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Based on the "Coat of many colors" story of Joseph from the Bible, this light-hearted show was first presented as a fifteen-minute pop cantata at the Colet Court school in London on March 1, 1968. The piece was commissioned by Alan Doggett, head of the school's Music department, for their annual spring concert. Doggett conducted the performance, whose orchestra and the singers consisted of pupils of Colet Court. The production did not have a huge impact when it premiered at the Colet School, but Lloyd Webber's father, William, felt it had the seeds of greatness. He encouraged and arranged for ...Read More
Based on the "Coat of many colors" story of Joseph from the Bible, this light-hearted show was first presented as a fifteen-minute pop cantata at the Colet Court school in London on March 1, 1968. The piece was commissioned by Alan Doggett, head of the school's Music department, for their annual spring concert. Doggett conducted the performance, whose orchestra and the singers consisted of pupils of Colet Court. The production did not have a huge impact when it premiered at the Colet School, but Lloyd Webber's father, William, felt it had the seeds of greatness. He encouraged and arranged for a second performance to take place at his church, Westminster Central Hall, with a revised and expanded format, including a rock group. The boys of Colet School and St. Paul's Junior School sang at the second performance, conducted by Doggett on 12 May 1968. This performance received 'amazing' reviews as a new pop oratorio in London's prestigious Sunday Times. Following the second performance, Novello agreed to publish the work and it was also to be recorded by Decca Records. The third performance took place at St Paul's Cathedral on 9 November 1968. By then it had been expanded to 35 minutes and included several new songs.
In 1970, Lloyd Webber and Rice used the popularity of their second rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar, to promote Joseph, which was falsely advertised in America as a sequel to Superstar. The plan of riding on Jesus’ coattails for this ‘technicolor coat’ proved profitable: the Decca recording remained at the top of America’s charts for three months.
In September 1972 Joseph was presented at the Edinburgh Festival, directed by Frank Dunlop and starring Gary Bond. A month later the production played at the Young Vic and the Roundhouse theatres. Success continued to transfer Joseph to bigger theatres and wider audiences. It was finally produced on Broadway on January 27, 1982 at the Royale Theatre where it remained for 749 performances.
Credited to its family friendly storyline, universal themes, and catchy music Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is one of the most dependably profitable titles in musical theatre history, particularly when producers feature a headlining star. It is often successfully mounted by amateur groups, and according to the Really Useful Group, it has been mounted by over 20,000 local schools and amateur theatres.
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