saw Stomp a year ago in New York. It was amazing!
I just saw Once and it was probably the best show I’ve ever seen. I had wanted to see it for years (the movie is one of my favs) and my husband surprised me with tickets for Valentine’s Day! It’s absolutely lovely and moving and the music is incredible! I can’t stop talking about it! I also love the Last Five Years and can’t WAIT to see the movie!
Without a doubt it has to be Wicked for me. I’ve seen it three times and when a friend or family member admits they haven’t seen it, I start prowling for tickets :). The soundtrack is so well done and leaves me in tears nearly every time. So much that I try to avoid songs like “For Good” while I’m running because I will be sobbing by the end.
The first time I saw Joseph was with Donny Osmond in Chicago too 🙂 My mom was still pregnant with my brother so it had to be 1994. I’ve dragged my husband to Joseph 3 times since. We saw this cast in July in KC for my birthday. I had no idea they were from American Idol and married! The only thing I didn’t like was the reggae take on Benjamin Calypso… but I still absolutely sang along.
I’m clearly a hardcore Joseph fangirl, but I do really like the Legally Blonde musical too. I’m excited to see Book of Mormon this summer!
I remember when Joseph was in Chicago with Donny Osmond! I have a pic of the marquee.
We’ve only seen one musical, Memphis and it was really great.
This is absolutely my all-time favorite musical too! I’ve been in it twice, once in middle school and once in college, and I can still sing every color of the coat! 🙂
I was surprised at how much we liked Book of mormon! But yes Wicked is also way up there at the top!
My favorite musicals are Grease and Mamma Mia (cliche I know) haha I did however go see Mary Poppins recently and it was amaze balls!!!
I really love Les Mis, Phantom of the Opera, & Wicked! I’ve seen all three in off-broadway shows & they were just incredible!!
My HS was actually an amazing place for great shows (they won state stuff all the time), and they put on Joseph & it was rockin’!
Annnnd now you’ve got me looking up Joseph on my Spotify… absolutely love the songs to that show! I’m begging my boyfriend to get us tickets to see Lion King soon – I saw it as a kid and absolutely adored it. He has three kids that I know would feel the same – gotta love starting musicals young 🙂
Thank you SO MUCH for posting the tour dates! I looked it up, and it will be in Houston next month. Eeee!! Joseph is the very first musical I performed in (high school), and it started a chain reaction…I have played in the orchestra for over 20 since. Seeing it for the first time as an audience member is going to be amazing. I can’t wait!
My favorite musical: Aida. Have you seen it? If you love Joseph, I think you’ll love Aida! Here’s the synopsis, and the score is beautiful. Check out the original cast recording on Spotify or YouTube.
“At the Nile’s edge, the enslaved Nubian princess, Aida becomes romantically entangled with the Egyptian captain, Radames, who is betrothed to the Pharaoh’s daughter, Amneris. As their forbidden love grows deeper, Aida is forced to find balance between her heart’s yearning for Radames, and her responsibility to lead her people.
Based on the opera by Giuseppe Verdi, Elton John and Time Rice’s Aida is a timeless love story, featuring an award-winning pop/rock score from the seasoned pop duo who brought musical life to Disney’s The Lion King. Rousing rock numbers and heart-wrenching ballads bring the ill-fated lovers into a new era.”
I’ve only seen a few musicals, but there are so many I want to see! That is one of them, along with Jesus Christ, Superstar, and Wicked. The best one I did see, though, was The Full Monty. Sooo funny.
I’ve only ever seen Wicked, but I’m dying to see it again!! I’ve also heard that The Lion King is amazing and I can’t wait to see that one day. I’m checking out dates & times for Joseph though because none of the other musicals are coming near us anytime soon!
This inspired me to put on the Joseph station on Pandora at work this morning – soooo good!! Although I’m getting significantly less work done… 😉
I am so jealous!!! I LOOOOOVE this musical! My parents took me to see it when I was younger as well.
I love a good musical, but I’ve never seen this one!! Looks amazing!
And now I’m singing bits and pieces of the soundtrack. Should probably just download the whole thing on iTunes so I don’t drive myself nuts today.
I love musicals all round – my husband bought me season tickets to the Orlando series for my birthday so I’m getting to see a bunch this year. So far, my fave has been Book of Mormon – but I’ve seen Wicked in the past and LOVE it.
I love your enthusiasm for musicals! You have totally inspired me to listen to the Joseph soundtrack on Spotify at work. I was part of this production in middle school (15 years ago) and it’s crazy how I still remember most of the words to all the songs!
Loved this when my sister’s drama club put it on in high school. My favorite is Wicked!
My favorite musical is The Last 5 Years. They actually made it into a movie with Anna Kendrick, but it’s only showing at a few limited theaters, and none of them are in my state, which is a bummer. You can listen to the entire musical on Spotify though, which is awesome!
I absolutely love Joseph too! I have the piano book and my favourite song to play is Jacob and Sons.
Looove Jacob & Sons!!
Woohoo! I saw this when they were up in Cleveland- love that the main characters are together! I loved this show, and I’ll agree with several other people, I also love Wicked, and Chicago…but I’m a big Fosse fan:)
Joseph is a great one! I’ve seen it five times. But I’m a diehard musical theatre fan and I have to say LES MIS is the best ever!!!!!! (everyone go see it in New York! You won’t regret it!)
Oh my goodness – that brought back so many wonderful memories – thank you!
I adored Joseph growing up!
That and CATS were my favorites.
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I absolutely ADORE Joseph and all things musical theatre (I majored in theatre in college)! It’s hard to narrow down my favorite musical but I never get tired of seeing Into the Woods on stage. While I thought the film adaptation was great, there is nothing quite like seeing it live. I was also fortunate enough to see Wicked on Broadway when Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth starred. Oh my gosh it was AMAAAAZING!
I haven’t seen very many musicals, but my faves are Wicked and Les Mis. It looks like you guys had a fantastic time!
I LOVE seeing musicals. Wicked is my favorite, but Rent and Joseph are up there. Cats is very good too. Oh heck, I love them all! 🙂
My all-time favorite musical is definitely The Last Five Years. It’s a really, really beautifully-written story about a failed marriage (hey, downer), but the music is amazing, and it was just made into a movie with my girl crush, Anna Kendrick. WIN.
You need to go see it and/or look up the music. I think I’ve sung every single song in my voice lessons/concerts/auditions. 🙂
I saw Joseph on Broadway twice! And I now have the song in my head – go go go go Joseph….. Great show!
Yes!! I saw the Donny Osmond version in Chicago when I was little too! I absolutely loved it and still do. I totally sang all the songs in my head as I was reading this. Happy to see another Joesph fan out there!
omg friend, this brought such happy memories back to me. when i was in middle school, i was in the the children’s choir for the touring production (when david osmond was joseph, and jodi benson, ARIEL FROM THE LITTLE MERMAID was the narrator) when they came to tucson. love this musical so much! off to put “a pharaoh’s story” on repeat hahah.
xoxo
so fun! my favorite musical is les mis.
I think Rent is probably my favorite musical. There are lots that I like, but that was the one that first popped into my mind.
Haha Ace. I totally remember him!
Rent is on my bucket list of musicals I must see at some point!