Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Leeds Grand, 24/03/11)

I had booked three tickets for Joseph, ostensibly for my sister's birthday, and I was taking Mum along too. And then Julia got a better offer from Enrique Iglesias so Andrew came along instead, a little reluctantly hence he wasn't going to go originally. I was also a little hesitant, not being very familiar with the musical and worrying it might all be a little earnest. We'd both really enjoyed watching the BBC1 Any Dream Will Do search for Joseph though, and were familiar with the show's only named star, Keith Jack, so we went in expecting something good but unspectacular. 

I'm happy to say that my doubts were dispelled pretty early into the show - it turned out to be a very funny, upbeat, joyful production. Although I'm unfamiliar with Joseph, I could tell that this version had been updated and 'tampered with' to appeal to a wider audience, and to keep things fresh. I can see how a straight adaptation of the show would be worthy and possibly a bit boring - Joseph himself is a bit of a cock to start with, he could have continued to be - but some off the wall choices of dance numbers and costumes turned the whole into a pretty crazy dream. 

Opening with Joseph dressed like Luke Skywalker in Ug Boots, his character gradually shed clothes and danced about in a loin cloth at one point. Keith Jack certainly made the hottest biblical character I've ever seen, he's got great legs. Following song and dance numbers included the Egyptian Pharoah as Elvis, a cowboy theme, black-and-white striped jumpers and French atmosphere, a calypso beat...  basically any musical genre you'd imagine wouldn't  be represented in an Andrew Lloyd-Webber musical based on a Bible story! And all to the show's credit - I imagine that there will be Joseph purists who would weep over the massive liberties taken with the show, but I'm not one of them so I really enjoyed it! 

Keith Jack has an extremely powerful voice as Joseph, and he added a mischeivousness to the part, while Jennifer Potts' Narrator was even better, the real star of the show in terms of time on stage, number of lines and in the fantasticness of her performance. A relatively short musical, over in about 90 mins (not including the interval), the last 10 minutes was like the end of The Return of the King, you thought it had finished but then there was another bit, another reprise of a favourite song, a medley, another reprise. 3 times Joseph got to have his massive Technicolor Dreamcoat extended out around the stage. The ending did go on, but it also left us walking out on a high. I'd certainly see this version of the show again, although I'm not sure about any early versions.