A Saturday night with Joseph and the Pharoah

Last weekend my Son Sam and I attended Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat stage production at the Play House in Edinburgh. Front seats for a later 8pm kick off on the Saturday of this Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. The stage set did look wonderful and the Pharaoh, aka Elvis. Former EastEnder Matt Lapinskas) adds extra pelvis-gyrating rock to the role, but Elvis as the Pharaoh just did not work for me but the audience loved it, perhaps EastEnders fans of Matt Lapinskas. Based on the ‘coat of many colours’ from the Book of Genesis, Dreamcoat tells the tale of Joseph, the twelfth son of Jacob. After telling his brothers that visions of a colourful coat will bring his siblings to bow before him, they sell Joseph off as a slave. Despite the biblical theme, however, the most notable thing about Webber musical is the juxtaposition of styles and genres. From country-singing cowboys of the Wild West to the Charleston of the 1920s, from French accordion-led ballads to Las Vegas-era Elvis - even Egyptian God, Anubis (suited up as an American footballer), gets a groove on with the cheerleaders. 2009 X-Factor finalist, Lloyd Daniels, Plays Joseph Showing no sign of nerves, he coasts through the show, all blond hair, shiny teeth. (looking a bit like a skinny Rocky from Rocky Horror Picture Show) Making her stage debut, Amelia Lily, another X Factor recruit, gives the impression she has been performing the Narrator role for years. For me Amelia Lily was the highlight. The whole production did have the feeling of an overrun and the many encores had Sam saying “ohh not again” The who things was a bit over-bloated but some finest tunes from Andrew Lloyd Webber such as “any dream will do” Overall neither Sam or I was too in awe of it all, I am in no way qualified as a theatre critic so this is my own opinion and seems to contrast the audience who gave standing ovations at the end holding up placards about Lapinskas (EastEnder fans)and clapping like crazy. Ah well, looking forward to seeing Shriek the Musical later in the year. Saw it in London a few years back and Sam was in giggles but our seats were up the in the gods, this time its front A-row centre to appreciate it more fully.