Theater Review: 'Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'

Theater Review: ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’

Produced by: Theatre Three – Port Jefferson

Reviewed by: Jeb Ladouceur 

   

It’s perhaps fair to say that most of us have, at one time or another, heard at least a passing reference to the Old Testament Biblical story of a boy named Joseph (no … not Mary’s husband … a much earlier Joseph). Furthermore, we might recall a few things that are said to have made this boy special: first, he was one of Jacob’s twelve sons … second, Joseph’s brothers were so envious of him that they sold him to a Gypsy-like group, and he wound up a slave in Egypt … and thirdly, the issue triggering this nasty treatment by the jealous brothers was Joseph’s ‘coat of many colors,’ symbolic of Jacob’s preference for the visionary youngster.

Also, it is probably sufficient for this review to point out that matters in Egypt ultimately became complicated for Joseph (who was an interpreter of dreams) and when his master’s wife made a pass at the fetching lad, things really hit the fan!

‘Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’ was the earliest Andrew Lloyd Webber - Tim Rice show ever performed on Broadway (it opened at the Royale Theatre in 1982) but it seemed, for a while, that the ‘big leagues’ dramatic debut would never take place at all. The musical, which failed to win a backer in 1966, had been staged in London, Brooklyn, Philadelphia … even Connecticut … and during that time, it was billed as a sort of follow-up, though not an actual sequel, to ‘Jesus Christ Superstar,’ which had been written by Lloyd Webber and Rice while they waited for lightning to strike with ‘Joseph.’

But strike it finally did, and subsequently ‘Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’ garnered a slew of Tony nominations before closing in September, 1983 after boasting a respectable 747 performances. Of course, we all know what happened then. Following boffo productions of ‘Cats,’ ‘Phantom of the Opera,’ ‘Evita,’ etc. The New York Timesappropriately saw fit to label Lloyd Webber, “…the most commercially successful composer in history”.

I have never considered it the drama critic’s proper function to spell out a play’s plot in detail; to do so, it seems to me, deprives actors and audiences alike of their respective right to surprise, and be surprised. Suffice it to say that Theatre Three, under the direction of Maestro Jeffrey Sanzel, has brought to the venerable 160-year-old mainstage in Port Jefferson, a cast so huge and worthy of the mesmerizing ‘Joseph’ account that collectively they simply take one’s breath away. Numbers alone don’t begin to tell the story, but I counted more than twenty featured players … and almost as many members of the impressive children’s choir!

Kudos to them all, but a special note of congratulations goes to C.J. Russo in the title role. There are some actors who seem born to lead their thespian colleagues by the sheer power of their surefooted onstage presense and projection. One such is Russo. He is well cast as ‘Joseph.’ Another sublimely blessed actor is the wonderful ‘Narrator,’ Sari Feldman. It is the Narrator, after all, who controls the pace of any live stage show where such a performer is required, as in ‘Our Town,’-(Stage Manager); ‘Henry V,’-(Chorus); ‘The Glass Menagerie’-(Tom Wingfield)…etc. Feldman handles this assignment about as well as any dramatic chronicler I’ve seen.

In the final analysis, it is the interpretation and rendering of the music that makes or breaks an ambitious lyrical production like this one. Accordingly, one would be remiss if failing to recognize Theatre Three Musical Director, Gregory Franz, and Choreographer, Jean P. Sorbera. From first to last they are in full command of ‘Joseph’s’ diverse, harmonious song styles that range from Country to Calypso. The toe-tapping score makes for pleasant listening, and all the numbers are equally easy on the eyes. 

‘Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’ is a colorful extravaganza not to be missed, so call the box office at 631 928-9100. This super-show runs thru March 21^st.

Award-winning writer, Jeb Ladouceur is the author of a dozen novels, and his theater and book reviews appear in several major L.I. publications. His recent hit, THE GHOSTWRITERS, explores the bizarre relationship between the late Harper Lee and Truman Capote. Ladouceur’s topical thriller, THE SOUTHWICK INCIDENT, was introduced at the Smithtown Library on May 21st. The book involves a radicalized Yale student and his CIA pursuers. Mr. Ladouceur’s revealing website is www.JebsBooks.com

Campaign Finance Board Meets And Elects Smithtown Resident Chair

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y.  – The board tasked with creating a system to publicly fund campaigns for certain Suffolk County offices met on February 13 and elected Lisa Scott chairperson. 

Lisa Scott, president of the Suffolk County League of Women Voters, was elected to lead the three-member Suffolk County Campaign Finance Board, which also includes retired County Court Judge Jack Toomey and Adrian Fassett, president and chief executive officer of the Economic Opportunity Council of Suffolk, Inc. 

Lisa Scott, center, was elected to serve as chair of the Suffolk County Campaign Finance Board, which also includes Adrian Fassett, left, and Jack Toomey, right. “Now that all three members of the Suffolk County Campaign Finance Board have been appointed and our first meeting held, we will work diligently to ensure that our fellow citizens in Suffolk County and those wishing to be candidates for public office are served transparently, responsibly and fairly as we build the rules and staff required in the Suffolk County Charter Law,” Scott said. 

Scott, a Democrat, was appointed by the Suffolk County Legislature’s Majority Leader and Toomey, a Republican, was appointed by the legislature’s Minority Leader. Fassett, who is unaffiliated with any political party, was appointed by the County Executive. 

At their meeting the board members also discussed their next steps, including hiring an executive director, as they seek to make the system operational for the 2021 county legislature election. Under the new system, participating candidates running for a county legislator seat can receive up to $50,000 in 4-to-1 matching funds for small donations – $250 or less – from voters who live in the legislative district in which the candidate is running.

“Creating a program for public funding of elections from scratch is an important and historic undertaking, and I know the highly qualified and impressive people who make up this board are up for the task,” said Suffolk County Legislature Presiding Officer Rob Calarco, who sponsored the county legislation establishing a Fair Elections Matching Fund to provide for public campaign financing. “The Fair Elections Matching Fund will reduce the influence of big money interests in our politics by empowering small donors who actually live in our communities. This program will help make elections more competitive and elected officials more accountable to their constituents.”

Participating legislature candidates must agree to limit their total spending to $100,000 and not accept more than $1,500 from any individual. Starting in 2023, participating candidates running for County Executive could receive as much as $1 million and must limit their spending to $2 million. The funding comes from profits Suffolk OTB generates through the operation of Jake’s 58 video lottery terminals.

Suffolk Closeup -Suffolk County Has 560 Farms Generating $5.7 Billion In Revenue

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

Farming on Long Island deserves to be greatly appreciated.

Among public officials from Long Island who very much do appreciate agriculture here—and throughout the state—is New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. The former state assemblyman from Great Neck Plaza last year issued a laudatory report on agriculture. 

Mr. DiNapoli noted in it that Suffolk County remains a top agricultural county in the state, Number Four, with $225.6 million in annual total sales in 2017. (It was only led by the upstate counties of Wyoming with $307.5 million; Cayuga with $287.5 million; and Genesee with $234.9 million.)

His report lists 560 farms in Suffolk County out of 35,537 in New York and state farm produce generating $5.7 billion in revenue in 2017.

“Agriculture is an essential part of New York’s economy,” DiNapoli said in comments accompanying the report that’s available online. It’s titled “A Profile in Agriculture in New York State” and is at  https://www.osc.state.ny.us/reports/economic/agriculture-report-2019.pdf

The report declares: “While the total number of farms and acreage declined from 2007 to 2017, their overall economic impact increased as net farm income grew by more than 20 percent. In addition, the number of certified organic farms increased by over 60 percent from 2012 to 2017. New York ranks as a national leader for a variety of agricultural commodities….New York is the [nation’s] third largest producer of wine…The state has created a variety of policy initiatives to address challenges facing New York farmers, including efforts to limit state and local taxes on agricultural land, farmland protection initiatives, capital investment funds for new farmers, and financial incentives for schools that use locally sourced food.”

Suffolk for many years was the top agricultural county in New York State in value of its annual produce. But being Number Four is still very good.

And considering the development pressures that have existed on Long Island, the continuation of a thriving agricultural industry is especially notable. It is a testament to the actions of people.

First of all, there are the hardworking farmers of Long Island, the men and women who are committed to doing the tough, essential work. 

Then there’s the county’s Farmland Preservation Program, launched in 1974 by Suffolk County Executive John V. N. Klein, a former Smithtown Town supervisor, a first-in-the-nation program based on the brilliant concept of saving farms through the sale of development rights. Farmers are given the monetary difference between what their land is valued in agriculture and what they could get for it if they sold it off for a housing subdivision. In return, the land remains in agriculture in perpetuity.

Then there’s been the ingenuity of those in agriculture and especially of Louisa and Alex Hargrave who started a vineyard in Cutchogue in 1973 leading to now scores of vineyards and wineries, a prosperous Long Island wine industry and a world-class product, and a leap in diversifying agriculture here.

Then there’s the Community Preservation Fund, brilliant, too, started in 1998, spearheaded by State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. of Sag Harbor, and covering the East End towns. It is based on a real estate transfer tax of 2% on most transactions.

And there’s the “public appreciation” of Long Island farmers, as notes Rob Carpenter, director of the Long Island Farm Bureau. Important has been people purchasing local produce from farm stands, the beginning over the last decade of a “farm-to-to-table” program of restaurants emphasizing the serving of local farm produce, and stores including supermarkets stressing the sale of local produce.

It’s not just produce that farms generate. As the Farm Bureau’s website notes: “Today’s farming activities also help to preserve wildlife habitats and the natural aesthetic beauty of our fair island. Long Island farmland provides an important buffer against urban sprawl, protects the water supply and helps maintain the traditional rural character of the wonderful East End of Long Island.” As an “economic force,” agriculture employs “well over 10,000 people in the region, with a multiplier effect that generates jobs for tens of thousands more. Long Island agriculture is a billion-dollar-a-year industry and generates billions of dollars more for the Island’s largest industry, tourism, travel and hospitality….Long Island agriculture provides the scenic vistas desired by our visitors and close proximity to farm markets, where visitors and year ‘round residents enjoy the advantage of locally produced fruits, vegetables, poultry, fish, flowers, herbs, specialty products, ornamental horticultural products, and the best varieties of wine from local wineries.”

Karl Grossman is a veteran investigative reporter and columnist, the winner of numerous awards for his work and a member of the L.I. Journalism Hall of Fame. He is a professor of journalism at SUNY/College at Old Westbury and the author of six books. 

Trotta Is Calling For Oversight In County Government

Legislator Trotta wants his colleagues to support the creation of a Suffolk County Office Of Inspector General.

A seemingly frustrated but hopeful Rob Trotta, Suffolk County legislator 13th LD,  called a press conference on Tuesday, Feb 11th, to make public his proposal to create an Office Of Inspector General for Suffolk County. Trotta was joined by Anthony Piccirillo, 8th LD co-sponsor of the legislation.Legislator Rob Trotta

Trotta, a fiscal conservative with a background in law enforcement said, “The bill is in response to the ongoing incidents of misconduct and abuse involving Suffolk County Government.”

Suffolk County has a population larger than eleven states and provides a range of services which, according to Trotta, “are often opportunities for fraud, waste, misconduct and mismanagement.”

Trotta points to recent cases and convictions of former Chief of Police James Burke, DA Thomas Spota, Chief of DA’s Corruption Bureau Christopher McPartland as evidence of corruption in Suffolk County Government and the horrifying death of 8 year-old Thomas Valva with the “…possible misconduct or mismanagement” by County Departments as justification for creating a department that has investigative and oversight responsibility. 

According to the legislation “ An Independent Office of Inspector General at the County level would provide critical accountability and oversight to County government and would be able to identify, investigate and deter fraud, waste, mismanagement, misconduct and abuse.”

When questioned about cost and likelihood of the legislature supporting this legislation, he opined that the costs, while not determined at this time, will be affordable. He emphasized the need for a non-partisan person who has investigative skills. Legislators will appoint the nominee.

The Nassau County Office of the Inspector General (OIG) was created on December 18, 2017 by a unanimous vote of the Nassau County Legislature.  Nassau’s Inspector General is Jodi Franzese, a former senior assistant DA for Suffolk County District Attorney’s office.  According to the Nassau County OIG’s website “The mission of the OIG is to foster accountability, efficiency, integrity and restore trust in County government.” When the office was created, according to Newsday, the OIG salary was in the $150,000 range and the budget for staff was $550,000. 

As far as the likelihood of passing the legislation, Trotta is hopeful, “This is the same, legislation with minor changes, that Legislator Calarco and Legislator Hahn have submitted .” Trotta is hoping that there will be bi-partisan support. 

A public hearing on this legislation “1099 - A Charter Law to Establish an Independent Office of Inspector General for Suffolk County” has been scheduled for March 3, 2020 at 2 pm, Maxine Postal Auditorium, Riverhead.

Suffolk Closeup -LI's Native American's Burial Sites Unprotected

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

Indigenous people the world over have been—and still are—victims of persecution.

Flying to South Dakota several years ago to meet American Indian Movement leader Russell Means, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing from people in the seats behind me on the plane: nasty talk about Indians. On the ground in Rapid City, it was clear that far more than words were involved. The U.S. government “is still at war” with Native Americans, said Mr. Means. My visit included traveling around the Black Hills, stolen, he said, from the Lakota people. 

On the other side of the world, in Australia, where I went to give a presentation, I found the treatment of its Aboriginal people comparably terrible. It began with Captain James Cook landing in Australia in 1770 and in the name of Great Britain declaring the continent terra nullius—nobody’s land, although Aboriginal people lived there for more than 65,000 years.

A UN report, “The State of the World’s Indigenous People,” details the situation in South America, the Pacific, Africa, and on and on, including in the U.S. “The situation of indigenous peoples in many parts of the world continues to be critical: indigenous peoples face systemic discrimination,” it states. “Indigenous peoples are dispossessed of their ancestral lands and deprived of their resources for survival, both physical and cultural; they are even robbed of their very right to life.”

 In recent times, they’ve been subject to new forms of victimization. I wrote an article a while back on environmental racism that included how Sequoyah Fuel Corporation set up a facility to produce nuclear plant fuel in a Native American area of Oklahoma. A result: many “unusual cancers,” said Lance Hughes, director of Native Americans for a Clean Environment. “It’s pretty sad—babies born without eyes, with brain cancers…The name of the game has been changed, but I would call it the same—genocide.”

Suffolk County was established in 1683. For thousands of years before, indigenous people lived here. The land-grabbing from them was relatively easy as Native Americans haven’t considered land a commodity. “We Are The Land: Native American Views of Nature,” a chapter in “Nature Across Culture,” speaks of Native Americans regarding land as “a part of our being, dynamic, significant…It is our self.”

The situation involving the Shinnecock people—for whom once a large part of Long Island was home—reflects the victimization here of indigenous people, as shown in the brilliant video documentary, “Conscience Point,” aired in the U.S. last year on PBS. 

In the documentary, Lance Gumbs, a Shinnecock Nation trustee, tells of a turning point in the tribe’s history when in 1859 New York City investors sought to build a railroad line through 3,500 acres of Shinnecock land to develop the South Fork as a place for wealthy New Yorkers. A phony petition—it featured the names of dead Shinnecocks—was submitted in support. The New York State Legislature, despite tribal members protesting the petition as a fraud, approved. The rail line was built. The Shinnecock land was “stolen,” says Mr. Gumbs. Also built on the land was the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club despite it being the site of Shinnecock burial grounds. The Shinnecocks were consigned to a 750-acre territory on which somewhat over 500 live on today, humbly. 

The burial ground issue has long been intense because the Shinnecocks, like other Native Americans, especially revere the memory of their ancestors. 

It’s again front-and-center because of a push underway by a builder to develop land on several acres in Southampton in which Shinnecocks are believed buried. There have been significant protests. And at a hearing before the Southampton Town Board last month, Thomas Oleszczuk of Noyac, a former university political science professor, said: “I wouldn’t want a cemetery where my grandparents are buried to be destroyed, much less intentionally destroyed.” Earlier in the day, he noted, he was at a demonstration with “a sign I made that read ‘Defend the sacred.’”

Tela Troge, a Shinnecock and attorney for the Nation, told me last week: “It’s horrible. It’s an extension of Shinnecock Hills being stolen from us in 1859.” The Shinnecock Nation was not informed of this new construction. And, “We can’t go to court and sue—the Shinnecock Nation is not allowed to sue the Town of Southampton or the State of New York.” There’s an effort by the town, she noted, to preserve three of the lots through its Community Preservation Fund. But the builder has “no intention” of having the lot on which he is now working saved.  She said that New York State is one of only four states in the U.S. that doesn’t protect Native American burial sites, and that there’s a bill in the state legislature which would change this. 

That’s if, of course, it passes.

Karl Grossman is a veteran investigative reporter and columnist, the winner of numerous awards for his work and a member of the L.I. Journalism Hall of Fame. He is a professor of journalism at SUNY/College at Old Westbury and the author of six books.