When you think of a musical theatre list of greats; Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber's name is going to be near the top of that list. Tonight, I was at the beautiful Buxton Opera House to see one of Lloyd Webber's most well known shows and many people's favourite; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
The title role being played by X factor winner, Joe McElderry. Joe is Joseph; and it wasn't just for his names sake, from the moment he stepped on to the stage to the moment the curtain came down; he gave a perfect, polished, professional performance, his singing was faultless and he had a great playful nature throughout the show which the audience really took to.
The show started with 26 year old soprano; Lucy Kay who received notoriety in last year’s Britain's Got Talent, her classically trained voice wowed the judges and it also wowed the audience at Buxton tonight just the same, it came across effortless but was note perfect throughout.Kay led us through the well known story and introduced us to Jacob and his sons, as the stage opened up, the set was visually very impressive. You would normally expect a small fairly basic stage for a touring company but this was not the case, the stage had lots of moving parts, pyrotechnics and an impressive light set up, which just made it even easier to enjoy.
Jacob was played by Henry Metcalfe who also played Potiphar, he played both characters well and played them with just the right amount of comical expression needed, the brothers really worked well together and the routines were faultless, Marcus Ayton who played 'Issachar' and Jamie Jukes stood out as very charismatic performers with Ayton doing a brilliant rendition of 'Benjamin Calypso' complete with colourful costumes and dancers and Jukes standing out in the second half.
The show was made extra special due to the addition of the Stagecoach Theatre Arts Children's Choir, their input to some of the songs gave them a really well rounded finish and I was very impressed with the synchronicity with the lead performers.
One of my personal favourites of the night was the 'song of the King' with the pharaoh played by Emilianos Stamatakis, it was just fun. The stage was impressive, the costume were bright and the singing was good; it's everything you want in a musical number and at the end when it came to 'Any Dream will Do', it gave me goose bumps it was that slick and impressive.
The reprising Mega Mix gave all the audience members a chance to get up from their seat and have a dance and singalong with Joe McElderry and the cast, with cast members even coming into the audience to high five and dance with us, the show was very much produced with the audience in mind and director; Bill Kenwright has done a wonderful job with a show which can be enjoyed by anyone, from 5 to 105.
Tonight was a dream and I would suggest to everybody to Go Go Go and see this show! Joe and the cast gave a fun filled, brilliantly slick musical which received a very worthy standing ovation.
Reviewer: Max Eden
Reviewed: 7th June 2016
North West End Rating: ★★★★★
