thisisnottingham.co.uk
MAGICAL MUSICAL IS A REAL DELIGHT
22 September 2004
It's a real old favourite, but who can resist Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat when it comes to town?
Last night at the Nottingham Theatre Royal, the audience were dancing in the aisles and singing at the tops of their voices as the Rice and Lloyd Webber musical yet again worked its magic.
This polished and entertaining performance begins in Canaan with Jacob and his 12 sons, including Joseph who has been given a colourful coat by his dad because he's the favourite.
You know the story. Joseph is sold as a slave by his jealous brothers. He finds himself in Egypt and working for a rich man, Potiphar. When this all goes wrong, he winds up in jail, only to be saved when he correctly reads the pharaoh's dreams.
This musical moves along at an amazing rate and there are all the old classic songs: Poor, Poor, Joseph, Any Dream Will Do and Close Every Door. How is it that I can still remember these songs from when I was seven? (Much to the chagrin of the people sitting behind!)
The set was dazzling and the costumes attention-grabbing, shifting from calypso outfits to American football suits.
Huge applause, quite rightly, went to Richard Swerrun as Joseph. Richard has been playing the lead in the West End production. He is only on tour for a short time, before he heads back to London, so this was a great chance to see him. He has a huge voice and was the ideal Joseph, playing the role with dynamism, while the talented Abigail Jaye, quite a newcomer, was an excellent narrator.
All the brothers were great fun - lively and full of humour. Lee Mead, true to tradition, played Pharaoh in vigorous Elvis style. Lee was a really exciting and sexy Elvis and several women in the audience agreed!
Full marks to Gareth Ellis, the musical director and Bill Kenwright, the director. The set design was by Sean Cavanagh and choreography by Henry Metcalfe, who did a brilliant job. The dancing from this large cast was superb.
Joseph comes around year after year, but never fails to fill the theatre and delight perhaps some of the same people again and again.
Last night was no exception. As Swerrun sang Any Dream Will Do and Close Every Door, we all clapped and sang. And when Pharaoh appeared for the Elvis-styled Pharaoh's Story, everyone was having a wonderful time. After a stunning finale, the cast tried several times to go off stage, but the audience was having none of it - and so they stayed for several more songs, much to the crowd's delight.
© Northcliffe Electronic Publishing Ltd.
BBC Nottingham Online
29 Sept 2004
By Carol Griffith
In my book, Joseph is one step up from a pantomime. It's light entertainment with a feel-good factor, where the cast enjoys audience participation of enthusiastic clapping.
Leaving a pleasant feeling of an evening well spent - the equivalent of sitting on the couch watching bland television for a couple of hours. So it never fails to amazes me the type of audience Joseph attracts.
Standing on of the newly liberated pavement outside the Theatre Royal I was fascinated by the amount of 'middle-aged' people eagerly entering the foyer to see a show many of them had already seen many times before. I suppose, it's like watching a repeat of your favourite show on the box.
So I took my seat in the almost full auditorium and waited with anticipation to see the delivery of this well-worn show.
Not disappointingly, the stage at the Theatre Royal was alive and ringing with the sound of a timeless show with good performances, and songs from a well-choreographed and rehearsed cast.
It would be pure bad manners to criticise Richard Swerrun who played Joseph, if as legend has it, he is the master of the role.
However, I did feel the stage was a little cramped with both him and his ego on it at the same time, but he was clearly delighted by the appreciative audience and produced the allocated encores well and with such enthusiasm that it was only when the curtain failed to rise finally did the audience contemplate leaving.
I felt the overall artistic interpretation was pushing the boundary limits set down by it's composers, although Messrs Rice and Lloyd-Webber must rub their rich hands together with glee that their timeless masterpiece is still going strong and attracting such large crowds.
3/5
Have Your Say
caz
i went to see the show and i am only a kid at the age of 14 so joseph and the technicolor dreamcoat is for all ages to make lughter, sadness and great happyness to all the family.
Anon
I was very surprised to read the review by Carol Griffith of Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcote on your review page/ I have seen the show 18 times so I must be one of the middle aged people she mentioned in her review. How many shows can come to Nottingham every year and fill the theatre for 2 weeks? - As a regulars visitor to the Royal Centre I can think of a lot of shows that were far below the wonderful standard of Joseph. Perhaps when she becomes middle aged - I assume she is not - she will start to appreciate real talent.
© BBC 2004
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
BBC Norfolk Online
5 Oct 2004
A vibrant splash of technicolor to chase away the winter blues (and every other colour). Go, go, go see this family musical making a welcome return at the Norwich Theatre Royal.
I close my eyes and now I can't stop humming that tune! I've always claimed not to be a fan of musicals, preferring more avant-garde theatre, until I worked out that actually, some of my favourite movies (my first love) are musicals!
David Lean's Oliver, The Wizard of Oz, White Christmas with Bing and Danny, Grease, shall I go on? So following this surprising self-realisation, I agreed to review Joseph.
I took along my 6-and-a-half-year-old daughter. It was her first trip to a grown-up show and I got the impression that many other juniors were going through the same initiation.
Joseph is based on the Biblical story of Jacob's favourite son, and his 11 jealous brothers. Fed up with their father's favouritism for Joseph and his irritating dreams, they plot to get rid of Joseph. The final straw comes when Dad, (Jacob) singles out Joseph and gives him a coat of many colours.
In a nutshell - the story sees Joseph dropped into a pit and then sold as a slave bound for Egypt where, after a spell languishing in jail, he finds the greatness that he dreamed about as an interpreter of the Pharaoh's dreams.
Forecasting seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine, Joseph is promoted as the Pharaoh's number two.
Meanwhile his brothers, who've fallen on hard times in the fourteen years since "disposing" of Joseph, go to Egypt in search of sustenance. They and their Father, Jacob are reunited and all is forgiven.
Joseph the hero is vindicated, but I have to say it took me a while to warm to him because for a long time I totally sympathised with the brothers.
Joseph was insensitive and arrogant with his dreams and their interpretations. And what kind of father singles out one child for special treatment? You just don't do that! It's not good parenting and it will eventually lead to trouble but then of course we wouldn't have a story!
Casting aside the problems with the protagonist not being a very likeable character, how does it work as a show?
Very well I'd say. I enjoyed it much more that I thought I was going to.
Best performances were from the Narrator, Abigail Jaye who has a fine voice and just the right amount of understatedness.
Poor, poor Joseph - what's he gonna do?
As a performer Richard Swerrun (Joseph) opened a bit wobbly, but soon warmed up to give an enthusiastic and moving performance (great moves actually). His rendition of Close Every Door gave me goose bumps.
There were some genuinely funny moments. The slave sale with the camels - you had to be there- and Elvis/Levi proving that the King is alive and well and singing in Norwich!
I especially like the '20s flapper style interpretation of Potiphar's song. Highly amusing, especially the high-kicking "free loving" wife of Potiphar.
Top marks go to the Broadland Youth Choir who must have very sore bottoms sitting on the stage all night!
One niggle - the brothers' dancing could do with sharpening. I like the fact that they were every shape or size and not your typical chorus line, but at one point I thought some were going to run out of steam!
But saying that, they really came into their own for Those Canaan Days and One more Angel in Heaven (my daughter's favourite!).
The sets were imaginative. I especially like the epic-style Pharaoh set with the dogs - totally lavish! And as for all those costume changes you really experienced a global outing with those!
And what a finale. The audience could have sung and clapped all night. Truly an inclusive foot-tapping experience, so my advice is to let go and enjoy - I did!
Finally a note from the young reviewer - "Good actions to the dancing", and "the lady who sings the story was good" with a comment at the end, "Mum, can we see it again now?"
I don't think so dear....
By Mariam Issimdar
© BBC 2004
