(Editor’s Note: This story was originally published in mid July 2022.)

When it comes to interpreting dreams in the popular story of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Joseph usually gets all the credit.
But when it comes to bringing that magic to life on stage, there is another group that deserves some recognition — a group that’s worked together before earning all kinds of praise.

You might even call them, the dream team.

“They’re all super talented….”

~ Michael Heitzman, Director

For all the many people who absolutely loved the look of last year’s production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast at Tuacahn, there is good news! The gang’s all back together again.

Like lightning striking twice, this year’s production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat features the same creative team that brought the magic and visual splendor of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast to life on stage. And even though it’s a tall order living up to such a reputation, the team says they’re ready to give Joseph everything they’ve got.

Michael Heitzman, director for Joseph (and Beauty and the Beast in 2021), was so pleased with the working relationship between Cory Pattak, lighting designer, Adam Koch, set designer, Ryan Moller, costume designer and Robbie Roy, choreographer, he couldn’t wait to reassemble the dream team.

“They’re all super talented,” Heitzman said. “I’m looking forward to working with them on Joseph.”

One of the challenges designers often face when tackling their first Tuacahn project is figuring out how to manage such a unique environment.

“They have to know how to design for the large space and the mountain in the background,” Heitzman said. “It’s a tricky undertaking and this team does such a great job of keeping the natural landscape as a character in the design, while also creating a feeling of intimacy in the storytelling.”

While Pattak appreciates the great response they’ve received from Beauty and the Beast, such praise can be a double-edged sword.

“I feel like living up to that reputation can be a challenge,” Pattak said. “The shows that tend to be most successful (visually) at Tuacahn are the ones that allow for a certain level of magic and fantasy.”

So even though the story of Joseph is epic and sweeping, it’s not necessarily “fantastical,” Pattak said.

“The musical is a story of the upward mobility of Joseph, kind of a rise to fame story and David Archuleta is the perfect embodiment of that….”

~Adam Koch, set designer

“You don’t have singing teapots and dancing cutlery,” he said. “It’s slightly more grounded in a human-based, reality story, with some elements that are larger-than-life that we plan to use to continue that sort of visual language.”

Months before the team assembled on site at Tuacahn to put plans into action, there were numerous meetings and conversations discussing just how to bring the story of Joseph to life in a new way.

“We’re all very proud of how Beauty turned out, but part of the creative process is wiping your mind completely blank from what you’ve done before,” Koch said. “You’ve got to put the past behind you and focus on the current task.”

For him, it all starts with listening to the music.

“In any good musical, the music will lead you down the right path,” Koch said. “The design will reveal itself based on the music of the show.”

Koch went on to explain that because the music is, in essence, invisible, part of the job of the design team is to make the music visible to the audience. And it helps when you’re starting with a musical palette as rich as the one written for Joseph.

“Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, this is not an amateur team,” Koch said. “These are some of the best writers in the industry.”

Within the musical’s relatively short run-length, each song has its own flavor, its own style, which Heitzman and his team intend to maximize for the viewers’ entertainment.

“We’ve dreamt up a world that really makes the most of having a musical star on stage,” Koch said of David Archuleta playing the title role. “The musical is a story of the upward mobility of Joseph, kind of a rise to fame story and David Archuleta is the perfect embodiment of that from ‘American Idol’ and his other successes.”

Koch said they hope people feel a little like they’re walking into some kind of David Archuleta concert. But, you know, with camels and stuff.

“They walk in and it looks like a contemporary concert, then we go back and tell the story and end up back at the concert,” Koch said.

The biggest thing the team hoped to avoid was having anything on stage appear old fashioned.

“Biblical Egyptian era can be so dusty, rusty and old-fashioned,” Koch said. “David himself is young. We wanted to make it fresh and contemporary.”

“There is so much that can be done at Tuacahn,” Pattak said. “We have great resources there and it allows us to transform the space in a way that hopefully has never been seen.”

Get a glimpse at how it all comes together during Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat running July 16 to Oct. 20, alternating with Wonderland and Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s Mary Poppins. For tickets go online to TUACAHN.ORG or call the box office at 435-652-3300.