San Diego Musical Theatre has announced that Broadway star, Eric Kunze (Les Mirserables, Miss Saigon, Damn Yankees) will now play the title role of Joseph in the first production of its 2011-2012 season of shows, the San Diego premiere of the Megamix version of, the seven-time Tony nominated musical, JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Tim Rice, musical direction by Don LeMaster, choreography by Johnny Dean Harvey & Chad Everett Allen and directed by Ron Kellum (who starred on Broadway in JOSEPH). JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT will preview on Friday, September 23, 2011 and will open on Saturday, September 24 and run through Sunday, October 9 at the Lyceum Theatre at Horton Plaza, 79 Horton Plaza in downtown San Diego.
With a cast of 25, a youth choir of 18 and a full orchestra, you will journey through biblical Egypt with this hilarious telling of the story of Joseph, his jealous brothers and one extremely loud garment! A colorful tale that spans musical styles from calypso to rock to disco to Bollywood, this worldwide phenomenon penned by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice has been an audience favorite for more than thirty-five years! And now, for the very first time, this revised mega-mix version will blow the roof off the Lyceum Theatre and will truly show off every Technicolor in this most beloved musical Dreamcoat!
Originally produced in 1968 as a 20-minute oratorio performed by children at a private school in London, an expanded version of JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT followed as a record album and was subsequently performed as a full-scale production in London in 1973. JOSEPH... was first performed in the United States in 1976 at the Brooklyn Academy Of Music. It was revived off- Broadway in 1981 in a production starring Bill Hutton and later, David Cassidy and ran for 824 performances. Recent productions have starred Donny Osmond in Toronto and Michael Damian on Broadway. A production for television was filmed in 1999 starring Donny Osmond and Maria Friedman.
ABOUT THE CAST
Eric Kunze (Joseph) A San Diego native, Eric recently won the IRNE award (best actor) for his portrayal of "Joseph" in Boston last year. Mr. Kunze recently starred as "The Man" in the national touring company of Andrew Lloyd Weber's Whistle Down the Wind (IRNE Award) and starred as the title character in the national tour of Jesus Christ Superstar (with Carl Anderson) and here in Redondo Beach last year, earning him an Ovation nomination.
He made his Broadway debut as Marius in Les Miserables (opposite Lea Salonga) and went on to star as Chris in Miss Saigon and then as Joe Hardy in Damn Yankees (with Jerry Lewis). Other Regional (selected): Che in Evita (LA Ovation Nomination), West Side Story (Tony), Into the Woods (the Prince), the title role in Pippin (LA Robbie Award), South Pacific (Lt. Cable) and the title role in the Who's Tommy in Los Angeles. Eric has recently performed with The Vancouver Symphony, Cincinnati Pops, and The Kennedy Center with The Music of Andrew Lloyd Weber, and this coming May with the Detroit Symphony. For more information visit www.erickunze.com
The cast of JOSEPH will also feature: Bethany Slomka as the Narrator, Josh Adamson as Levi-Pharaoh, Ed Hollingsworth as Jacob/Potiphar, Raul Avina as Issachar/Baker, Johnny Fletcher as Simeon, Reggie Hutchins as Gad/Butler, Luke H. Jacobs as Naphtali, Jimmy Keith Latimer, Jr. as Judah , Mike Motroni as Asher, Shaun Tuazon as Benjamin, Tyler Vess as Dan, Dan Windham as Rueben, Zachary Scott Wolfe as Zebulon and Joy Allen, Cassie Bowman, Mollie Esau, Meagan Flint, Elise Harvey, Lauren King, Joanna Louise, Katie McConaughy, Sabrina Olivieri, Juliana Rotta and Melissa Ryan as the Wives.
