Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is the second musical theatre show written by the team of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.
Based on the "Coat of many colours" story of Joseph from the Bible, this light-hearted show was first presented as a fifteen-minute pop cantata at the Colet Court school in London on March 1, 1968.
Lloyd Webber's father, William, felt the show had the seeds of greatness. He encouraged and arranged for a second performance – at his church, Westminster Central Hall – with a revised and expanded format. It received positive reviews: London's Sunday Times said it was a new pop oratorio. Novello agreed to publish the work and Decca Records recorded it. By its third performance at St Paul's Cathedral on 9 November 1968, it had been expanded to 35 minutes and included several new songs.
In 1970, Lloyd Webber and Rice used the popularity of their second rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar, to promote Joseph – which was advertised in America as a 'sequel' to Superstar. Riding on Jesus's coattails proved profitable for this "Technicolor coat" and the US Decca recording topped America's charts for three months.
In September 1972, Joseph was presented at the Edinburgh International Festival, directed by Frank Dunlop and starring Gary Bond. A month later the production played at London's Young Vic and Roundhouse theatres.
On February 17, 1973, another Edinburgh production was mounted by theatre producer Michael White and impresario Robert Stigwood at the Albery Theatre. The first production of the show in its modern, final form was at the Haymarket Theatre, Leicester.
Its American journey to Broadway is almost as storied. The first American production was in May of 1970 at the College of the Immaculate Conception in Douglaston, New York. Colleges and amateur groups expressed great interest in the show and there were two professional productions in New York but it was not until 27 January 1982 that it reached Broadway at the Royale Theatre where it ran for 749 performances.
Its family-friendly storyline, universal themes, and catchy music have made Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat one of the most dependably profitable titles in musical theatre, particularly when producers cast a headlining star – and, according to the Really Useful Group, more than 20,000 schools and amateur theatre groups have successfully put on productions.
With Neighbours soap opera star Jason Donovan in the lead, the (expanded) show was restaged in 1991 at the London Palladium with Steven Pimlott as director, winning the 1992 Laurence Olivier Awards for set design and costume design. When Donovan left, former children's TV presenter Phillip Schofield slipped into Joseph's coat. A 'far more modest' production starring former Boyzone singer Stephen Gateley, previewed in Oxford in December 2002 before moving to Liverpool over Christmas 2002 and finishing up in the West End at the New London Theatre in March 2003.
In 1999, a video version was released with Donny Osmond in the title role. Osmond had toured North America in the role and in 1992 had recorded a soundtrack CD. Richard Attenborough and Joan Collins also appeared in the video.
A revival of the 1991 Palladium production would be the subject of BBC One's search for a West End star. Introduced by Graham Norton and with the participation of Lloyd Webber, the prime-time Saturday evening series, Any Dream Will Do!, sought a new leading man to play Joseph. More than 3 million viewers cast telephone votes during the 9 June 2007 series final and, said Norton on air, they made 25-year-old Lee Mead "officially the people’s Joseph".
Craig Chalmers - another contestant of "Any Dream Will Do!", is playing Joseph during the 2007 UK Touring Production.
Source: Wikipedia
London Production
Official Website
Joseph at the
Really Useful Group
Andrew Lloyd Webber
official website
Bill Kenright's
Joseph UK Touring Production
