Dreamcoat still a perfect fit after all these years

2:53pm Thursday 25th January 2007

IMAGINE flicking rapidly through a giant child's bumper painting book where brushes haven't bothered with borders, creating a mad merger of colours.

That's the sensation you get watching Malvern Theatre's magnificent presentation of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which is running for one special week.

Most clothes go out of fashion eventually, but not Joseph's coat of many colours.

The most gazed-at garment in showbiz history is, in the eyes of audiences the world over, still a perfect fit and the wow of the wardrobe.

Bill Kenwright's production has gone into the Guinness Book of Records as the longest running touring stage musical of all time, having completed almost 20 years touring the UK, and has enjoyed sell-out runs at Malvern Theatres every time the show has visited.

The show might be an oldie' but one of the main ingredients behind its success is the youth of the actors, singers and dancers whose energy and joy of life sparks an atmosphere of utter fun.

Looking "handsome and smart - a walking work of art" is the new Joseph, Jonathan Parkin, who is making his professional theatre bow with this production.

It was a debut that promises a future as bright as his dreamcoat.

Thrown into the melting pot of delights were singing camels, the sudden appearance of a sparkling silver Eiffel Tower, Potiphar's credit card and a Pharaoh Elvis who momentarily transformed Malvern into Graceland!

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is at Malvern Theatres until Saturday.

NIGEL HEINS

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