Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat

Now if this theatre had a proscenium arch and Curtains, I could have started this review by saying ‘drew back the curtain, and saw for certain, what I thought I knew’. The only thing I was pretty certain of was, that what I was about to see would be pretty good. This show has been performed for nearly sixty years and it still has a magnetic attraction that draws audiences in, what a dream of a show by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The stage was set very simply with raised rostra centre and rear and lighting truss archway which held coloured lighting very effectively. The walls were pitch black with three horizontal stripes below which was painted Egyptian imagery, this proved to be a perfect background for the costumes throughout the show. There was an imaginative lighting plot throughout the show with good colour co-ordination matched to the lyrics of Joseph’s coat of many colours. Talking of colours, this was an imaginatively and colourfully costumed show, who knew that China could provide such colour and co-ordination so cheaply, how did you keep the white costumes so clean for the run? My one disappointment was that I felt Joseph should have been dressed as his brothers to start with rather than all white, there was a great multicoloured coat courtesy of Wisbech Grammar School. I greatly appreciated that all the cast wore matching white and black shoes and the girls had clear bra straps under the costumes, it is this attention to detail that makes a show a truly professional production, congratulations to the wardrobe team. Very quick and smooth costume changes for some. Sound was great throughout although there were about four words from Jacob at the start of a bit of dialogue that were very muted.

The show started with the prologue from the narrator, having recently seen a production where there were three narrators I had forgotten how big a role this was for one person. Mia gave an excellent performance, she was poised, elegant, with a beautifully clear voice for both speaking and singing and had wonderful interaction with her fellow cast members whether it be principals or members of the young company, a very confident performance.

The show of course revolves around Joseph, this is a big part to carry, the songs are so well known, with approximately 14 numbers including the iconic ‘Any dream Will do’ and ‘Close Every Door to Me’. Ebony gave the performance of her life with these strongly performed numbers amongst so many more, strong, confident singing that knocked the socks off everybody else. A role that is usually performed by a male actor was performed with a softness and a power that was heard and seen by all not only the audience but also the cast. The third leading principal actor was Imogen who was not only played the distraught father Jacob with tears and sorrow but also the hip swinging Pharaoh with ‘Song of the King’ and ‘Stone the Crows’ both belted out with the rhythm and passion that they deserved, another confident performance.

From the company there were some great performances with Madeline doubling as the Butler and Reuben, Jess doubling as the Baker and Simeon and Ollie doubling as Asher and Potiphar. Nice little cameos from Maria, Nirvana and Tilly as the Ishmaelites, loved the camel.

This show always benefits from a strong company of brothers acting together in unison, showing their fake sorrow and hidden glee at the loss of Joseph, their appearance before Joseph when ‘The Brothers came to Egypt’ ‘Grovel, Grovel’, the company gave a change of tempo and style for the well sung ‘Benjamins Calypso’. The whole company, both the younger and older gave great vocals for all their singing, some lovely moving numbers were performed, particularly with feeling ‘One more Angel in Heaven’.

This was a tightly choregraphed show and the dance team were very good, company movement from the youngest to the oldest was well timed and coordinated, no doubt the dance captains kept all under control. The whole production team from Rob, Eva and Izzy downwards should be proud of all the hard work put in to this musical success.

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