Go, go, go Joseph...

After wanting to do so for months, and even moreso since arriving in London, tonight I finally got around to seeing the revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat starring Lee Mead. Most would not be aware of it, but this past spring on BBC1 there was a national karaoke contest (Pop Idol-style) to find the next Joseph for the West End. Thanks to the intarwebs and places like YouTube I was able to watch a few episodes. Normally I despise such shows and go out of my way to avoid them, but Joseph is quite probably my favourite Andrew Lloyd Webber musical so I succumbed and watched the odd bit.

While I doubt Lee Mead is the best Joseph to grace the stage (certainly Jason Donovan and Donny Osmond were better in my opinion, at least based on recordings and video-released productions I've heard and seen), the production was still brilliant and wonderful. The sets, costumes and logistics were top-notch, and the whole cast was on the ball (save one small instance where Mead fumbled his mic during Close Every Door). One thing that made me happy was the inclusion of a female in the role of the narrator, something which to me makes any production of the show better. There are too many male supporting roles and it's nice to have a female voice in there for balance. The one complaint I had about the woman cast, Preeya Kalidas, was that at times in songs where the narrator and Joseph both sang her voice would overpower Mead's.

It was also very hard to sit there and not want to sing along to the songs, and throughout the first act I was able to do so but finally gave in and followed along (silently, of course) here and there after the interval. I would absolutely see the production again.