Review: JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT, London Palladium
The Palladium becomes the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow in the form of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat this summer starring Jac Yarrow as Joseph.
As bright and bold as can be, this production breathes new life into Andrew Lloyd Webber's classic score, thanks to new direction from Laurence Connor, and magical set and costume designs from Morgan Large that truly put technicolor in "Technicolor Dreamcoat" and dazzle us with enough colour to match a Dulux paint chart in the BEST possible way!
Wearing that Dreamcoat and reprising his Olivier nominated role is Jac Yarrow. Born to play Joseph, he is now truly at home on a stage as large as that of the Palladium and captures the audience with a smile and accompanying voice that reaches the back row and then some. A true highlight being ‘Close Every Door’, which is performed to perfection.
The other stars of the show, no, not Alexandra Burke or Jason Donovan (we'll get to them!), are the children. Audience members will be beyond pleasantly surprised to see that the children's chorus have been trusted with much bigger parts in this production of Joseph, taking on roles such as Potiphar, the Butler/Chef and more and rightly so! We cannot describe the joy this brings to the audience; an audience made up of many children within the same age bracket, and we can only imagine how inspiring it must be at that age to see your peers in such a massive show.
With these excellent new additions come some not as accomplished ones in the changes made to the Narrator's (Alexandra Burke's) role. Placing her both in and out of the story by giving her the role of Jacob means it is quite off-putting at times and confuses our connection to the character. At times, it almost places her above Joseph in his own show, meaning Jac's bow gets unfortunately placed third to last, underneath Jason Donovan and Alexandra Burke.
This being said, it does not take away from Burke's talent and ability to get a crowd going, especially for the mega-mix, during which a full capacity crowd manage to legitimately shake the Royal Circle. Testament to the amount of joy this production pours into the heart of every member of the audience.
Rounding out the cast, the ensemble of Brothers do an amazing job of capturing each distinct style of music, from Western to Parisian brilliantly and with excellent comedic timing.
All in all, this Joseph is an escape into true spectacle that will leave you and your family grinning from ear to ear.
**** Four stars
Reviewed by: Callum Wallace
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat plays at the London Palladium until 5 September. For more information and to book tickets, please click here.
