The original Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, has celebrated a triumphant comeback on the West End stage! Following in the foot steps of the Sound Of Music, the part of Joseph and the Pharaoh are being played by Lee Mead and Dean Collinson, the winners of the BBC1 talent search show Any Dream Will Do. The album features the 22 tracks of the original Joseph album featuring Jason Donovan and includes his number one single from 1991 'Any Dream Will Do', as well as Lee Mead's equally successful version of the same track in 2007. Polydor.If you were to think this 1993 Los Angeles revival cast of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat sounds a lot like the 1991 London revival cast and the 1992 Canadian revival cast, you'd be right. All three use the glitzy version of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's school-cantata-turned-musical based on the biblical story of Joseph and his coat of many colors, which debuted with the London revival in 1991 and became the basis for most subsequent productions, as well as the video version. Yes, the "Joseph Megamix" is here, along with the witty lyrics and catchy melodies that borrow freely from country, calypso, French cafés, and Elvis--as well as favorites "Any Dream Will Do," "Close Every Door," and "Go, Go, Go Joseph." And orchestral credits, cover art, and running time are almost exactly the same, leading one to believe that the various casts recorded their vocals over the same prerecorded orchestral tracks.
So is there any difference between the three? Yes, the singers, most notably the role of the narrator and the title character. The London production starred Linzi Hateley as the narrator and Australian pop singer Jason Donovan as Joseph. For the 1992 Canadian cast, former teen pop sensation Donny Osmond took over the title role, with Janet Metz as the narrator. For this 1993 Los Angeles cast, Michael Damian was Joseph and Kelli Rabke the narrator. All the narrators are solid, though Hateley is probably the best overall. The biggest difference is Osmond, the clear winner with a terrific voice and irresistible warmth, contrasted with Donovan's somewhat thick and heavy singing and Damian's rather deliberate pronunciation. You really don't need more than one of these Josephs, and the Canadian cast is the one to have. --David Horiuchi
