Joseph
Boyzone's Stephen Gately is the star of a new Bill Kenwright production of Joseph. BBC Liverpool checked it out.
Bill Kenwright's new production of Joseph contains some unconventional settings and themes for a Biblical story, but with a new star and ever recognisable songs, it is still a crowd pleaser in the classic sense. There can be no doubt that this will be a popular show at the Empire theatre, not least of all because it is taking to the stage over the festive period - if ever there was a Christmas show, this is it.
Visiting destinations as far apart as Paris and the Caribbean and bringing in an Elvis impersonator (complete with American footballer attired dancers) may not fit in with the Old Testament version of the story, but Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is a show for today. Vivienne Carlyle provides a classic Dick Wittington-esque narrator to the tale (I was waiting for her to slap her thigh at one point!), whilst Steven Gately, to the appreciation of the wolf-whistling teenage girls in the audience, looks at home performing on stage as Joseph.
The long musical introduction to both act one and two might have the children fidgeting in their seats but it is a short show. At just over two hours long the plot is easy to follow and it is an all-singing, all-dancing extravaganza with enough to keep adults and children entertained.
Kenwright has spent £1m on this production, and whatever you do, don't leave until the very end of the show if you want to see what a chunk of the budget went on. What? I'm not telling, but after the numerous re-singings of the songs and several encores you get something which puts the proverbial top hat onto one very colourful coat!
Emma Hardy
