Thursday 14 July 2022

THEATRE REVIEW: Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat - The Grand Theatre, Leeds


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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