#196 Irony

I am currently in rehearsals for a community theatre production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”. Theatre has always been a love of mine, musical theatre in particular and last year at this time I participated in my first show since college. It was a production of “Honk!” through the same theatre, and was so much fun I just had to do it again.




I play the wife of one of Joseph’s brothers and sing a duet in the number “One More Angel in Heaven”. For those of you who don’t know the show, it’s a retelling of the bible story of Joseph. Joseph is one of 12 brothers and his father’s favorite. Both he and his father are somewhat obnoxious about his favored status in the family and the other brothers come to really hate him. They plan to kill him, but at the last minute sell him into slavery for the cash and tell his Dad that he died saving them all from a wild goat. Joseph does well as a slave until his master’s wife seduces him and he ends up thrown in jail. Once there, he deciphers some dreams from fellow inmates, one of whom is Pharaoh’s butler. (Did I mention this part takes place in ancient Egypt?) Eventually the butler gets out of prison and when Pharaoh starts having crazy dreams recommends getting Joseph out of prison to help. Joseph helps and eventually leads Egypt to wealth and prosperity in a time of drought and hunger in the region. His brothers, starving in their homeland of Canaan, go to Egypt to beg for food and after some tests of loyalty by Joseph, they are all happily reunited. That’s it in a nutshell.



In the song I sing, the brothers and wives are telling Jacob (Joseph’s dad) that his son is dead and pretending to be sad when really they couldn’t be happier. Most of the songs in the show are themed, and this one is country and western. It’s hokey and cheesy and fun to sing and perform. It’s completely over the top. It’s also pretty ironic. Here I am on stage pretending to mourn a brother, and in real life I’m actually mourning one.



Please don’t misunderstand, I can separate fiction from reality and I really am enjoying doing the show and playing this role. It just struck me on the way home from rehearsal last night. Life is funny sometimes.