The 2014 tour is scheduled to kick off at Playhouse Square in Cleveland, Ohio. Former American Idol contestant and Broadway actress, Diana DeGarmo along with her husband, Broadway star Ace Young, will headline the production.
Background:
During the summer of 1967, Webber was approached by Alan Doggett, head of Music at Colet Court School, to compose a “pop cantata” for the school choir to sing at their end of term recital. Agreeing enthusiastically with the idea, Webber asked his friend Tim Rice to write the lyrics. After toying with different ideas, Rice suggested they adapt the Biblical story of Joseph into a musical.
Staged at the Old Assembly Hall, Colet Court, Hammersmith, the musical was first performed on the 1st of March 1968. Aided by the school orchestra and conducted by Alan Doggett, the performance was only fifteen minutes long. But the response from the audience was so positive, that another performance was scheduled.
Staged at the Westminster Central Hall, the second performance featured a revised and expanded format. Following a positive review in the Sunday Times, the Webber and Rice worked on the musical and by the third performance, staged at St Paul’s Cathedral, it was thirty five minutes long and included the song “Potiphar”.
Following massive success of another Webber and Rice musical Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph also started receiving stage productions. It was constantly evolving into a full length musical as new songs were written and the story line became more detailed. It was staged at the West End in 1973 and premiered on Broadway in 1982. Since then it has been revived multiple times and was even adapted into a video film in 1999.
Synopsis:
The play revolves around Joseph, who is his father’s favorite son from amongst his brothers. Falling victim to his brothers’ jealousy, Joseph is sold as a slave to a caravan of Ishmaelites, who take him to Egypt.
After his slave life, Joseph rises to eminence in Egypt by virtue of his dream interpretation skills. He interprets the dream of the Pharaoh in which he predicts the coming of a famine. Put in charge of consolidating resources to face the famine, Joseph attains the highest position at the palace.
He eventually meets his brothers again as they come to Egypt to get their share of grain to last the famine. Joseph eventually reveals his true identity to his brother’s and after accepting their apologies, asks them to bring his father to Egypt, where beloved father and son are once again reunited.
An appealing family drama about the triumph of Joseph after the hardest of trials, this enduring musical is a theatrical treat for everyone. The musical blends country, pop and rock into an inspirational story that any music or theater lover simply has to watch.