History Theatre / JosephAndTheAmazingTechnicolorDreamcoat

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: For a show that deliberately channels the styles of many different periods, the video is almost painfully a product of the 1990's, being on the popular 1990-1992-1994 productions that sought to speak to then-current audience tastes.

* AnachronismStew: Done very much on purpose. An ''Music/{{Elvis|Presley}} impersonator'' as Pharaoh. There's also "Those Canaan Days", which features Joseph's brothers and father with French-style clothing and [[JustAStupidAccent ridiculous fake accents.]]
** The country-styled "One More Angel", where one of the brothers even says "10-4, good buddy!"
** The Ishmaelites try to pay for Joseph with a credit card, and there's a slot machine in "Grovel, Grovel".

* AdaptationDistillation / CompressedAdaptation: While generally faithful to the Bible apart from the AnachronismStew, the musical streamlines the story here and there. Instead of Joseph escaping from Mrs. Potiphar's advances and her retaliating later with a FalseRapeAccusation, her husband barges in during the seduction attempt and blames Joseph in a NotWhatItLooksLike scenario. Later, the brothers' two separate trips to Egypt are condensed into one, and instead of multiple [[SecretTestOfCharacter Secret Tests of Character]], they face only the "cup in Benjamin's sack" incident.

* AdaptationDistillation / CompressedAdaptation: While generally faithful to the Bible apart from the Anachronism Stew, the musical streamlines the story here and there. Instead of Joseph escaping from Mrs. Potiphar's advances and her retaliating later with a FalseRapeAccusation, her husband barges in during the seduction attempt and blames Joseph in a NotWhatItLooksLike scenario. Later, the brothers' two separate trips to Egypt are condensed into one, and instead of multiple [[SecretTestOfCharacter Secret Tests of Character]], they face only the "cup in Benjamin's sack" incident. Nor does the musical ever mention that Benjamin is the only other son of Joseph's mother and therefore Jacob's second favorite, which means that a layer of meaning behind the "cup in the sack" test (i.e. will they abandon the other favorite the way they did Joseph?) is lost.

* AdaptationDistillation/CompressedAdaptation: While generally faithful to the Bible story (apart from the AnachronismStew), the musical streamlines the story here and there. Instead of Joseph escaping from Mrs. Potiphar's advances and her retaliating later with a FalseRapeAccusation, her husband barges in during the seduction attempt and blames Joseph in an ItsNotWhatItLooksLike scenario. Later, the brothers' two separate trips to Egypt are condensed into one, and instead of multiple [[SecretTestOfCharacter Secret Tests of Character]], they face only the "cup in Benjamin's sack" incident. Nor does the musical ever mention that Benjamin is Joseph's only full brother and therefore Jacob's second favorite son, which means that a layer of meaning behind the "cup in the sack" test (i.e. Will they abandon Rachel's other son the way they did Joseph?) is lost.

* MediumAwareness: A few of the lyrics suggest that the characters know they are in a show. For example, the Prologue has the narrator say that she will tell the story of Joseph since the audience are there for a couple of hours. The lyric, "We've read the book and you come out on top" also applies.

* Loincloth

* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Mostly averted. Mrs. Potiphar having her servants hold Joseph down while she molests him is one of the few things in the story that isn't played for laughs. He very clearly has the right to decline her advances, and she's clearly wrong for forcing herself on him. Still, the whole thing is a lot (shall we say) ''jauntier'' than it probably would have been if Joseph had been a woman and/or Mrs. Potiphar a man.
** Also, considering that in the Bible, she just rips off a piece of his clothing and then claims he tried to rape her, it could be argued that they made the changes they did because the original version would've spoiled the mood: just the idea that Joseph might have raped Potiphar's wife is apparently more disturbing than her actually raping him.

* ActingForTwo: In the film version, because of the FramingDevice of the show being done as an actual school play, all the main roles also play teachers or other faculty at the fictional school.

*** Pharoh's - later Joseph's - servants were even worse. Those women were wearing ''nets''.

* SecretTestOfCharacter: When Joseph's brothers show up in Egypt without recognizing them, he decides to both get a little revenge and prove whether or not they've changed and thus deserve his help by framing Benjamin for theft. Rather than letting him take the fall and leave with the food (as they had sold Joseph into slavery so they could return home and, they thought, get their father's attention again), they proclaim his innocence and beg to be taken and punished instead.

* YouCantFightFate: The brothers try to make it so that Joseph's dreams won't come true... And oh, how they fail.

* ObviouslyEvil: Mrs. Potiphar, who is even stated to be evil. Averted with Potiphar, who despite appearing to be a FatBastard is simply a hopelessly faithful husband to a clearly unfaithful wife.

* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Averted. Mrs. Potiphar having her servants hold Joseph down while she molests him is one of the few things in the story that isn't played for laughs. He very clearly has the right to decline her advances, and she's clearly wrong for forcing herself on him.

** Not to mention the country-styled "One More Angel", where one of the brothers even says "10-4, good buddy!"
*** Not to mention that the Ishmaelites try to pay for Joseph with a credit card, and there's a slot machine in "Grovel, Grovel"?

* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Averted. Mrs. Potiphar having her servants hold Joseph while she molests him is one of the few things in the story that isn't played for laughs; he very clearly has the right to decline her advances and she's clearly wrong for forcing herself on him.