JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOUR DREAMCOAT to 7 June 2008
London.
JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOUR DREAMCOAT
music by Andrew Lloyd Webber lyrics by Tim Rice.
Adelphi Theatre.
Mon, Wed-Sat 7.30pm, Tue 7pm, Mat Wed & Sat 3pm.
Runs 2hrs 10mins One interval.
TICKETS: 0870 895 5598.
Review: Geoff Ambler 18 July 2007.
Technicolour music, madness and sheep galore in this energetic and effervescent revival.
Born from weeks of Saturday night televised auditions, Lee Mead has achieved prominence in this West End revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s biblical musical. The show will live or die on the public’s desire to see the latest TV-made celeb on stage, but fans who pay a visit to the Adelphi production will not be disappointed.
Joseph has retained almost all that originally made it a long-runner first time around, including recycling set, costumes and the late Steve Pimlott’s original direction. While it doesn’t break new ground it now edges closer to the borders of pantomime, its tongue firmly stuck in its cheek, with a willingness to laugh at itself.
Its simple picture-frame set doesn’t detract from Joseph’s story-telling presentation, but provides a neutral base for the thoroughly technicoloured design each musical number is built around. Colour and lighting play an important part in highlighting Anthony van Laast’s spirited choreography and Mark Thompson’s, at times, psychedelic design.
Mead looks comfortable on stage and the show benefits hugely from an experienced lead winning ‘Any Dream Will Do’. He’s a compellingly entertaining, lively, talented performer who could surely have achieved the role without the extensive license fee-financed marketing the BBC currently heaps on Lord Lloyd Webber’s productions. Mead’s opening number ‘Any Dream Will Do’ sparkles unexpectedly early on and sets the tone for the show, lighting up the stage and exciting his many fans in the audience.
While Mead raises the spirits when singing the familiar Joseph numbers, it’s the ensemble that lifts the show to its heights. Energy and high camp abound with the salacious, hedonistic excesses of Potiphar and the LSD-influenced sixties 'Go, Go, Go, Joseph', the energy only dissipating during some of the longer narratives.
Dean Collinson’s Pharaoh performs an outstanding later Elvis, in ‘Song of the King’, complete with Vegas aplomb. However Preeya Kalidas’s narrator seems almost aloof throughout and while vocally skilled and completely stunning, fails to engage.
Yet this Joseph remains popular, funny and completely enjoyable family entertainment, with Lee Mead heading up a thoroughly brilliant cast.
Joseph: Lee Mead.
Narrator: Preeya Kalidas.
Pharoah: Dean Collinson.
Jacob/Potiphar/Guru: Stephen Tate.
Rueben: John Alastair.
Rueben’s Wife: Emma Harris.
Simeon: Mark Oxtoby.
Simeon’s Wife: Sarah Meade.
Levi: Ricky Rojas.
Levi’s Wife: Jennifer Ashton.
Napthali: Nathaniel Morrison.
Napthali’s Wife/Mrs Potiphar: Verity Bentham.
Issacher/Baker: Adam Pearce.
Issacher’s Wife: Emily Mascarenhas.
Asher: James Bisp.
Asher’s Wife: Fiona Reyes.
Dan: Paul Basleigh.
Dan’s Wife: Lucie Downer.
Zebulun/Apache Dancer: Craig Scott.
Zebulun’s Wife/Apache Dancer: Louise Madison.
Gad/Butler: Russell Walker.
Gad’s Wife: Pippa Raine.
Benjamin: Tom Gillies.
Benjamin’s Wife: Danielle Young.
Judah: Neal Wright.
Judah’s Wife: Tamlyn Platts.
Swings: Kate Alexander, Tyman Boatwright, Simon Coulthard, Pip Jordan, Jonathan Stewart, Kate Tydman.
Original Director: Steven Pimlott.
Designer: Mark Thompson.
Musical Supervision: Simon Lee.
Orchestrations: John Cameron.
Lighting: Andrew Bridge.
Sound: Mick Potter.
Choreographer: Anthony Van Laast.
Associate director/Associate choreographer: Nicola Treherne.
2007-07-23 10:43:42