“Joseph?! That’s just that old Jason Donovan musical, innit?” sniffed my builder when I told him I was off to see the now-touring London West End production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. If truth be told, I was thinking the same, as I headed out into the freezing January gloom to catch the show at the New Theatre Oxford last night.
‘This is musical theatre at its Amazing Technicolour best, a blast of pure colourful joy to blow those January blues away’
Being a Rice/Lloyd-Webber sceptic, I’d been put off seeing the show before – that over-long title, and the frankly bonkers storyline: Joseph, his dad’s favourite son, sold into slavery by his own brothers because they are jealous their dad bought him a fancy coat?!
Joseph then discovers he can interpret dreams while languishing in prison and in so doing gets catapulted from imprisoned slave to the position of right-hand man to the reigning Pharoah of Egypt, who appears to be (wait for it) Elvis in disguise! Golly, the drugs must have been strong in the 70s!
‘before we know it the whole audience is on its feet rocking to the finale ‘
But… ‘multiple runs in the West End and on Broadway, international tours in over 80 countries’, the official blurb gasps; have my builder and I got it wrong?!
Indeed, we have. This production is stunning. It really is. Flawlessly and passionately performed from the lip-curling, ‘uh-huh’ing Pharoah (Elvis), played by Alex Woodward, to Adam Filipe in the starring role, twirling his dreamcoat, to the show-stealing Christina Bianco in her role as Narrator – her costume sparkles and so does she.
‘This production is stunning. It really is. Flawlessly and passionately performed’
Sassy, cocky, funny she’s obviously having a whale of a time as she sings and dances us through the story AND takes on multiple minor parts. Think Liza Minelli – and then some.
And that silly storyline? Who cares when the tunes are this banging? Each one performed with aplomb in a different musical style, and given it’s own mini-production treatment: an American cheer-leaders section for the funky ‘Go, go, go Joseph’, a sad French café vibe for ‘Those Canaan Days’ as the brothers hilariously mourn their plight after treating their brother so badly, and ‘Song of the King’, well it has to be the Pharoah swivelling his hips in a Vegas night-club, doesn’t it?
Time flies by and before we know it the whole audience is on its feet rocking to the finale – a medley of all the best tunes and more.
This is musical theatre at its Amazing Technicolour best, a blast of pure colourful joy to blow those January blues away and if I see a better musical this year, I’ll eat my Technicolour hat!
Edward Bliss
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, New Theatre Oxford until Sat Jan 11. Book at: https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/joseph-and-the-amazing-technicolor-dreamcoat/new-theatre-oxford/
