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Joe was Joseph

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I last saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat around 10 years ago at Tameside Hippodrome in Ashton. A decade later and it is still doing the rounds, and boy oh boy are we grateful that it made a stop in Blackpool. 

 

The Winter Gardens was alive with a good mix of young and old ready and waiting to see headline star Joe McElderry of X Factor fame, alongside narrative lynchpin Lucy Kay of Britain's Got Talent 2014. 

 

The PA announcement set the tone for our Saturday matinee performance, with the gag that phones or cameras weren't yet on the scene in the book of Genesis. A short instrumental burst then followed to ensure all bums were on Opera House seats before the audience was invited into the Biblical world.

 

Usually when the phrase "pint-sized popstar" is used the press is referring to either Kylie or Bruno Mars, but with McElderry's status as alumni and eventual winner of Popstar to Operastar, what he lacked in stature was more than compensated for in vocal clout - particularly at the end of Close Every Door to Me.

It was red and yellow and green and brown...

 

Lucy Kay's narrator is the binding glue of the production, who - egged on by director Bill Kenwright - has really jumped in at the deep end for her first venture into musical theatre. Up and down the set's trademark stairs, once she clocked on, she rarely clocked off. 

 

The two headline stars were complemented by a full-on assault on our senses by a cast compotent in song, dance and slapstick, who were duly rewarded by the Sat'di afternoon crowd with laughter and applause.

 

The final reprise of Anydream Will Do saw a staggered Phoenix Nights style standing ovation, but soon after the entire Opera House were on their feet. 

 

Joe and Lucy are off now around the country stopping off at other seaside towns including Weston Super Mare, Rhyl and New Brighton, but we'd love to welcome the pair of you back soon to Blackpool. Joe for the hat trick (after Tommy and Joseph) and Lucy for the double ! 

 

Earlier in the week, chilling with Gilly in the Mazzei cafe...

 

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