Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat: Cast Recordings (1969-1991)

I just want to get this out of the way first, OK? Joseph's coat: "It was red and yellow and green and brown and scarlet and black and ochre and peach and ruby and olive and violet and fawn and lilac and gold and chocolate and mauve and cream and crimson and silver and rose and azure and lemon and russet and grey and purple and white and pink and orange and blue!"

The story of the musical "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor® Dreamcoat" begins one Friday afternoon 1 March 1968 at the Colet Court School in London. When the nineteen year old composer Andrew Lloyd Webber assembled onstage with his lyricist Tim Rice and conductor Alan Doggett leading the school choir, nobody knew then the history that was about to be made. But how could they? At the time, what students, teachers and parents witnessed in that assembly was just a fun, entertaining, jolly afternoon of music and narrative.

This was the original fifteen minute version of "Joseph", commissioned by Alan Doggett who was searching for a new cantata for his choir. And by writing in this format, Tim and Andrew had stumbled on the through-sung, operatic form which would be used to great success in most of their shows hereafter. We're talking about shows like "Jesus Christ Superstar", "Evita", "The Phantom of the Opera", "Sunset Boulevard", and Tim's work on musicals like "Blondel" and "Chess". But at the time, everything seemed inconsequential, and even then they didn't fully realize it until they were *compelled* to write "Jesus Christ Superstar" as an album. They didn't want spoken dialogue on a record.

Before "Joseph", as we've explored in my last review, Tim and Andrew had been working on the musical "The Likes of Us" which was to contain spoken dialogue. Now, if you know your musical history, compare "The Likes of Us" to "Jesus Christ Superstar" or Lionel Bart's "Oliver!", and tell me which of the two have more in common. "Joseph", "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Evita" are all through sung musicals, almost like twentieth century pop versions of traditional opera. To *me*, personally, they are operas, even if they aren't popularly viewed in that way.

So getting back to the story, a second performance was organized for Westminster Central Hall in May 1968, thanks to Andrew's father, composer and organist William Lloyd Webber. It was expanded by an extra five minutes and now featured the entire school, along with members of the band Mixed Bag and singer David Daltrey playing Joseph who, I believe, also appeared in the first performance. Apologies for any errors! And thank you Lord Wiki for the refresher here!

One of the children's parents was music critic Derek Jewell from the Sunday Times. Fortuitously, his presence here was a great one because he went away giving the performance a rave: "Pop Goes Joseph". That review got the attention of Tim's boss Norrie Paramor who then decided he wanted to make an album of the score! First though, "Joseph" would receive a third rendition at St Paul's Cathedral in November, by which point it had now been expanded over double the length of the original concert. Thanks again Lord Wiki!

"Joseph" was then published by Novello in early 1969, but not in its new 35 minute version. That was the version (35) recorded and released by Decca Records in 1969. This is not only the original recording of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor® Dreamcoat", but the first commercially available recording of *any* musical from Tim Rice or Andrew Lloyd Webber. And if you can hear this thing, I recommend it, if only because of the history. Credited as the Joseph Consortium, this preserves the original line-up of the show: Alan Doggett conducting the Colet Court choir, David Daltrey as Joseph, Tim Rice's Pharaoh which he sang at the March 1968 performance, members of the Mixed Bag, and even William Lloyd Webber on Hammond Organ. When I found my copy of the Australian vinyl release, I pretty soon snapped it up.

Thanks to the success of Tim and Andrew’s next musical, "Jesus Christ Superstar", the Decca recording was re-released in the US on Scepter Records in 1971. There is a CD, which apparently includes all of the songs on one track, but I've never been able to find a copy.

Again, thanks to the success of "Superstar", "Joseph" was revisited in the early 1970s as a London stage production. Thanks to the published score by Novello and the Decca album, "Joseph" had started building a life for itself in schools all around the world. In late August and September 1972, the stage version was performed by the Young Vic Theatre Company at the Edinburgh International Festival. This production was directed by Frank Dunlop, and included Gary Bond as Jeeves, Peter Reeves as the Narrator, and Gordon Waller (from Peter & Gordon) as the Pharaoh. Alan Doggett once again served as the Musical Director. Thanks Lord Wiki!

This production was then performed at the Young Vic Theatre, London in October, followed by the Roundhouse in November. Because of the length, which was still 35 minutes long, "Joseph" was performed as the second act.

The first act was originally a piece called "Bible One: Two Looks at the Book of Genesis", developed by director Frank Dunlop with music from Alan Doggett. This would soon change however, but not before the version of "Joseph" was filmed and broadcast by Granada Television in the UK. That was done in 1972, and yes, if you didn't already know, that means there's another filmed version!

In 1973, Robert Stigwood and Michael White brought the Young Vic production to the Albery Theatre in London, once home to the legendary "Oliver!" musical. Once again, the material was expanded and the first act "Bible One" became "Jacob's Journey" with Lloyd Webber and Rice telling the story of Joseph's father Jacob, also featuring a book by "Steptoe and Son" writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. But "Jacob's Journey", which included about nine new songs from Andrew and Tim, would be phased out in favour of just doing a longer "Joseph".

I'm a bit grey on this area of history though, because at some point during all of this the Robert Stigwood Organization released another "Joseph" album. This is not the version from 1973 which purports to be the first complete recording. I *own* the RSO version, but I haven't heard it. The *complete* recording from 1973 is the one that also comes with the illustrated book by Quentin Blake. If you're after the earliest version of the complete score, *from what I know*, then I would thoroughly recommend this one. This is then followed by a 1979 recording with Paul Jones as Joseph and Tim Rice himself playing the Narrator. That was the first version I ever heard and so it holds a special place with me.

The production's history would continue to develop from here, with names like theatre producer Bill Kenwright touring the show in the United Kingdom for years.

The first Off-Broadway production appeared at the Entermedia Theatre, playing from 18 November 1981 to 24 January 1982. It was directed by Tony Tanner with Bill Hutton as Joseph, Laurie Beechman as the Narrator, Tom Carder as the Pharaoh, and more. Thanks again Lord Wiki!!!

"Joseph" finally made it to Broadway in this version at the Royale Theatre, running from 27 January 1982 to 4 September 1983. This yielded the original Broadway cast recording, featuring a sensational performance from Narrator Laurie Beechman. This, I believe, is also the first recorded version of the Narrator's Prologue. Check it out if you're interested. The stage production itself was nominated for six Tony Awards including Best Original Score and Best Musical.

Now we zoom forward a couple years... Andrew Lloyd Webber has become the King of the Mega-Musical, with giant productions like "Cats", "Starlight Express" and "The Phantom of the Opera", while Tim Rice has been working with Benny and Björn from ABBA on the musical "Chess", and just about to start work on Disney's "Aladdin" and "The Lion King", when a young man named Jason Donovan is announced as Joseph.

Jason was fresh off the mega-hit Aussie soap "Neighbours", playing Scott Robinson opposite Kylie Minogue as Charlene Ramsay, when the West End revival of "Joseph" opened at the London Palladium in 1991. It was a phenomenal success, spawning the hit cast album and giving Andrew Lloyd Webber one of his three #1 songs. That was Jason's rendition of the evergreen standard from this musical, "Any Dream Will Do". Trivia: apparently this was once a song called "I Fancy You" that Tim and Andrew had wanted the Herman's Hermits to record.

The London Palladium Recording was one of the last versions I ever heard. It's probably the one I would recommend on first listen, if you just wanted to hear the score as complete as possible. You also get treated to the "Joseph Megamix" which debuted with this production. Even better, there is the 1999 TV recording with Donny Osmond and Maria Friedman, but if you can find that on CD, then I would be happy for you.

And the rest is history...! Which cast album would I most recommend? I wouldn't want to choose just one, for so many different reasons including the evolution of the piece, so I guess: just hear as many as you can.

"Joseph", as both a mega-musical production and a piece still performed in schools and regional groups to this day, will continue probably forever. As long as there are dreamers in the world, then I think this musical will remain relevant to somebody and therefore worthy of further production.

Thank you for reading,

Ryan.