Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Youth Production

“Joseph” and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat youth group production has music by Andrew Lloyd Webber with lyrics by Tim Rice, the show has a family-friendly storyline and is based on the story of Joseph from the Book of Genesis in the Bible.  It was the first Lloyd Webber and Rice musical to be performed publicly, originally as a 15-minute pop cantata in 1968. In 1972 the show was expanded and it was produced as a full musical in the West End of London in1973, opening on Broadway in 1982.  There have been several major revivals and national tours over the years and it has been widely performed by children and youth groups in Schools and Amateur theatre.

This was the first full musical production from Adlington Music and Arts Society Youth (AMAS Youth) and what an excellent bright happy show they produced. Directed by Matthew Kellie there were some very talented young performers in the cast of this show with no weak links, they all worked very well together with loads of energy, heaps of enthusiasm and lots of enjoyment. As Joseph is completely sung the quality of singing is very important and that challenge was more than well met by Musical Director Emily Bailey and assistant M.D. Christopher Bailey and the young cast with some very good singing voices on show. I would love to name everybody who took part in this production because they all contributed to the overall success of this show; but that would mean a review jam-packed with names only. However, I would like to highlight the performances of Ethan Simpson who gave an excellent strong performance in the central lead role of Joseph and also Alex Moore, Rebecca Foley, Yzzabella Heyes and Niamh Hardman, who shared the very important role of the Narrator, all four sang well with lovely voices and clear diction, making it easy for the audience to follow the story and there was also an enjoyable entertaining performance by Jessica Wharton- Jones as Elvis/ Pharaoh. The above performers were well supported by the rest of the cast who also gave us some very worthy performances with good singing, they included Joseph’s father Jacob (Mason Sandham) Joseph’s brothers, (Nathan Kellie, Brandon Kerr, Jacob Hodgson, Matthew Houghton, Elena Clough, Abi Moore, Leah Wallwork, Katie Jones, Roxanne Leadbetter, Georjia Tighe and Ben Brooks), with the Baker (Eve Clough), the Butler (Ella Hodgson), Potiphar (Jude Unsworth) and Potiphar’s wife (Erin Almond).

The very talented ensemble looked like they were enjoying every minute of the show singing with gusto. Choreography by Heather Hodgson was impressive and performed very well with lots of energy and enthusiasm, all the musical numbers were accompanied by backing tracks.

Costumes were very bright, colourful and appropriate for the age group of the performers and the show, allot of thought appeared to have gone into getting them right. Scenery was as is usual for AMAS excellent, with Pyramids, an impressive Pharaoh’s Head (copy of Tutankhamen mask) and a brilliant Camel which received an applause from the audience, so well done to the set builders, stage crew, props, sound and lighting and all the backstage crew, as these roles are important in this type of production.

I must congratulate Director Matthew Kellie and all involved in this very enjoyable entertaining production, I really enjoyed my evening with you. I hope to see you all next time thank you for inviting me.

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