New Theatre, Oxford – 3 June 2008
Tuesday, 3 June was a very wet and very gloomy day, enlivened in the evening by a trip to Oxford with the Theatre Club to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. Luckily, the rain was petering out by the time we arrived to catch the minibus.
Sixteen people in a bus-shelter might have been rather too cosy!
It made a refreshing change seeing lots of young people in the audience for this very modern interpretation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical. It was vibrant, energetic and very very loud. I think the majority of people enjoyed the performance – myself included. I thought it was terrific and would happily have gone back the following evening to see it again. A few were less than impressed, especially commenting on the volume of decibels reverberating round the auditorium. I’d have to agree, it really was a little loud, but perhaps that even added to my enjoyment of the evening?
Finalists from the recent – and not quite so recent – BBC1 programmes “I’d do Anything” and “Any Dream Will Do” took the lead parts. Tara Bethan (I’d do Anything) played the Narrator. Aide memoire for avid viewers of the programme:
Tara was the one whose father was a professional wrestler!). Craig Chalmers took the part of Joseph whilst Antony Hansen played Pharaoh (both finalists from Any Dream Will Do). You may recall Antony Hansen who lives down the road in Steventon and went to St Birinus School in Didcot.
As usual it was most agreeable to have everything laid on for us. All we had to do was turn up at the bus stop. Once again, many thanks to Malcolm for organizing it so efficiently.