Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is a slight musical that Broadway and many tours have grown from a cute multi-styled chamber musical in to a gigantic production where every song is a show stopper. Ordinarily, I find this to be annoying and tiring. However, when done with enthusiasm and energy, the evening can be quite infectious. What you need is inventive choreography, a couple of leads who are triple threats with star power, and an ensemble that will do everything to sell the endless repeated stanzas and drawn out endings. The tour of Joseph that has stopped by Gammage has almost all of these elements. Director Dallett Norris and choreographer Arlene Phillips have come up with some very successful staging choices and dance numbers to keep the show visually interesting. Patrick Cassidy’s Joseph is angelic-faced, he has a strong, melodic voice, acrobatic dance skills, and takes control of the stage when he’s on it. Featured actors such as the spectacular Nicholas F. Saverine in his dual roles of Levi and Pharaoh, Ernest Marchain as Ruben, and the chorus are of Broadway quality. There’s only one flaw in a generally strong evening, and we can blame American Idol for such a bad case of miscasting.

Since Joseph is a pastiche depending on various musical styles to set up the movement of the plot, part of its appeal is in the many different costumes and settings that match those musical styles. Some of the styles can be manipulated from their origins, many of which were set in the late 60s. The changes in this production include the conversion to a more current choice for the first act-ending “Go Go Go Joseph,” and the added Mega Mix extended curtain call that is as modern as you can get in a musical’s confines. The result is a show that runs for nearly two hours rather than the original’s 70 minutes.

For all of the verve and vigor that Cassidy and the troupe bring to the evening, Amy Adams’ Narrator is a wash. I was a big fan of Adams when she was one of the ten finalists on a recent season of American Idol, but that was because of her voice. Where is Clay Aiken when you need him? Adams does croon beautifully, especially when she belts “Pharaoh Story,” but she has zero stage presence, and her movements are awkward. Her arms seem to always get in her way, and she drops what little character she has mustered the minute the focus moves from her. This is one talent made for mp3.

Kep Kaeppeler’s tiny orchestra is surprisingly strong and not nearly as tinny as a group of six trying to perform like a group of 40 might. James Fouchard’s set and Rick Belzer’s lighting are full of little tricks and surprises. Duncan Robert Edwards’ sound design is well run, but is often set at ear-splitting levels.