Queen’s College pupils put on a wonderful display of showmanship at the weekend with a spellbinding rendition of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical: ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’ in front of a sell-out audience. The musical is usually told by school teachers, but in a twist to the standard format, the production used travel agents to narrate the musical in a witty play-within-a-play idea.
The premise is that their only customer comes in to buy a holiday to Wales but ends up being persuaded to go to Egypt to take part in ‘Joseph’. The travel agents then become the narrators and engage the audience with great stage-presence and energy.
The play is sung throughout and all the leads are brilliant with George Wells striking the right poise as the slightly arrogant but likeable Joseph, Steve Eaton Evans as the grizzled dad Jacob, Imogen Billington as a very naughty Mrs Potiphar and Peter Widden as an Elvis-styled Pharaoh. The choreography was excellent and the set (a colourful pyramid) was superbly designed and constructed by Phil Dudman to provide many levels for the beautiful tableaux in the piece.
Headmaster, Chris Alcock described the performance as “exceptional” and offered his congratulations to everyone who made this performance so truly memorable.
Queen’s College has a very strong tradition in the performing arts with four students recently having been awarded places at the prestigious National Youth Theatre.