Joseph
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Based on the "Coat of many colors" story of Joseph from the Bible, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was first presented at Colet Court school in London on March 1, 1968 after Alan Doggett, head of the school’s Music department asked Andrew Lloyd Webber to write a 'pop cantata' for the school choir to sing at their Easter end of term concert. Andrew immediately approached his friend Tim Rice to ask if he would write lyrics for the project. After toying with ideas about spies, 007's and the like, it was Tim that suggested the story of Joseph. Accompanied by the School orchestra and conducted by Alan Doggett, the performance was only 15 minutes long.
Lloyd Webber's father, William, felt the show had the seeds of greatness. He encouraged and arranged for a second performance – at his church, Westminster Central Hall – with a revised and expanded format. The boys of Colet Court sang at this performance, where Andrew's father was the organist, which also included a rock group. To Andrew and Tim's surprise, Derek Jewell, Jazz and Pop Critic for The Sunday Times, saw the show and wrote a favourable review of Joseph, calling it a new pop oratorio, which appeared on 19th May 1968.
A third performance took place on 9th November 1968 at St Paul's Cathedral. By now the show had expanded to 35 minutes and included several new songs such as 'Potiphar' and saw David Daltrey (front man of British psychedelic band Tales of Justine) in the lead role of Joseph.
After seeing Derek Jewell's review, Tim Rice's then employer Norrie Paramor, who produced Cliff Richard among others, encouraged Decca to release an album of the St Paul's Cathedral version of Joseph in January 1969. Novello agreed to publish the work and Decca Records recorded it.
Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice then went on to write Jesus Christ Superstar. The album of Jesus Christ Superstar was a massive success in America which Lloyd Webber and Rice used to promote Joseph – which was advertised in America as a "sequel" to Superstar. Riding on Jesus' coattails proved profitable for this "Technicolor coat" and the US Decca recording topped America's charts for three months.
In September 1972, Joseph was presented at the Edinburgh International Festival, directed by Frank Dunlop and starring Gary Bond. A month later the production played at London's Young Vic and Roundhouse theatres. It was preceded by an act of medieval mystery plays that lead to the "Coat of Many Colours".
In October the Edinburgh production played at the Young Vic for two weeks before transferring to the Roundhouse for a six week run. Michael White and Robert Stigwood subsequently presented the Edinburgh Joseph at the Albery Theatre, where it opened on 17th February 1973 and was accompanied by a piece called Jacob's Journey, written by Tim and Andrew with dialogue by Alan Simpson and Ray Galton. This told the story of the early life of Joseph's father, Jacob. The spoken dialogue of Jacob's Journey was eventually phased out in favour of the through-sung score of Joseph.
The first production of Joseph the musical in its modern, final form, running for 2 hours, was at the Haymarket Theatre, Leicester.
Joseph's American journey to Broadway is not dissimilar. The first American production was in May 1970 at the College of the Immaculate Conception in Douglaston, New York. There followed huge interest form colleges and schools and there were two professional productions in New York but it was not until 27 January 1982 that it reached Broadway, moving to the Royale Theatre where it ran for 749 performances.
In 1999, a video version was released with Donny Osmond in the title role. Osmond had toured North America in the role and in 1992 had recorded a soundtrack CD. Richard Attenborough and Joan Collins also appeared in the video.
In 2007 the prime-time Saturday evening series Any Dream Will Do!, sought a new leading man to play Joseph. More than 3 million viewers cast telephone votes during the 9 June 2007 series final making 25-year-old West End understudy Lee Mead officially the people's Joseph.