1st Night Photos: Former Josephs Cheer Lee Mead

Technical difficulties with the stage revolve halted the opening last night (17 July 2007, previews from 6 July) of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Adelphi Theatre, but the brief Act One interruption did little to dampen the evening’s celebratory spirit.

A star-studded audience cheered when Any Dream Will Do victor Lee Mead first appeared and leapt to their feet to give him a standing ovation at an extended curtain call. After several encores during the “Joseph Megamix”, the company were joined on stage by the musical’s composer and lyricist Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.

Lloyd Webber dedicated the show, a revival of the record-breaking 1990s production at the London Palladium, to its late director Steven Pimlott, whose spirit he said must have been watching over the evening’s technical mishap. After more applause, Lloyd Webber exited in understated fashion – “we haven’t got any more play-out music so … bonsoir”, he said with a wave – but not before Lee Mead’s former competitors from Any Dream Will Do clambered onto the stage to congratulate him for besting them.

For 1st Night Photos, our Whatsonstage.com photographer Dan Wooller was on hand for the red carpet arrivals at the Adelphi Theatre and the post-show party at the Hippodrome, Leicester Square along with stars Lee Mead and Preeya Kalidas, as well as Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice, co-producer Bill Kenwright and other first night guests including Arlene Phillips, Ben Elton, Carole Caplin, Connie Fisher, David Frost, David Walliams, Denise Van Outen, Elena Roger, John Barrowman, June Sarpong, Katherine Jenkins, Kathy Lette, Martin Shaw, Michelle Gayle, Sarah Brightman, Siobhan Dillon, Zoe Tyler, former Josephs Jason Donovan, Stephen Gately and Jess Conrad, and Mead’s 11 fellow Any Dream Will Do finalists, including Keith Jack, Lewis Bradley, Craig Chalmers and Daniel Boys.

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Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, based on the Biblical tale of Joseph and his 11 jealous brothers, started life in 1968 as a 20-minute entertainment for an end-of-term school concert. The popular score includes the songs “Any Dream Will Do”, “Close Every Door to Me”, “Go, Go, Go Joseph”, “Those Canaan Days”, “Benjamin Calypso” and “One More Angel in Heaven”. A new song, “King of My Heart”, has been written by Lloyd Webber and Rice especially for this new production (See News, 16 Jul 2007), which is designed by Mark Thompson and choreographed by Anthony Van Laast.

– by Terri Paddock