Show Review

I saw Toby Dinner Theater's "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" last night in Columbia, Maryland. I've been looking forward to seeing it as I first saw it in London, England and thoroughly enjoyed it. Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote the music for it and did a fantastic job. It has some great song and interestingly, they are in a number of different styles i.e. country, reggae, rock, choral. It's the first show I've seen of Webber's where he did that.

Toby's version was very nice. It had the same great music though different costumes. Each of the 12 brothers wore overalls with the first letter of their name. In place of a kids choir, the have a women's ensemble that sings the choral pieces. They have a small ensemble that plays the music for the production. Interestingly, all the waiters and waitresses either perform in the show or work in sound & lighting or the music ensemble. If you enjoy the performance, you might want to give them a larger tip as this is supposedly the biggest source of their income at Toby's.

Food wise, the food was good and there was plenty of it. I wasn't super impressed with the salad bar but, overall I thought the meal was good. As it's a buffet, you can eat as much as you want. I didn't make a pig of myself but I left filled up. Drinks wise, drinks from the bar are not included with the meal. I ordered a vanilla milkshake in a show glass. The shake and glass cost $6.10. I thought that was reasonable. The shake itself was very good. Service was excellent. My waiter Matt repeatedly checked on me to make sure everything was all right.

Overall, I was very pleased with the show and Toby's. I thought they did a fine job. Another plus about Toby's in Columbia is their excellent location. They're just off of Maryland-29. Their location made it easy for me to get home vice seeing a production in downtown Baltimore. If you're interested in seeing this production, their website is (http://www.tobysdinnertheatre.com/tobyscolumbia_003.htm). Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat will be running at the Columbia Toby's through June 8th. Cheers all!

Music Review

Recently, I listened to the London Palladium Cast recording of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." The soundtrack is from Jason Donovan played the lead of Joseph. It's a nicely done soundtrack and that has all the main songs from the show. The show itself is about Joseph who was sold into slavery by his brothers and rose to be 2nd only to Pharoah in Egypt. The soundtrack is interesting in that it features 4 different types of music. You get to hear country, pop, rockabilly and choir music. The show featured the coolest Pharaoh I've ever seen. Imagine a rockabilly Elvis Presley Pharaoh and you can get the idea. There are clear references to Presley in the songs the Pharoah sings. I remember seeing the person who played Pharoah on stage throwing a lady in the audience a royal scarf. It was hilarious.

Overall, the soundtrack is nice. I think it would be enjoyed more by someone who has seen the theater production of the show. You would understand the music better in that case. Still, if you're a fan of Webber's music, this is one you'd want to buy. Unlike other Webber musicals which seemed to concentrate around one song, this soundtrack has a number of nice songs as well as some funny ones. Cheers!