Nearly thirty years ago, the church choir I was a member of staged an entertainment evening, the first half of which was a 45-minute 'sung story' called Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. Nearly thirty years on, and I have a chance to show my own children what a wondrous musical this was and continues to be.
I also have to confess that, when I first heard of this release, I was one of those people who went 'Donny Osmond???!!??'. Again, this was coloured by memories of 30-odd years of knowing him as a 70's teenybopper, but I have to admit that I was very pleasently surprised by his performance here. The years he spent playing Joseph on stage show in his performance, and it also made me forget Jason Donovan or Philip Schofield in the part.
The film succeeds both by acknowledging the most recent stage productions, and returning to its roots. It was originally written as a school stage show, and the prologue in the assembly hall returns to it to the original setting. Having the teachers (and yes, I took a double take on Joan Collins on the piano) go on to be the singers and actors grounds the film, and the opening up of the stage setting is done without ever letting you forget it was a stage show.
The support cast are all good - it's especially satisfying to see the likes of Richard Attenborough and Christopher Biggins doing musicals again after nearly 30 years as well. Joan Collins has a whale of a time as Mrs Potiphar, and Pharaoh gets down and rocks with the best of them. Maria Freidman as the narrator shows her vocal range to perfection - currently she is the main attraction in the stage show of Witches of Eastwick.
All in all, good family fun, and worth watching with your kids.
