York Grand Opera House, 26 April 2016. Reviewed by Michelle Richardson
Well what can I say about Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat?
My friend and I were fortunate enough to go along to the opening night at the Grand Opera House in York on Tuesday. Neither of us had any idea what we were about to see. We thought it was just going to be a biblical story with a few songs, after all everyone has heard “Any Dream Will Do”. How wrong we were! All I will say it is bizarre and I cannot believe it has been around for over 40 years and I had not heard about how unusual it was.
Essentially it is a biblical story but with country and western, French and calypso themes thrown in, and who can forget Elvis? The story is basically about Joseph, who is the favourite son on Jacob, much to the disgust of his 11 brothers, who then sold off into slavery.
With Joe McElderry, X Factor winner from 2009, playing Joseph it was a camp and colourful show from beginning to end.
Lucy Kay, runner up on Britain’s Got Talent, was the narrator, on stage throughout. She did a wonderful job guiding us through the story with some strong and powerful vocals. Joining her on stage at all times were the Joseph Choir provided by Stagecoach Theatre Arts School, York, who did themselves proud and supported the cast well.
The brothers and handmaidens put on an energetic show with their comic timing, costume changes, singing and dancing. Look out for the inflatable sheep, made us giggle.
We then came to Elvis??!! Emilianos Stamatakis is making his UK debut as the Pharaoh/Elvis. He did a great Elvis impression with all that hip swinging and stage presence.
Joe McElderry put in a solid performance as Joseph. I was pleasantly surprised by his vocals, they were rather good, after seeing him on X Factor I thought he was going to be a bit wishy washy, but I was wrong. His singing of Close Every Door was outstanding and was the definite highlight of the show for me.
I’m still a bit baffled by it all, but what do I know. The packed audience loved it and they gave a standing ovation at the end and we all got up and boogied along with Elvis? and the cast.
Joseph is on at The Grand Opera House York until Saturday.