Way, way back many centuries ago, Joseph was the first songs
I can remember singing in choir while as a lad. And ever since, these songs
have stayed as favourites of mine. Which was only encouraged by the 1999 film
adaptation with Donny Osmond, and the wonderful Maria Friedman, that DVD got a
hammering as this show fast became one of my favourites.
Seeing it tonight really brought all of those memories flooding
back. The second John Rigby’s orchestra sparked up into Andrew Lloyd
Webbers score, I was 10 years old again, wide-eyed, and lapping up all of the
excitement in front of me.
I searched the web for a suitable and pithy synopsis of the
show, but all I found was ‘A humorously musical
retelling of the Biblical story of Joseph.’ While, that does the job somewhat,
it wasn’t what I was after. We see the story of Joseph (Jac Yarrow), son
of Jacob (Linzi Hateley). The favoured son, he is betrayed by his jealous
brothers and sold into slavery and driven to Egypt. Though beset with
adversity, Joseph perseveres through wit and faith and becomes the Governor of
Egypt, second only to the Pharaoh (Jason Donovan). This all the sets the scene
for when he meets his brothers who have come to Egypt to purchase food amid a
famine. – better, right?
Navigating us through the show, our narrator, Linzi Hateley,
really was the star of the show. Bringing 30 years of Joseph experience to the
fore, as she was the narrator to both Jason Donovan and Philip Schofield ‘Josephs’ back in the '90s, and I’m so glad that she is back in the driving seat
for this stretch of the tour. Effortlessly funny, a gorgeous alto voice, a confident
dancer and once she stepped onto the stage, you couldn’t help but be drawn to
her, even amongst celebrities in the cast!
Speaking of the cast, this tour relies heavily on the army
of child actors (there’s 32 of them!!), that I believe are travelling with the
cast, not brought in from local theatre schools as is often the case. With the
8 included in tonight’s cast filling the roles of 4 younger brothers, Potiphar,
the Butler & Baker, and various one-shot characters, all of which had
fabulous voices, and really shone when they each had their solo verses or
choruses. Hateley also played various characters, alongside the hefty chunks of
Narration, she filled the roles of a broad Yorkshire Jacob, a Scouse prison
guard, and a Potiphar’s very randy wife.
I guess we should talk about a certain Mr. Donovan, who most
of tonight’s audience were here to see, giving him a cheer as he entered, then
a 2-minute applause once he sung his first song, but for what? Honestly, I
thought he was dreadful. He looked tired on stage, his performance was
lacklustre and so out of place with the rest of the cast’s energy, and his
vocal was far from where it needed to be. For me, his ‘Elvis’ style persona was
more Blackpool Tower than Las Vegas, and given the stage was set like Las
Vegas he could have drawn some energy from that. But, the hundreds of screaming
60-year-old women in the audience seemed to think he was amazing, as I overheard a group of them discussing the matter on the walk back to my car.
Our title character, Joseph, was performed by Jac Yarrow, a
new kid on the block when it comes to the world of professional theatre, as his
debut was as Joseph when this show was at The Palladium before covid. Yarrow
did a decent job, but I feel he was overshadowed by the majesty of Hateley’s performance,
so just tended to blend into to the cast.
In a story so vibrant in colour, (many of which are listed
in the song ‘Joseph's Coat’) it was only right that the stage and cast were
awash with colour, a bold spectrum of colour filled every scene, and it looked
wonderful. So well thought-out by set and costume designer, Morgan Large, and complimented
by Ben Cracknell’s lighting design. The sound for the show was a bit hit and
miss, as, at points through the show, the orchestra would be somewhat louder
than expected, drowning out the stage, but then at times, there was a great
blend and everything seemed fine.
As a production, this show was a technicoloured delight for
all ages, the magic of theatre was back in bloom and a charming evening was had
by all. And with a running time of just 2 hours, interval included, Director
Laurence Connor’s show is a great was to spend an evening.
Reviewer - Simon Oliver
on - 13.7.22
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