Jospeh and the Amazing Technicoloured Dreamcoat.
Information
- Date
- 20th July 2018
- Society
- Danbury Players
- Venue
- Danbury Village Hall
- Type of Production
- Musical
- Director
- Jenny Tyler and Gary Jarvis
- Choreographer
- Zoe Insull
It is so good to visit a society where it is obvious that everyone on stage are having fun, enthusiastic and really enjoying what they are doing. This is definitely the case with Danbury Players who really showed me last night how far they have come with their productions.
The musical ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’ by Andrew Lloyd Webber with lyrics by Tim Rice 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. It has been widely performed by children, youth groups in Schools and Amateur theatre; it is definitely a feel-good musical. It wasn’t long before I was singing along to all the songs with the audience.
In the principal role was Al Pitcher as Joseph, who sung beautifully. He was entirely confident in the role and a pleasure to listen to. Joining him onstage were two narrators; Lucy Charlesworth and Charlotte Vickers who harmonised extremely well together and had wonderful singing voices.
The brothers were all totally confident on stage. I particularly loved Chris Seldon singing (‘Those Cannan Days’) and Laura Gillingham in (’Benjamin’s Calypso’) with the fabulous back drop complete with lit lamppost. Stewart Charlesworth also made an impression on me with his wonderful facial expressions.
Danny Gillingham as the Pharaoh was a super Elvis with huge black wig, white sparkly suit and great use of pelvic action.
The costumes were truly beautiful as were the sets which were painted on A1 sheets by Adam Delf then photographed and sent away to be printed onto cloth. The effect around the auditorium and onstage was brilliant. Congratulations for the original way you have developed your sets to give them that professional edge.
Lovely touches of humour too with the camel and the goat. The prison cell, which was so simply made, was very effective. The use of discs with the corn on one side, the moon and stars on the other, held by the lovely dancers at the back of the stage was again a clever touch and really well executed.
The young children in the choir, who had on the most colourful t-shirts which they changed multiple times, were obviously enjoying every moment and I loved watching them. They will hopefully grow up to be the next actors gracing the Danbury Players stage.
Lighting and sound work well for the show and the choreography by Zoe Insull was skilfully thought out. The young dancers really worked hard and were certainly energetic throughout the show. They were always smiling and delightful to watch.
Just one small niggle, I would have liked to have seen the lighting cross fading at the scene changes, where possible, rather than a blackout. This would have made it all the more seamless.
This was a community project with the St John the Baptist Church who helped Danbury Players with gaining the licence. We really loved this show and would like to congratulate everyone involved in the production. We cannot wait to see what you do in the next one.
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