Tuacahn's season includes both 'Joseph' and 'Beauty'

For its 10th anniversary season, Tuacahn Amphitheatre will stage Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" and "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" in repertory through mid-October.

Instead of a separate fall-season production, both main stage shows — which would traditionally close on Labor Day weekend — will instead close on Oct. 14 and 15. Tuacahn will also produce the school edition of "Les Miserables" this summer in the indoor Hafen Theatre, featuring talent from high schools throughout Utah.

T.J. Young, who has been working in several national touring productions over the past few years (along with his wife Adrian), is playing Joseph, a role he did once before at Hale Center Theater Orem.

Both of Tuacahn's outdoor musicals are directed by well-known Utah County thespians, "Joseph" by director-choreographer David Tinney and "Beauty" by Tim Threlfall.

Young is working with Tinney for the first time. "I've always just missed working with him before now, but this year everything just worked out," Young said by phone from St. George, where he was in the midst of rehearsals.

He added that he had to negotiate his contract as associate director on the current national tour of "42nd Street" to get the free time. His understudy, Jeff McLean (Michael McLean's son), filled in during Tuacahn's early rehearsals until Young could come to St. George.

Despite struggling with allergies and St. George's famous heat, Young is having a wonderful experience at Tuacahn. "David Tinney's direction is that the show really does have a deep, spiritual meaning, but he has also found ways to make it fun, which is how it should be.

"Very generally, Tinney's concept is that the show opens with a school teacher counseling a young, lonely farm boy, explaining to him that centuries ago, there was another young man who felt all alone, then tells him the story of Joseph. In the boy's mind, Egypt is a city like Las Vegas — and the action shifts to a Vegas-ized setting.

"It really is a lot of fun. Potiphar's wife is more like Marilyn Monroe, and the jail scene looks like 'Jailhouse Rock.' I was a little skeptical when I first heard about it, but now that I've seen Dave's work, it really is brilliant."

Young also commented that the caliber of talent — both behind the scenes and onstage — is among the best he's worked with, including Broadway and seven national touring shows. He said he was surprised and pleased that Tuacahn was able to enlist Ryan Murphy as musical director.