As a critic if you keep going long enough then yet another touring production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat will come along.
It would be easy to be snooty about Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s debut collaboration, but this family friendly musical is still a lot of fun – if a little dated – and critically has some great tunes. Unlike some of Lloyd Webber’s later bombastic scores this is more pop rock, that was of its time like other seventies hits Godspell or Hair, with the added spice of Rice’s always witty words.
It’s a short for a musical reworking of Joseph’s story in the Bible where he is sold into slavery by his 11 jealous brothers, before hooking up with the Egyptian Pharaoh to work out what the ruler’s dreams meant thus saving his nation from disaster.
It’s a sung through musical, so it can feel like the action lurches from set piece to set piece, but Rice’s clever lyrics that fit seamlessly into the score do keep the narrative on some sort of track. This bright and breezy production was originally revived at the London Palladium, and the producers have breathed new life into this theatrical warhorse with big sets and nods to the modern world like the Narrator taking selfies.
The Narrator is key to this show working and firecracker Christina Bianco was born to play this role, and a few others along the way. Bianco is the star of this show as a powerhouse singer, and then an accomplished dancer as she leads the male ensemble through a slightly surreal biblical tap routine.
It seems odd that Joseph isn’t the star of his own show, and in a strange way he is a bit of a bystander. Adam Filipe looks great with his shirt off singing well on his big numbers like Close Every Door, and both versions of the show’s only genuine showstopper Any Dream Will Do, but there’s no real sense of the gifts that take him from slavery to riches.
X Factor winner Joe McElderry is a former Joseph who has graduated to playing the Pharaoh having great fun with the rock and roll pastiche, Song of The King, as Morgan Large’s colourful set turns his palace into a Vegas lounge bar complete with Egyptian showgirls.
Lloyd Webber clearly enjoyed playing with different forms as a really strong ensemble energetically hoof their way through the country hoe down of One More Angel In Heaven or run riot with Joann M. Hunter’s witty choreography as they turn Those Canaan Days into a Parisian torch song complete with a biblical Can-can. The charming children’s ensemble is full of stars of the future, singing strongly throughout especially on a punchy Go, Go, Go Joseph, and hitting their marks in this lively show.
Joseph remains a wholesome night out that grandparents and their grandkids can enjoy together, but you can’t help feeling that Rice and Lloyd Webber have never been as good apart as they were together.
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is at Leeds Grand Theatre until Saturday 29th March. To book 0113 2430808 or www.leedsheritagetheatres.com
Reviewer: Paul Clarke
Reviewed: 25th March 2025
North West End UK Rating:
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