Hale Center Theater

Layne and Kris got Brian and I tickets to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Hale Center Theater in Orem. The tickets were for the performance on the evening of February 20th, which was this last Saturday. They also got tickets for Tom, who of course took Kristin, so we got to have a double date with them. We love Kristin, and of course Tom, so we were excited to have an excuse to spend time with them.

As part of the present, Layne and Kris had included gift cards for dinner, so we met up with Tom and Kristin at the Macaroni Grill in Provo. Tom hadn't told Kristin any specifics about the date, so when they walked in the door of the restaurant and saw us sitting there, she was surprised. As we were being seated, I saw that they had kids coloring pages and crayons, and I offhandedly remarked to Brian that I wanted to color, so he asked the server if we could have some. We had fun coloring while we waited for our food. 

Dinner was tasty, and we had a lot of fun talking and catching up. We were there early enough that we were able to take our time. Once we finished, we still had some time before we needed to head to the theater, so we took a walk around the neighboring shopping area called The Shops at Riverwood. We wandered around enjoying the cool air, and Tom and Kristin showed us a couple fun shops. One was a toy store that had such a charming selection of items. We had fun browsing for awhile, and then we walked over to a consignment furniture store. There was some neat stuff in there too, and seeing some of the things got me dreaming about the day that we'll have a real home with room for things like a china hutch and arm chairs. 

The Hale Theater was just a short drive away, and we got there about ten minutes before the doors opened. Again, Kristin was surprised, and so excited when she realized where we were and what we were doing. It was kind of fun to be in on the surprise. 

Neither Brian nor myself had been to the Hale Theater before, so didn't know what to expect. It's this nondescript building that isn't very big. 

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The doors opened and we received our tickets, along with a program and headed in to find our seats. The stage was very small and in the center of the room. There were maybe 250-300 seats, surrounding the stage, except for one end. Our seats were in the middle of the third row along one of the stage's lengthwise sides. They were really great seats, although with a setup that small, any seat would have been a good one. I couldn't fine a good picture of the stage, so you'll just have to use your imagination.

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Kristin, Brian, and I had never seen this show before, so we didn't know what to expect. We knew it was based on the story of Joseph, and that was about it. The ticket reservation papers we had described it as a musical romp, and boy it was. The music was written by a 19-year-old Andrew Lloyd-Webber in the late 1960's, and Tim Rice wrote the lyrics. 

The story's narrator was played by Amelia Rose Moore, and she did an amazing job. She tells (sings) the story of Joseph, his coat, his brothers selling him into slavery, his time in Egypt interpreting dreams for the Pharaoh, and finally his reunion with his brothers and father Jacob. Below is a selfie that the cast took during the first number. It shows the narrator, Jacob, Joseph, and the 11 brothers.

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The play was nothing like we expected, but then again I'm not sure what we were expecting. It had every genre of music including rock and roll, country, jazz, disco, island/tropical, and even a French ballad. Our favorite part was the Pharaoh, whose character is normally an Elvis-like figure, but this time was more of a Billy Idol type. His number was really funny, and Brian really liked his leather jacket, complete with sparkling silver fringe and a feather collar.  

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All the actors did a great job, and we had a lot of fun watching the show. It was really cool that we were so close to the stage. We for sure laughed a lot. The songs were catchy, but the wide range of music included was bizarre. The actors changed costume for almost every number, appearing in chaps and cowboy hats for the western piece and then in Hawaiian shirts and leis for the island number. And of course there was Josephs amazing coat.

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One of my favorite parts, was when they dismantled a stuffed sheep. After the brothers sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites, they "killed" a sheep, basically pulling it apart. The section of wool running around the sheep's middle came right off and inside wrapped around a plastic skeleton were wads of tangled red yarn representing the animal's insides. They pulled the yarn out and rubbed it on the coat, etc., and what was left was a stuffed sheep's head and front legs connected to its back legs and tail by plastic ribs. It was hilarious. 

Also, at the show's very beginning, the coat was hanging above one corner of the stage. One end of the rod it was hanging on dropped and the coat slid across the stage while being lit up by the spotlight. The crowd just went wild, clapping and cheering. We were laughing, because they were so excited for the coat, and nothing had really happened yet. Maybe everyone was just excited because the show was starting. Either way, the enthusiasm was really funny, because it felt misplaced.

All too soon, the show ended. The theater cleared out, and one of Joseph's brothers took a picture of us in front of the front end of the stage. The lights on the stage went out right before he took our picture, so that's why the background is blank.

Even though the show was a little weird/crazy, we had a really fun date night. We love that we live so close to Tom and Kristin that we can see them so often. And thank you so much Layne and Kris for the gift card and tickets. We had a grand time.