Joseph & the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat @ Darlington Civic

One of the worlds best known and most loved musical shows is back at Darlington Civic this week and, despite it being an incredible 44 years since first performed it shows no signs of getting old or going stale.

Everyone knows the story of Joseph and his 'bonny jacket' making this one of Andrew Lloyd Webbers most popular shows ever, in fact, the provenance and power of the show means it no longer needs an established 'star' player in the title role and instead can help expose new and emerging talent.  Previous incarnations of Joseph have included Pip Schofield, Jason Donavan and Donny Osmand, while more recently, and in a joint re-launch / BBC ratings grab, the pseudo reality show "Any Dream Will Do" launched the concept of televised auditions to find the very next 'superstar'.

For this current tour Keith Jack takes the titular performance and, as you would expect from someone who narrowly missed out on winning the afore mentioned show, he plays a perfect Joe.  Possessing both a great voice and the boyish charms needed to ensure Joseph stays believable as the "fresh faced messenger of God", Keith is not fazed by the huge footsteps he is following in.

Likewise, Lauren Ingram never looked concerned by the pivotal role the narrator plays in keeping the show flowing.  She was word perfect with the daunting memory-testing lists of brothers or colours, lists which have caused others to stumble.  (Whilst I was in 6th Form I acted as musical director for the school production of 'Joseph' and remember having to write all the colours down one of the narrators arms, with the brothers' names written down the other - sorry Karen, let your secret out).  She has a wonderful voice, clear, friendly and perfect for story telling.  I would expect to see a lot more from Lauren over the next few years.

The cast on the whole are a very refreshing mix of young, and dare I say, new actors.  It is great to see such exciting talent together on stage, quite obviously having fun and revelling in  the audience's enjoyment.

The pedigree of Joseph, its history and the way it has become part of popular culture means regular 'house-full' signs, where ever it plays, but I believe that this performance in its own right deserves to be sold out every night.