Monsieur D'Arque
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Optional Joseph GagsWhat optional gags, visual asides, or hidden jokes have you seen or done in Joseph? Also include unusual alternate versions of numbers as well.
Instead of the usual Apache Dancer, a production of Joseph I saw recently had three Moulin Rouge girls who entered for a (probably newly composed) tango section during Canaan Days. They exited when the brothers sang the line, "Where diiiiiiiiid they-" and their wives entered instead. The brothers look at their frumpy wives, glance around for the girls from their dream dance, and ask themselves, "Where did they go?"
Instead of Queen Victoria, the Journey to Egypt contained a sequence right after One More Angel where four cavemen (the brothers) skulk onto the stage, grunting and slapping the ground. Out of nowhere, they jump to their feet, put on vaudeville hats and sing a perfect barbershop version of "Poor Poor Joseph," falsetto and all.
I'm not sure if this was more improvised music or if it's actually in the licensed score, but during scene change "curtain skits," used to pass the time from bit to bit with the cast, the Sphinx enters dancing to the opening overture of Cats. Later, heavy amounts of "Jesus and Pilate." Finally, after the Narrator sings "chariot of gold- of gold," the orchestra plays the famous triumphant chords of "Jesus Christ Superstar."
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musikal_geek
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Mrs. Potiphar & I don't actually do much onstage. She drags me off when I scream, "I don't believe in free love!" Then when I re-enter, my hair is all messy, and I kind of wobble and stumble on. Should get some good laughs!
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Vanessa20
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The 2004 production at the Kodak Theatre in LA had a great take on the Mrs. Potiphar scene. At the end of the instrumental section, when she managed to get Joseph, however unwillingly, onto her bed, two slaves hid them from view with giant fans. Then, during "Potiphar was counting shekels..." every now and then the slaves pulled back the fans, to reveal Joseph and Mrs. P in different poses of him trying to escape and her not letting him. They did it about four times. It was one of the few really funny gags in the whole production.
The US tour with Patrick Cassidy and Amy Adams also had some good gags. Potiphar was portrayed as a golf addict, and there was a running gag of Jacob talking on a cell phone. That was how the brothers contacted him at the end to tell him that Joseph was in Egypt.
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The Very Angry Woman
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I saw a church production which had a little 3- or 4-year-old girl as the "passing goat." She wore a pink onesie and they put a furry brown coat over it, and when they attacked her, they just pretended to beat her up, tore the coat off, and the little girl looked at the audience and shivered because she had no fur, then ran off. It was adorable (and family-friendly).
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mantarnia
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Re: Optional Joseph Gags | Monsieur D'Arque wrote: | What optional gags, visual asides, or hidden jokes have you seen or done in Joseph? Also include unusual alternate versions of numbers as well.
Instead of the usual Apache Dancer, a production of Joseph I saw recently had three Moulin Rouge girls who entered for a (probably newly composed) tango section during Canaan Days. They exited when the brothers sang the line, "Where diiiiiiiiid they-" and their wives entered instead. The brothers look at their frumpy wives, glance around for the girls from their dream dance, and ask themselves, "Where did they go?"
Instead of Queen Victoria, the Journey to Egypt contained a sequence right after One More Angel where four cavemen (the brothers) skulk onto the stage, grunting and slapping the ground. Out of nowhere, they jump to their feet, put on vaudeville hats and sing a perfect barbershop version of "Poor Poor Joseph," falsetto and all.
I'm not sure if this was more improvised music or if it's actually in the licensed score, but during scene change "curtain skits," used to pass the time from bit to bit with the cast, the Sphinx enters dancing to the opening overture of Cats. Later, heavy amounts of "Jesus and Pilate." Finally, after the Narrator sings "chariot of gold- of gold," the orchestra plays the famous triumphant chords of "Jesus Christ Superstar." |
Actully the music for "jesus and pilate" was originaly written for "joseph", and then reused for "superstar". It is included in the original 1968 studio recording.
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mantarnia
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In "Bill Kenwright's" production at the "new london theatre", the line "come and lie with me love" was minmed to the male voice used for the camel.
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Monsieur D'Arque
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I recently found out that the Cavemen gag was based upon an identical gag from Family Guy.
Also, is "The Brothers' Journey To Egypt" a common front-tab gag? The pantomime goes like this:
The brothers leave Canaan, and the curtain closes. They sit down on stage in the Princeton Crew formation and mime rowing. Behind them, billboards pass by, corny things like "Pizza Tut" and "Burger Pharaoh." Finally, a sign passes, reading "Egypt: That-A Way," pointing in the opposite direction of the brothers' rowing. The brother who's been directing the rowing with his megaphone climbs awkwardly over every single brother in the "boat," and sits at the opposite end of the boat. The brothers commence rowing in the opposite direction until the Sphinx passes by, waving. Then, the curtain opens and they're in Egypt.
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Vanessa20
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| mantarnia wrote: | | In "Bill Kenwright's" production at the "new london theatre", the line "come and lie with me love" was minmed to the male voice used for the camel. |
Just to add to that, the Ishmaelites were played by women in that production too. From what I remember they wore fake beards, but skipped around in a girlish way and squealed "Going cheap and he reads and writes?" in very feminine voices. Also, the "Ahs" in "One More Angel," which are usually sung by a wife, were mimed to a female voice by one of the brothers instead. That production seemed to have an obsession with cross-dressing!
About the "Brothers' Journey to Egypt" gag: it's not a usual part of show, but it sounds funny.
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Beagle On Stage
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| Vanessa20 wrote: | | Also, the "Ahs" in "One More Angel," which are usually sung by a wife, were mimed to a female voice by one of the brothers instead. |
I love it when men are used for all the rest of the brothers, but Benjamin is a pants role and sings that part. 
We all know how I feel about the gags sometimes used in the show. But here's one that I've seen work really well. Mrs. Potiphar had two handmaids flanking her bed, and when she got Joseph onto it, the maids pulled up a black censor's bar from inside the bed, hiding them from view. They then proceeded to peek at them over the top of it with the mirror Mrs. Potiphar was primping in earlier.
And if the theatre sells concessions, I've seen it be cute for the Narrator to come back for "The Brothers Come to Egypt" with half-eaten snacks bearing the theatre's logo. It's the first break she's had for the whole show, right?
And of course the classic "the dreamcoat comes packed in a Nordstrom's box."
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Monsieur D'Arque
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Last time I saw it, it was a UPS box, delivered by a guy who looked a lot like the King of Queens.
Gags I'm not as fond of:
The guru. Every time the guru comes out during a Go Go Go Joseph, people get confused and think he's Moses or something.
Queen Victoria. Nuff said.
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glassromance
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I never understood the Queen Victoria, or The Guru. Why do people put them in there? Do they significance to the story?
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star2ballie
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| The Very Angry Woman wrote: | | I saw a church production which had a little 3- or 4-year-old girl as the "passing goat." She wore a pink onesie and they put a furry brown coat over it, and when they attacked her, they just pretended to beat her up, tore the coat off, and the little girl looked at the audience and shivered because she had no fur, then ran off. It was adorable (and family-friendly). |
That's the cutest thing I have ever heard.
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The Very Angry Woman
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It was very cute. What was not cute was that apparently the director didn't like Tim Rice so he changed several lyrics. Including making Joseph the master of Potiphar's website.
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musikal_geek
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| The Very Angry Woman wrote: | | It was very cute. What was not cute was that apparently the director didn't like Tim Rice so he changed several lyrics. Including making Joseph the master of Potiphar's website. |
Yow.
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Beagle On Stage
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| glassromance wrote: | | I never understood the Queen Victoria, or The Guru. Why do people put them in there? Do they significance to the story? |
They have nothing to do with the story, but are pop culture references. (The guru is appropriate for the go-go number though.)
I've never seen a production that did the journey to Eqypt sequence the way it's written, with camels, Queen Victoria, and the sphinx. Most seem to adapt it to the Ishmaelite theme, and the "Poor poor Joseph" theme (without the variations in the score). Who sings the "Poor, poor Joseph" refrains varies, but I've never seen Queen Victoria used. I'm sure she is more recognisable in the UK, and thus it would be funny and worth doing. But if you put her in the show in the US, people would be like, "WTF?"
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Monsieur D'Arque
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As it turns out, the "caveman" production used several insert arrangements of Joseph (and other Webber songs) tunes as scene-changers, and the music director has promised me the sheet music for the Caveman scene among others. It's pure gold.
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Monsieur D'Arque
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The Cavemen production cut the Guru, but added Austin Powers to the go-go scene.
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Theaterfan101
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when I did it, when during The Brothers Go To Egypt, when they sing "we are down to our very last sheep" one brother says "here's our sheep" and holds up a sheep skeleton.
The camel the Ishmalites bring on stage is wearing sunglasses.
Not something for the audinence but for the cast: During one of our productions the director arranged on of the Joseph's oldest friend to sneak back stage and get in Mrs. Pothiphor's bed with out Joseph Knowing. Her bed is hidden by curtains, until she starts seducing Joseph. So when the curtains opened instead of seeing the actress he saw his friend (she did know the part, because she has performed it with this director before)
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