Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

It was great to see the large cast taking the overture to the audience in this famous musical. The energy and quality of singing and the flowing movement of the cast in their biblical costumes whetted the appetite for more of this famous story of Jacob’s Joseph, he of the coat of colours, who was cast out and betrayed by his envious eleven brothers and who underwent humiliation and hardship in Egypt before rising to a position of power – and how the tables were turned. Bryan Jamieson was well cast as Joseph presenting us with a dreamy young man, confident and likeable and unaware of the waves he caused parading in his coloured coat before demonstrating bewilderment and hurt at his brothers’ treatment and the humiliation of his enslavement. But his singing was a show stopper with a power and range that was uplifting, with memorable treatment of Close Every Door and Any Dream Will Do. The Brothers’ hostility to Joseph was palpable and their duplicity in conning their father in his grief at losing his son truly terrible, one moment with long faces the next triumph in having got rid of him.  Jamie McCaw, as Dan, with the other brothers and wives had a truly remarkable and well staged One More Angel in Heaven. Steven Struthers as Reuben presented a cleanly articulated and precisely sung Those Canaan Days deep in nostalgia and loss. By contrast, Harrison Greenwood as Judah led a rumbustious and neatly choreographed Benjamin Calypso while Taylor Moyes as Benjamin was an abject figure when accused of theft.  The Narrators, Amy Allan, Nicole Cassidy and Nicole Duthie, had heavy roles being involved in about twenty numbers. All had beautiful voices and sang in wonderful harmony although at times in competition with the orchestra. Brian Toward had a striking and dominant role as The Pharaoh, with powerful singing in numbers like Song of The King and Stone The Crows - and Elvis like in dress and action even with a handheld mic.  In minor roles David Black and Lorna McGowan drew on their experience to characterise the money - fixated Potiphar in white dinner suit and the luxuriously sparkling seducing vamp Mrs Potiphar, both conveying the power of money and showing the rest of the world as expendable, and John Gray as Jacob presented well as loving father. This was a well staged production: using the Junior Ensemble as audience to the Narrators and to sing at the start of each act; and showing lots of skill in moving the cast effectively. The dancers worked strenuously throughout and especially to represent Egyptian style dancing. The colourful use of ribbons by them and then by the whole cast using the whole stage and auditorium took the action to the audience in graceful spectacle.  The backgrounds were minimal but scene setting like the huge Egyptian head. And I loved the camel. The finale was a triumphant, exciting delivery of all the familiar numbers which the audience truly appreciated.

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