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‘Joseph/ coat arrive at Lied
By Barb Churchill
Assignment Reporter
When the King of Rock ’n’ Roll is an Egyptian
pharaoh, and a 12-man shepherd team becomes a
doo-wop group, it’s safe to say that you’re not watch
ing the usual musical based on the Bible.
But Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice aren’t
the usual songwriters, and “Joseph and the Amazing
Technicolor Dreamcoaf’ is proof.
This weekend, “Joseph” is coming to the Lied
Center for Performing Arts, and Charles Henry
Bethea, executive director of the Lied Center for the
Performing Arts, said the show should be one worth
seeing.
“(‘Joseph’) has been touring for a few years
now. We had a chance to bring it in to Lincoln,”
Bethea said. “It has continuing appeal, it’s good
entertainment and people keep coming back to it”
The “Joseph” story comes from several chapters
of the book of Genesis, Bethea said. But the typical
solemn drama and choir numbers found in religious
melodramas are forsaken for Hollywood-styled
showmanship.
“This isn’t exactly the same show you’d see in a
church,” Bethea said. “It’s full of glitz and glamor,
and it’s highly energetic and fast-paced.”
The story of Joseph and his coat of many colors
is marketed as “a complex tale of love, betrayal,
hardship, redemption and forgiveness.”
In case it’s been a few years since you’ve read
your Bible, here is a synopsis of the plot: Joseph is
Jacob’s favorite son, so Jacob gives Joseph a coat of
many colors. But Joseph’s brothers highly resent
Jacob’s favoritism. When Joseph mentions a
prophetic dream in which he becomes more impor
tant than they, the brothers start to conspire against
him. They steal Joseph’s coat, sell him into slavery
and tell Jacob that Joseph had died, presenting the
teed success.
“(The Lincoln location) could help us. This is a
Biblical story, told in a very up-tempo, late-20th
century way,” Bethea said. “It’s fun and funny, very
in-your-face in some ways, but not sacrilegious.”
One thing different about this presentation of
“Joseph,” Bethea said, is an additional number
bloody coat as evidence.
Joseph ends up in
jail, where he becomes
known for his dream
interpretation skills. The
Egyptian pharoah calls
on Joseph to predict the
pharoah’s dreams, while
Joseph is still in jail.
Joseph rises to become
the pharoah’s chief assis
tant, with Egypt surviv
ing because of his fore
«—
Its fun and funny; very
in-your-face in some ways,
but not sacrilegious”
Charles Henry Bethea
Lied Center executive director
added to the end of the
show.
“There is an extra
scene added called
‘Joseph’s mega-mix.’ It’s
kind of a retro-disco
scene, featuring lights,
singing and high-energy
performances,” he said.
Revivals need to
walk a fme line between
the familiar and the
novel, Bethea said, other
signt.
Joseph’s family, however, has fallen on hard
times. And when they go to Egypt, Joseph must
decide whether or not to forgive them.
This story is extremely powerful and moving,
Bethea said, without ever being boring.
“This is a very interesting show, both lyrically
and musically,” he said
“You see these Biblical-style Egyptians singing
a solo in the style of Elvis. Where else are you going
to see this but here?”
And because of Lincoln’s strong religious com
munity, Bethea said, “Joseph” is almost a guaran
wise people just won t come to see them.
“Part of the reason revivals succeed is to give
people what they want to remember, while trying to
keep (the material) fresh,” he said. “I think they’ve
succeeded here.”
The Lincoln presentation of “Joseph and the
Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” will be held at
the Lied Center on Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2
p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Tickets are still available but going fast, Bethea said,
and should be ordered as early as possible. Ticket
prices for all performances are $36, $32 and $28,
half-price for students.
Jazz group
to perform
at Ramada
By Barb Churchill
Assignment Reporter
In the realm of popular music, jazz
may be considered an old art form.
The Nebraska Jazz Orchestra would
beg to differ.
Tonight, the NJO will present “You’re
Never Too Young,” a concert that features
two bands for the price of one: the 1998
Young Lions Band, an audition-only band
made up of young jazz musicians
throughout the state of Nebraska, as well
as the NJO.
“The Young Lions band is doing a
couple of Count Basie tunes, a newer
piece by Bob Mintzer and a funk piece,”
said Ed Love, music director of the NJO.
The musicians in the Young Lions
band are all in high school, Love said, and
were picked on an audition-only basis.
Only half of the musicians who audi
tioned to play were actually picked to play
in the band. Schools represented in this
year’s all-star band include Omaha
Central, Omaha Northwest, Gretna,
Seward, Lincoln High, Lincoln Southeast,
Lincoln East and Lincoln Pius X.
The Young Lions band will play four
charts, Love said, with the NJO playing
seven or eight.
“We have some things we’ll put in if
the audience is receptive. The program
can be tailored for the mood of the audi
ence,” he said.
The NJO is one of the Midwest’s best
big bands, receiving write-ups in presti
gious jazz magazines Down Beat and Jazz
Times. Its concerts feature the best jazz
standards by composers such as Count
Basie, Woody Herman and Duke
Please see JAZZ on 12
Waters Edge release touts Christian tunes
By Jason Hardy
Senior Reporter
Peace is flowing like a river, and one
Lincoln band is bringing the river’s edge a
; little closer to UNL students.
The Waters Edge, a local band com
prised mostly of UNL students, has
been singing the praises of
Christianity for the past
two years andfhas
recently released
its first com
pact disc. The
album will
be on sale
today
and
Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Nebraska
Union.
The band includes Casey Kinnan on drums, Jenny
Reece on backup vocals, Ajit Ninan on guitar, bass and
backup vocals and Colby Schaub on guitar and lead
vocals.
The group can best be described as a Christian rock
band, a label Ninan, a computer engineering graduate stu
dent at UNL, has no problem with.
“We’re Christian rock pretty much just because our
audience is pretty much a Christian audience,” Ninan
said.
He said he wasn’t afraid of claiming Christianity as
the band’s motive because it was the driving force behind
the band’s inspiration and there were so many good
Christian bands today.
“Just because of the fact that there are so many bands
out there with a Christian message that are so good,”
Ninan said. “We’re Christian and that’s our whole motive
behind the band.
“We’re not going to win (listeners) over by fooling
mem.
Schaub, a communications studies major at UNL,
said he hoped people would hear The Waters Edge and
lose their preconceived notions that Christian music was
bad music.
“We’re one of the thousands of bands that are trying to
change that,” Schaub said.
He said bands such as Rusted Root and DC Talk had
helped bring Christian music into the mainstream over the
past six or seven years.
Ninan said that while the band’s songs all had some
thing to do with Christianity, he didn’t feel any limitations
as far as creative leeway in lyrical content
“We don’t run into that problem because there’s so
many things to cover about the Christian faith,” Ninan
said. “We can’t make up a song that’s not Christian-ori
Please see WATERS on 12
