WHEN, in the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Topsy is asked by Miss Ophelia “Do you know who made you”, she replies “Nobody as I knows on. I s’pect I growed”. That quotation would be a good reply to anyone who wondered how a 15-minute “pop cantata” composed for a school and telling the story of Joseph and his brothers from the Book of Genesis, turned into a full-blown musical with a world-wide fan base of millions.
Anyone who saw one of those comparatively simply mounted early performances, with one set and local youngsters sitting on split staircases watching the action take place on stage in front of them, would be equally blown away by this current, spectacularly staged, costumed and choreographed production, which involves the young players in the action, turning the Brothers and their wives into an all-singing, all-dancing ensemble to challenge any of today’s top musical presentations. And how well they respond to the challenges, with Hugh Cotton’s Reuben leading the tribe in a blockbusting presentation of One More Angel in Heaven. Brother Simeon (Will Haswell) brings some very welcome contemplative calm to a show that often threatens to overpower with the volume and intensity of the musical presentation, in a delightfully tongue-in-cheek rendition of Those Canaan Days.
In addition to the sheer size and scale compared with those earlier productions, the big change is one of emphasis, with the Narrator taking centre stage from Joseph. She not only is involved in 14 of the 22 musical items, but also plays a handful of characters ranging from Old Jacob to the wonderfully funny sexpot that is Potiphar’s wife. You need a real all-rounder, singer, dancer and actor, to achieve all those aims, and the small-in-stature-but-big-in-personality Christina Bianco ticked all the boxes.
Matching Christina all the way, vocally and dramatically, was Adan Filipe whose quietly authorative portrait of Joseph fitted ideally into the change of focus on the story. One thing that remained constant was the outrageously staged view of Pharaoh and his court. With that one deliberately way over the top Elvis Presley-like number, an excuse to involve the audience as if you were performing a pantomime song, it’s one of those few occasions when the players can let themselves go without a single inhibition or thought of offending the director. The 2009 X Factor winner Joe McElderry, after waiting more than half of the show to appear, and knowing there was just one throw of the dice, went flat out from the first note, ensuring that the audience enjoyed every moment as much as he obviously did.
Some may miss the intimate telling of the bible story, replaced by terrific full scale ensemble numbers, the electrifying Benjamin Calypso would hold its own in any big musical. This production concentrates on the fact that this the first big success for composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, with outstanding lyrics by Tim Rice, probably contains more individual hits than any that have come since, and presents them in the grand manner.
The production is at Bristol Hippodrome until Saturday 22nd March, and can be seen at the Mayflower in Southampton between 13th and 18th May and at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth from 24th and 28th June.
GRP