[Yip1982]

For the most part, the musical follows Genesis quite accurately. However, I've noticed one key difference, apart from the funny song pastiches.
In the stage musical, we never get to hear Jacob's overprotection of Benjamin, as the brothers ask Joseph for food just once, and Joseph does not keep Simeon in custody. The musical does not include the part about the brothers finding the money in their sacks. I also feel that the scene of "Joseph all the Time" glosses over Joseph's reconciliation with his brothers. The original story has this part portrayed more powerfully.
But then I guess that ALW and TR couldn't tell this part of the story given the limited time they had.

[hershey04]

I assumed that the brothers only make one trip to Egypt in the show for simplicity's sake. Also the time factor, but I think more importantly, it probably helped to simplify the story a bit (and the set changes!). Since the two trips to Egypt are combined into one, we don't see Benjamin staying at home, Simeon being left behind in Egypt, or the brothers finding money in their sacks.

I agree that the ending feels rushed, especially when the brothers are finding out who Joseph really is. I wish this were drawn out and developed a bit more.

I always thought it was odd that Benjamin sides with the other 10 brothers through the whole show. Joseph was his full brother, & Benjamin was sort of a second favorite of Jacob's...but I guess it helped to keep the story simpler by just having all the brothers hate Joseph.

But one difference that I can't explain...Joseph sings "one of you has stolen my precious golden cup," when in Genesis, the cup is silver. What's the point of changing the cup? Why even bother?

[Vanessa20]

When I saw the Bill Kenwright production in London a few years ago, Benjamin didn't hate Joseph. When the others sang about how much they hated Joseph, Benjamin was usually off to the side with him, and when they attacked him in "Poor Poor Joseph," Benjamin tried to stop them but was held back. I wish more productions handled his part that way.

I suppose the cup was changed from silver to golden because the word "golden" is a little more singable than the word "silver."

[hershey04]

Oh, I like that idea much better. It makes more sense. I wish more productions did that too.

[jcstar]

About Ben... if you watch the film, you can see that he is clearly protected by the Brothers... mainly because (in the Bible anyway) he is the youngest boy.

During "Canaan Days," you can see Simeon (I think) covering Ben's eyes during the Apache dance.

I never got the impression that he hates Joseph in the show. He is going with the flow, trying to impress his other siblings. Maybe he's bullied by the older ones?

Andy.

[Beagle On Stage]

My production also had Benjamin as an unwilling participant most of the time. But as with anything in the show, I think if you're going the route of giving it some substance (which we all know I think you should), it has to be really well done, or it just looks like "What the hell was that?"