Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Congress Theate Eastbourne

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Congress Theate

Eastbourne

5th-10th April 2011

(show seen 6th April)

Cast

Joseph - Keith Jack
Narrator - Jennifer Potts
Jacob/Potiphar - Henry Metcalfe
Pharaoh - Adam Jarrell
Benjamin - Kevin Grogan
Mrs Potiphar - Camilla Rowland
Butler - Fabian Hartwell
Baker - Richard J Hunt
Reuben - Will Tyler
Gad - Michael Ward
Judah - Richard J Hunt
Asher - David Gwyn
Zebulun - Nathan Vaughan-Harris
Simeon - Fabian Hartwell
Issacher - James Jacob-Lomas
Dan - Scott Matson
Napthali - Stiofan O'Doherty
Levi - Adam Jarrell
Handmaidens - Collette Coleman, Anouska Eaton, Camilla Rowland

Swing - Craig Creelman

Joseph was last in Eastbourne just 2 years ago. It is normally a popular musical in the town, however this audience was unusually small at around 500.

Whether the relatively low head count was down to the economy, a fear that the show would be the same as last time or some other factor I don't know. What I do know is that I thought this was a much better show than the 2009 offering.

Keith Jack, who was runner up in the BBC's Any Dream Will Do, made an excellent Joseph and I thought that vocally he was more impressive than Craig Chalmers who undertook the earlier tour.

In my view it is the narrator who has the major role in Joseph and Jennifer Potts was outstanding. With beautiful clear vocals and 2 very proud grandparents watching in the audience she was a real star in this show.

A good advert for Eastbourne tourism too that her grandparents had chosen to see her in Eastbourne rather than at several venues more local to their home (Nottingham I think) because it is a nicer place to stay in.

Adam Jarrell made a good Pharaoh. Not the most spot-on Elvis impersonator I've seen in Joseph but perfectly adequate and entertaining.

And where would Joseph tours be without dear Henry Metcalfe? Henry's CV goes back many, many years and covers  a wide range of TV and theatrical shows in which he has continually demonstrated not only his acting skills but also his expertise in choreography and directing.

These days Henry is almost permanently 'married' to Joseph and he is like part of the furniture. The roles of Jacob and Potiphar are perfect for the oldest cast member and of course he is responsible for the great choreography as always.

The rest of the cast were excellent with all Jacob's sons putting on a great show. Collette Coleman deserves a mention not only for her great voice but also for doing some stunning choreography including some really impressive moving splits!

I've now seen several of these Joseph tours and it's a mistake not to go because 'you have seen it before' because it is always different in so many aspects.

In this case in addition to the cast change there was new choreography, a new bright colourful set and I thought the lighting was extremely good. I had issues with the sound quality back in 2009 but the band sounded great tonight.

The Congress Theatre's programme priced at £2 was good value, interesting and informative.

Highly recommended and look forward to seeing Joseph's return in a couple of years to see what has changed once again.

Incidentally not all musicals reult in us going home and downloading the lead artist's albums off iTunes but in Keith Jack's case this has happened. A terrific voice and 2 great albums both of which have very good reviews.

Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Tour Review, Craig Chalmers, Rachael Louise Miller

CAST
Joseph - Craig Chalmers
Narrator - Rachael Louise Miller
Jacob / Potiphar - Henry Metcalfe
Pharaoh / Judah - Wayne Smith
Benjamin - Sam Cassidy
Mrs Potiphar - Camilla Rowland
Butler / Napthali - Lee Mathieson
Baker / Levi- Chris Dilley
Issacher - Jason Denton
Zebulun - Adam Hepkin
Dan - Simon Murphy
Gad - Ross Witherden
Asher - Drew Millar
Reuben - Jonathan Alden
Simeon - David Covey

We saw Joseph on the second night of its Eastbourne visit and whilst not a capacity crowd by any means the audience was a good size.

Why many of that audience decided they had enough in the interval and never returned is a bit of a mystery but vanish they did from at least the front 3 rows of the stalls and elsewhere.

If anybody saw this and was one of the walkers feel free to add your comments as to why.

Certainly I don't think it was due to the quality of the cast and their singing ability.

The narrator's role in Joseph is crucial and Rachael Louise Miller made a lovely narrator with a beautiful voice. There is a saying the "The Best Things Come In Small Packages". Louise may be tiny but boy is she hugely talented.

Craig Chalmers, 5th placed in the Andrew Lloyd Webber TV competition to find a Joseph (Any Dream Will Do), was excellent in the lead role.

The highly experienced Henry Metcalfe is not only an old hand acting in Joseph but is also choreographer for the production and I can't fault that choreography either.

The rest of the cast were completely professional as were the the children of the Joseph Choir from the Theatre Workshop Stage School.

But clearly many of the audience members weren't impressed, at least with the first half of the show.

I can only nit-pick at what the reasons may be:

It was clear in this production that many small elements had been changed, mainly prop related, to create new humour - maybe people thought it didn't work. Personally I didn't have a problem with this after all the songs are the same and any changes are minor. I do wonder if some who have seen Joseph shows in the past think along the lines of...... "If it ain't broke...don't fix it!"

You will notice that this is actually quite a small cast (credit crunch?) with many members playing multiple roles. Yet again I wasn't fazed by this as surely you must have enough imagination to detach yourself from the other character you have seen this actor play? But I guess it could be a reason.

The only other point I can come up with is the orchestra. I have to admit here I can't see why they were sunk into the lowest pit I have ever seen at the Congress. It was so low I wonder if Arthur Scargill had something to do with the walkout? (younger readers mumble "Arthur who?" and are rapidly searching Wikipedia).

I'll be honest here I don't know if it was because they were stuck down such a deep hole but the overall quality of the sound in the auditorium didn't quite hit the right note for me. At one time it almost sounded to me as if the cast were singing to a backing track rather than a live orchestra. I had to glance down the pit to ensure that the instruments I was actually hearing were actually there because percussion and strings almost sounded like they were being played on a pre-programmed keyboard.

But they were there, albeit a long way down, playing away happily........... or miming extremely well (that was a joke before any of the orchestra comment).

Overall I thought this was a great production...... I certainly didn't think it was of walk-out quality. But then again not everybody likes the same thing.

I've still awarded this show 4 stars as it has so much going for it. It takes a show well below average to make me walk and this was not a bad show by any means.

I hasten to finish on a high note that, like us, not everybody thought this a bad performance. Despite the interval walkers the performers were still rewarded with a standing ovation from many of the audience after finale........ and yes we were amongst them.