Ben Aitken captured some great shots of the amazing production of Joseph last month! There are some additional pictures on our Instagram account as well.

If you missed the show, here's a lovely review written by Simon Lewis of the Gloucestershire Echo.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Sir Thomas Rich’s School, Gloucester

Tuesday 14 February 2023

This show went like a dream, as in all over very quickly. Around 90 minutes, to be precise. Well, it was originally written as a one-acter, but given what was packed into that extraordinary hour and a half, I would have happily sat through it all again and still have been heading off home before ten o’clock.

I’ll be honest: I would never have had this show down for any updating. On the other hand, a new adaptation is fine if it works, and this innovative reinvention by Tommy Rich’s School was quite simply the cleverest and most alternative re-interpretation of this Lloyd Webber and Rice masterpiece I have ever seen.

The eyebrow-raising differences were obvious right from the start. Three narrators instead of one singing in counterpoint and shock, gasp – dialogue?! Actually, very amusing dialogue, as the first act resembled the last few weeks of rehearsals, with costumes, sets, props and so forth due to arrive in time for the show’s run and prompting a mood of panic until they did. Prior to that, it was standard 21st century T-shirts, hoodies, trainers and other things to match and an empty stage with not even so much as a few grains of sand to represent ancient Egypt. If that wasn’t all, how about a hi-vis fluorescent yellow vest with a bit of advertising on the back for a dreamcoat? 

Still, if Act 1 was rather experimental, the second more or less restored order on all fronts, and it was largely vintage Joseph all the way to finish. Back came the pyramids, the narrators acquired some glitz and by now more or less everyone was decked out in multi-coloured shellsuits. That is, until these were replaced with striped tops and berets for the wonderfully mournful Those Canaan Days, my favourite part of the entire show.

In the title role, the assured Connor May spearheaded everything, finally donning his prized dreamcoat, or perhaps that should be dreamtent, at curtain down. Even so, there were a few further twists: Stan Grange played Mrs. Potiphar hilariously in drag, while Mitchel Emery’s Pharaoh stayed in character, eschewing the signature Elvis Presley impersonation, and brought the house down with the rousing song of the king, as though it was part of a performance of Tutankhamun’s greatest hits. In between, the remarkably animated cast invested it all with a tremendous buzz, thanks to the pulsating choreography and just the slightest hint of John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. Carrying it all was the accomplished band under Matthew Morgan. A headteacher doubling as the Musical Director; now that’s a first.

I never tire of this dazzling musical. Like the pyramids it will endure for years to come, its rich colours unlikely to fade. If this presentation by Tommy Rich’s talented troopers showed what is still possible by way of some re-imagination, as long as I walk this Earth I’ll try to be there to check it out. A splendid evening’s entertainment.

Simon Lewis

Gloucestershire Echo