In brief: ‘Don Quixote’ and ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’

John Lithgow as the Man of La Mancha, Bob Hoskins as Sancho Panza, Isabella Rossellini as the Duchess, and Vanessa Williams as Dulcinea play Miguel de Cervantes for laughs in Don Quixote (Sunday, April 9; 8 to 10:30 p.m.; TNT). This seems to have been deliberate on the part of John Mortimer, who adapted the novel, and Peter Yates, who directs. Even the windmills look silly, and so do the sheep. I am not offended, but wasn’t the musical funny enough? … And speaking of musicals, public television’s sick infatuation with Andrew Lloyd Webber will achieve a giddy apogee with an entire evening devoted to extolling his bountifulness that kicks off with a new production of the very first collaboration of the composer with lyricist Tim Rice, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Wednesday, April 5; 8 to 9:30 p.m.: Channel 13). Donny Osmond, with great good humor, stars as the pre-Freudian dream interpreter Joseph, but the show is stopped by Robert Torti doing the Pharaoh as a Las Vegas Elvis, and stolen in every scene she’s in by Maria Friedman as the saucy Narrator. Never mind Jesus and Evita. Before he became important, Lord Lloyd Webber was actually delightful.

In brief: ‘Don Quixote’ and ‘Joseph and the A […]