I hate to do this, but I really must put a disclaimer on this entry: I don't much care for dinner theatre. It's nothing personal, really. I've just found in my experience that the quality and content is often not as impressive as at other professional theatres (and, in this area, many of the community theatres).

But, being your typical Radio Personality and thereby unable to refuse anything that's free, I always accept media tickets when La Comedia sends them my way (and I accept them gratefully -- if the La Comedia Powers That Be are reading, please keep sending them!). On occasion, I've been disappointed, but on other occasions, I've been completely wowed by a performance at the Middletown dinner theatre that professes to be "A Taste of Broadway."

In the case of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, running from now through November 1st, I was neither let down, nor completely stunned. That's not to say it isn't a good show; it's really a perfectly fine show. Will it get you out of your seat, crying for more? Meh. Depends on how much you like the musical itself, I guess. But will you be itching to leave at intermission? Most likely not.

All in all, La Comedia's performance of Joseph was pleasant, entertaining, and easy to watch. The stars of the show, Ryan LaTour as Joseph and Emily Mattheson as the Narrator, gave solid and engaging performances, especially in the case of Mattheson, who far outshone her counterpart. It wasn't entirely LaTour's fault though -- a malfunctioning mic tripped him up in the beginning, and kept him pushing his voice to the limits just to be heard. He performed admirably in the face of that hiccup, and Mattheson acted quickly to accomodate his lack of volume.

As an avid musical fan, I was already familiar with the music of Joseph, and had seen bits and pieces of the infamous Donny Osmond version, but had never seen it live. While I enjoyed the unique playfulness of each song, it got to be a bit too gimmicky for my tastes. Again, it's written that way, so the cast and production crew seemed to do the best they could with the material they had. Vocally, the performances were almost entirely strong, though the "cheese factor" had me cringing a few times.

The set, I felt, tried hard to be bigger than it was, and so came off as more of an amateur attempt at looking like a professional theatre... rather than actually being something a professional theatre would be proud to showcase.

Fortunately, I was distracted from that, and the occasionally misbehaving costumes, by extremely well-done renditions of the show-stoppers "Any Dream Will Do," and "Close Every Door," which never ceases to give me chills. LaTour's performance of the haunting song was spot-on, though I much preferred his duet of the same tune with Mattheson during the encore.

And that brings up another point: why on earth was the encore half the length of the actual performance? Again, I don't entirely blame La Comedia for this, because the audience seemed to LOVE it. It's something I've noticed in previous productions there, and I just don't get it. If you've got something that phenomenal in store... why not put it in the actual show? Also, while "Go, Go, Go Joseph" is admittedly a catchy tune, it is not quite so charming after the thirteenth chorus. But then again, if the length of the encore is my biggest complaint, I suppose they must be doing something right.

Something I would like to see in future visits, though -- a change in the menu. While the food is fine, and what you would expect from an average dinner theatre, there's nothing particularly spectacular about it (except the sweet potato souffle -- I would sell a kidney for a second helping).

As for prices, they can be a bit on the expensive side. Individual tickets range from $51-69, which is pretty tough to swallow in this economy. Still, if you have the extra cash, and you enjoy musicals that are fun and fluffy and more entertaining than thought-provoking, this is an excellent way to spend a weekend evening. You can find out more about tickets here, or call 1-800-677-9505. Joseph runs through November 1st, so be sure to catch it before they "close every door!"