Review: JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT, King's Theatre

Having wowed audiences in Edinburgh at Christmas, the London Palladium production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat arrives in Glasgow. With music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice, Joseph is packed with recognisable songs and a burst of colour. 

Joseph is the clear favourite son of Jacob who is unsurprisingly unpopular with his 11 brothers due to the attention he gets. After their father gifts him a stunning coloured coat, his brothers decide they've had enough of Joseph and dump him and leave him for dead. 

Adam Filipe makes for a wonderful Joseph with fantastic vocals. There's a lot of fun to be had in this production and he carries the jaunty numbers well but its his "Close Every Door" that will really give you goosebumps. 

Appearing as the Pharaoh is former Joseph, Joe McElderry. He brings some star quality to the role but leaves plenty of space for the rest of the cast to shine. 

Joseph is a show that a lot of younger people connect with and it is a joy to see so many children in the audience getting into it and then on their feet for the megamix. The dreary staging of having a children's choir sitting at the side of the action has been thrown out of the window as the kids in the production are given a variety of roles and feel more like part of the show. 

The show may be called Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat but the real star of this production is the Narrator. Performed by the sensational Christina Bianco, there is barely a moment where she is not onstage. There's a seriously impressive amount of multitasking as Bianco takes on multiple roles, organises the children onstage and leads us through this story with some seemingly effortless belting. There's a playfulness that previous narrators haven't possessed and fantastic comedic timing. When this production was first staged at the Palladium the final bow was saved for the big-name narrator and I'm thrilled to see they've kept that for this tour as Christina Bianco is truly the heart and soul of this show. 

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