Joseph at the Palladium / U.K. Tour

It felt about 5 mins, may have been slightly longer. I was too busy explaining to my children what a show stop was (it being their first show stop!)

Time for the new production of “Joseph” at the London Palladium! I will try not to be rude but what we saw on the stage tonight was utter trash, uncomfortable and just torture to watch. Sheridan Smith not only looked physically terrible in an oversized jumpsuit but she can’t sing and she crooned and gurned her way through the first act winking at the audience and playing various roles in a hammy bad American, Indian, Yorkshire and Scouse accents. The whole production was directed for cheap laughs only and any class, nuance or sophistication thrown out the rehearsal window. The empty cheap set looked looked like something from Southend Amateur Operatic Society and it broke down half way through act one stopping the musical for 7 minutes (which was better that the show itself). This new revival is produced by Qdos the annual pantomime producers and that’s exactly what they have done; they have turned the stylish, clever and magical 1991 production I saw almost 30 years ago into an over the top, lumpy, clunky theatrical armageddon. I left at the interval..... An usher who saw us leave the theatre laughed and commented “she only gets worse in the second act”. Do not see this car crash of a revival.... in fact..... only go if THEY PAY YOU! Horrible. -3/10. #poorpoorjoseph

I was at tonight's performance and really enjoyed it- a lot more than I thought I would. Despite the technical glitch, I thought the whole show flowed well and that Sheridan was a refreshing and very likeable narrator. Jac Yarrow did an outstanding job as Joseph as well and the audience was (amazingly) on excellent behaviour- not a single phone screen, ding or annoying person around me, which is a refreshing change of late. This is meant to be a fun summer show for families and those who love the show and that is exactly what it is.

Is it not really unprofessional for ushers to comment in this way about the production/performers?

If a characters race is an integral part of the story, like The Engineer in Miss Saigon, then it should be played appropriately by a suitable actor.

But if you're playing fictional characters where race isnt an integral part of the story, like everyone in Joseph, then you can cast it anyway you want.

There is absolutely nothing to be up in arms about.

I agree. And whatever the reservations of those of us who are regular theatre goers - as a commercial enterprise - the producers have nailed this. 

There is a whole separate argument to be had re what makes quality theatre and what Joe Public wants....

^Can’t let the comment on JP as The Engineer pass...Saw him do it live and nobody has ever come close imo....as for Joseph,well opinions are polarised on this.Interesting to see what the press make of it.

^It shouldn’t be about people being described or judged as ‘haters’,it’s about people having different likes and dislikes and if people want to walk out of a show they have paid good money to see or want to post negative comments on it...fine! Live and let live,I say.

The shape of this show, a 'Variety Show Palladium Panto for Families,' squeezes in neatly next to 'the Variety Show Palladium Panto for Adults,' that they will put on at Christmas.

It is a shape that "Joseph" has always lent itself to, given how many musical styles (calypso, jazz, Elvis style rock n roll, etc) the show playfully integrates, how much of the show is intrinsically jokes.

But this time, I agree, with both the negative and positive reviews above, that sentiment has been wholly ditched for playfulness and laughs, bar the one exceptional moment that proves the rule, Jac Yarrow's "Close Every Door," which provides a five minute oasis of sentiment in a sea of smiles.

Another thing I wholly agree with, in both positive and negative reviews above, is that this is "The Sheridan Smith Show." As an adult with a liking for sentiment, this isn't my favourite Sheridan Smith show, which was undoubtedly "Funny Girl," a show that allowed her to be two things at once, both a dazzling effortless Fanny Brice style show-fronting comedienne, but also a heartbreaking whirl of sentiment underneath.

In a sense, this is a regression to a history that never happened, a life lived in reverse, where Sheridan Smith finally gets to BE Fanny Brice, rather than to play her.

From Quick Change outfits and beards, to Quick change accents and genders, Sheridan Smith is luminous, somehow self-effacing and self-deprecating, while simultaneously the centre of a comic storm that never stops. If anyone ever wanted a time machine to expereince what a Fanny Brice show would have been like, just book this show. Sheridan Smith is as close to ring-mistress of fun, Fanny Brice as anyone has ever been.

Of course, if you all you want is sentiment, this show will kill your spirit! It flags up aspects of "Joseph" that have always been about the jokes (Jason Donovan's rugged-and-ragged-singing Pharoah as Elvis, Benjamin's moral purity judged against the straightness of bamboo and bendy bananas), while displacing all the sentiment of Jacob-the-father-who-lost-his-son for just another quick-change-beard for the Ring-Mistress.

But seen for what this is, a joyous and childlike Comic Variety show, in a Comic Variety House, with cheap and cheesy sets for a zany atmosphere, and a masterful central comic turn from Ringmistress Sheridan 'Fanny Brice' Smith, including Golden Oldie Guest Stars (such as Jason Donovan, his muscles, his past, and his glee at laughing at himself), as well as one All-new Can't Miss Young Act (Jac Yarrow giving his passionately sung, yet slightly restrained - a tonic perhaps to the pizzazz all around him - posh but Welsh Joseph), this can and will stimulate the laugh-muscles of eternal children, young and old, and provide a brief tonic to an external gloom settling in the Country without.

If I had to choose between seeing this Panto, and the year-end one, I'd choose this one, as the Year End one is generally a more hit and miss affair (with only the Elaine Paige one truly funny), whereas this Production efficiently generates goodwill and laughter from first to last. And you can actually take kids to this one!

4 stars.

Aladdin has had to do performances recently without the flying carpet as there's a technical problem with it. That is integral to the story so a huge miss. That's also a show that has been running for a long time.

If you book a preview you can expect things to go wrong as they are just finding their feet. After press night is a whole other thing entirely but things will go wrong. It's live theatre

Perhaps musicalmarge didn’t know that SODs exist? May have been a generic made-up company name in her mind?

I turned up a couple of Saturdays ago and after queuing I was told no day seats were ever offered for Saturday and the info on their website was a mistake.