The Joseph musical, which became a summer sensation at the London Palladium — taking more than £11 million during its ten-and-a-half-week run — is coming back to the world-famous variety house next year.
Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (to give it its full title) — Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s adaptation of the Old Testament tale — played to 192,021 people, in full-capacity houses.
Producer Michael Harrison told me yesterday that the musical, directed with great wit by Laurence Connor, will take up residency at the Palladium again next summer for a nine-and-a-half-week season, running from July 2 through to September 6.
The Joseph musical, which became a summer sensation at the London Palladium, is coming back to the world-famous variety house next year
‘We’re going back to do it all again,’ Harrison said.
‘It played to every single seat, across the whole season,’ he added. ‘There were people after tickets even after it had closed!’
The show starred Sheridan Smith as the Narrator, Jason Donovan as Pharaoh, and newcomer Jac Yarrow in the title role of Joseph.
Yarrow, a 21-year-old plucked from the classrooms of the Arts Educational School in West London, delayed his graduation until he had completed his run as the lad sold into slavery by his scheming brothers.
Last Sunday, Jac Yarrow (pictured) picked up the Joe Allen Best West End Debut Award at The Stage newspaper’s Debut Awards
Last Sunday, he picked up the Joe Allen Best West End Debut Award at The Stage newspaper’s Debut Awards. I understand that the young actor — who won rave reviews for his performance — is in advanced negotiations to play the hero from the Book of Genesis again next summer.
Harrison and Lloyd Webber’s LW Theatre group are also discussing taking Joseph to Broadway in 2021. Every major theatre owner travelled to see the witty Palladium production.
I hear that the Nederlander Theatres organisation is discussing taking Joseph in 2021.
The Americans were very impressed by Yarrow and want the Cardiff-born actor on Broadway, though all the other cast members for the U.S. version would be American performers.
Yarrow, a 21-year-old plucked from the classrooms of the Arts Educational School in West London, delayed his graduation until he had completed his run
The influential New York Times theatre critic Ben Brantley, who was charmed by Yarrow’s voice, wrote that the young Welshman ‘sings with the whispery sincerity expected of a Lloyd Webber hero’.
There has also been interest in the show from elsewhere: Australia, South Africa and Asia.
Tickets for the 2020 production will go on sale today from 10am to priority members of LW Theatres; and on general sale next Friday, September 27.
Those purchasing tickets via josephthemusical.com will not be asked to pay a booking fee.
Lowest price tickets are £10 during previews, rising to £20 after the July 16 gala opening.
Sea Wall/A Life starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Tom Sturridge may come to the West End
Capital idea for hit plays
Producers of Sea Wall/A Life, the two monologues starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Tom Sturridge that have become a hit on Broadway, are in ‘early conversations’ about bringing the production to the West End.
I saw the plays at the Hudson Theatre and I’m still haunted by them.
Sturridge’s performance in Simon Stephens’ Sea Wall was so raw people around me wept.
A Life by Nick Payne is equally moving, with Gyllenhaal on top form.
Riva Marker, president of lead producer Nine Stories, confirmed that ‘conversations’ are being held about London, in particular about timings, and whether the plays should come before or after Gyllenhaal does Sunday In The Park With George at the Savoy Theatre.
That show will run from June 11 through to September 5.
A Life by Nick Payne is equally moving, with Gyllenhaal on top form in the haunting production
Sturridge’s performance in Simon Stephens’ Sea Wall was so raw people around me wept
Jennifer’s happy medium
Jennifer Saunders is bringing her clairvoyant Madame Arcati — whom she describes as ‘a good old English mix of Barbara Woodhouse and Mystic Meg’ —into the West End.
Saunders appeared in Richard Eyre’s production of Blithe Spirit, which was a West Country hit over the summer.
Noel Coward’s play was first performed in 1941, to cheer up those on the Home Front, and it is now a theatrical evergreen.
Jennifer Saunders is bringing her clairvoyant Madame Arcati into the West End
Saunders had a ball playing Arcati at the Theatre Royal in Bath. ‘She’s a sort of classic for a woman of a certain age,’ she said, ‘so why not?’
The wacky medium — who tries to rid writer Charles Condomine of the ghost of his dead first wife, Elvira — is a great comic character, in part because she’s so sincere.
‘She absolutely believes in it,’ Saunders agreed. ‘She’s not a faker, and she believes she’s serving a good purpose for people.’
Saunders recalled discussing the play with Joanna Lumley, her AbFab co-star, who played Elvira in an earlier production. ‘She said: ‘Darling, she’s jolly hockey sticks.’ And she is.’
The wacky medium — who tries to rid writer Charles Condomine of the ghost of his dead first wife, Elvira — is a great comic character, in part because she’s so sincere
She’s also a great English eccentric. ‘Yes,’ Saunders responded. ‘They’re a dying breed. You don’t see them much in life; and you don’t see them much in actresses, like Beryl Reid and Irene Handl; the kind of woman who doesn’t dye her hair or lose weight.’
Saunders will enjoy donning Anthony Ward’s costumes again. ‘He designed shapes for her skirts and hand-knitted cardigans. Someone asked if I put on weight for the part. I looked at them and said: ‘No!’ ‘
Blithe Spirit will run at the Duke of York’s Theatre from March 5 for six weeks.
Saunders appeared in Richard Eyre’s production of Blithe Spirit, which was a West Country hit over the summer
Before that, it visits the Theatre Royal, Brighton from January 22, heading to Malvern, back to Bath, then Cambridge, Richmond and the Theatre Royal, Norwich.
Saunders has filmed the eight-part Harlan Coben thriller The Stranger for Netflix, with Richard Armitage and Siobhan Finneran. And she may reunite with Dawn French for a BBC radio special at Christmas.
Arinze Kene has been picked by director Julia Hart and producer Jordan Horowitz to star opposite Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvellous Mrs Maisel) in I’m Your Woman.
Casting directors saw Kene in Death Of A Salesman, directed by Marianne Elliott and Miranda Cromwell at the Young Vic.
The movie shoots in the U.S., so he can’t join Wendell Pierce and Sharon D. Clarke in Salesman’s transfer to the Piccadilly Theatre next month.
Kate Prince is about to start work on choreographing and directing Message In A Bottle
Watch out for…
Kate Prince, who has just finished choreographing the likes of Richard E. Grant, Max Harwood, Sharon Horgan and Sarah Lancashire, for the film version of West End success Everybody’s Talking About Jamie.
Prince is about to start work on choreographing and directing Message In A Bottle, featuring songs associated with Sting.
The Sadler’s Wells production will run at the Peacock Theatre from February 6.
Having watched her rehearse hundreds of extras for the Jamie film finale, I reckon she can handle the ‘mammoth undertaking’.
