Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Lyrics by Tim Rice

Music by Andrew Lloyd-Webber

The Lowry, 10 January 2012

It would be pushing it a bit, I think, to call this musical a classic; but it does have a certain magic.

The whole shebang is clearly, absolutely absurd: Elvis as pharaoh, cowboy songs, calypso tunes, gospel anthems, that French ditty with the Eiffel Tower in the background… and so on, all in Ancient Egypt.  But because the musical flaunts and even peacock-struts its very absurdity, somehow it all holds together.  Meta-cognition, irony, call it what you like, is a kind of glue.  Just as Bryan Robson was, in Ray Wilkins’ immortal summation, ‘an egg’ (‘So versatile,’ Ray helpfully elaborated) so Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is a meringue (lightweight yet durable).

Keith Jack as Joseph, and the whole of the cast actually, do a sterling job in bringing the musical to life.  Here Charlotte Watts as Mrs Potiphar, a temptress and a half, naturally caught the eye, but I must admit also to a fondness for Richard J. Hunt, who’s been in this production each time I’ve seen it.  (And was he also in the recent production of Spring Awakening?  I’ll have to check.)  He’s a stellar stalwart of the show, who’s always lively and giving it 100%+, really getting into the spirit of the thing.  His vivacity is as infectious as Joseph’s coat is impractical.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is at The Lowry until 15 January, details here.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Lyrics by Tim Rice
Music by Andrew Lloyd-Webber
Opera House, 16 August 2011

What to add to my previous review of this vibrant production?

Tim Rice’s flippant lyrics and blatant anachronisms make the musical work wonderfully well.  That’s its secret.  Indeed, a carefully researched and elegantly structured show wouldn’t be half as much fun.  If you want an intelligent and insightful retelling of the bible story, read the Thomas Mann novel.  He wrote a good one about Joseph and his brothers, though the one about the magic mountain was most likely his best.

Let us have Elvis as the pharaoh, down-home cowboy and calypso songs, a melancholy French ditty about Canaan days gone by and never to return.  They’re all here and there’re fellows in Judge Dread visors an’ all.

This is the musical that has got ‘cheesy and cheerful’ down to a fine art form.

Chess

Chess
Music by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus
Book and Lyrics by Tim Rice
The Lowry, 26 October 2010

This is a majestic production of Andersson, Ulvaeus and Rice’s  musical of the royal game.

If chess seems a weird subject for a musical, well, you probably haven’t seen many musicals.  It is usual for musicals to explore curious byways, to waltz in the ballroom of transgressive absurdity as it were, with the juxtaposition of nuns and Nazis in The Sound of Music being a case in point.  That’s still probably the one to beat, actually: the Holy Grail, the high water mark.

There were excellent performances here, especially from Shona White as Florence Vassy, Trumper’s second, and David Erik as the arbiter.

The story, which concerned romance and political intrigue centring around a couple of world championship matches, was fairly compelling, though the Cold War shenanigans seemed somewhat dated.  Among the fine songs were ‘Pity the Child’, ‘One Night in Bangkok’ and ‘I Know Him So Well’.

A terrific evening’s entertainment.

Chess is showing at The Lowry until 30 October.  Full details are here.

Evita

Evita
Lyrics by Tim Rice
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
The Lowry, 7 September 2010

This is a thrilling production of a rather curious musical – although all musicals tend to gravitate toward the curious, weird and problematic part of the spectrum if you think about them long enough.

There is the main story, virtually a hagiography of Eva Peron – a woman who was a strange amalgam of Margaret Thatcher, Mother Teresa and Marilyn Monroe.  She died young, aged 33.  But this is undercut by Che’s satirical commentary, with the net effect being that we look at Eva’s actions from an ironic distance.

The songs are great and they range from the familiar (‘Oh What a Circus’ and ‘Don’t Cry for Me Argentina’) to the less well-known (e.g. ‘You Must Love Me’).  The cast tick all the right boxes and select the appropriate radio button when needs must.  Abigail Jaye as Eva is exciting yet pitiable, while Mark Powell as Che is by turns moralistic and mischievous.  No complaints either about the sets and the sometimes sumptuous costumes.

Altogether, it is a splendidly entertaining show.

Evita is showing at The Lowry until 18 September.  Full details are here.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Lyrics by Tim Rice
Music by Andrew Lloyd-Webber
The Lowry, 5 July 2010

From the nation that brought you the King James Bible, Joseph Andrews, Lucky Jim and Steptoe and Son comes … Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

In this show, ostensibly set in Ancient Egypt, we get a cowboy song, a calypso number, a melancholic French skit (a pastiche of Parisienne Walkways, it seems like) and, to top it all off, Pharaoh as Elvis – and not just any old Elvis, but the Las Vegas Elvis.  Old Will’s well-worn anachronism, ‘Let’s to billiards!’ seems rather tame by comparison.

What is surprising about the musical is that it is surprisingly coherent – well, kind of.  It revels in its own absurdity, and somehow this makes it even more a vehicle for entertainment.  Moreover, if laughter raises the spirit then it could well claim to be an edifying spectacle too.  Some priggish types might say that it isn’t better than Chekhov in this regard; but it has more laughs (though less epiphanies).

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is at The Lowry until 10 July and then touring throughout the UK.  Details here.