I had the pleasure of seeing two excellent theatre productions this week – Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Lion King. It is almost a shame to be watching theatre when the weather is so nice, but at least one of the shows we saw was outdoors.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is being performed by Theatre Under the Stars at the Malkin Bowl in Stanley Park – a great venue on a sunny evening. For such a young and local cast of actors, I was really impressed with the talent – the singing, dancing, and acting were top-notch. It was my first time seeing Joseph and I really enjoyed it. I think I had a smile on my face the whole show. It was funny, the songs were varied and catchy (especially the calypso number), and there was an impressive strong-man/circus routine. One cute touch in this performance was they chose a young audience member (a 6-year old boy) to play the 12th brother – he didn’t have any speaking lines, but was on stage for the entire show and was involved in several important scenes. This was my 5th TUTS performance, and I think it was the best one I’ve seen (or at least as good as Annie Get Your Gun two years ago).

Lion King was a visual and musical treat. The costumes and sets were simply stunning. It has been a long time since I’ve seen the movie, so some of the plot I had forgotten. But I still remembered all the songs, and sang along with the little kids in the row in front of us. It is amazing how popular Lion King continues to be with children, considering the movie came out when I was a kid, 16 years ago.

Next week, I’m looking forward to watching Singing in the Rain and Cirque du Soleil’s Kooza.