Joseph at the Palladium / U.K. Tour

Well these reviews so far are all rather good.
Waiting for The Times as they never like anything I do.

Edit.
Well below me down with a feather. 4 stars from The Times. I'm in shock.

Today was the 3rd time a queued for day seats without success. I was told this time that they won't be doing any more day seats. They don't need to as it's selling well

Fabulous review - thanks so much for posting!

Re the first point above, I think that's where much of the love for the 90s production comes from. You are totally right that people absolutely think of Joseph as fluffy, fun, charming and harmless, and it has always been thus! But the 90s version proved that actually there is an amazing well constructed musical in there that can actually pack an emotional punch and doesn't need the panto elements - it was the first time it had been done in a non tongue in cheek way and it really worked. Full orchestra, full female ensemble, brilliantly choreographed dance numbers and visually stunning. This current production has returned to Joe Public's perception of the show and I think that's what many of us who liked the 90s version have misgivings about. 

Spot on re Jac IMHO - he's good, he's talented, he's safe. To me however as you say, he's generic and I don't see how he's any better than any other strong performer finishing drama school. And fair enough we know he can sing. Is he a triple threat with acting and dance too? We don't really know. And I really don't think he can (yet) be compared to Charlie Stemp. Time will tell!

Re the 90s set, it's not so much that it was lavish (though in places it was). It's more that it was conceptually very clever and really fitted together well and flowed nicely. It was clean and classy and just framed the action beautifully. For me it was stunning in it's own right but did not distract from the action. 

Anyway, whilst still firmly Team 90s, I do agree with everything you say that this is a great fun, well done production to which I look fwd to (currently three) more trips!

Thank you so much for this information! It's so nice to learn more about the history of productions, why they were well received, why they still stick in the minds of so many.

RE Jac I think my wording was off, I guess I was assuming that since they took a chance on hiring someone that wasn't a name, that was very fresh, that he would be pulling out a Star Is Born type of performance where he steals every moment he's onstage, has charisma and stage presence that fully cements him despite the lack of material he has to work with. He is absolutely not doing a bad job, I guess my expectations were just higher. Fortunately al the critics seem to be enjoying him so what does it matter!

It's so nice to be educated on things you didnt know about before (and wikipedia can so often be lack lustre on details of production to production) so thanks again, enjoy your other trips to the show!

LOL - I think it was added - I was v annoyed as I love a last show so had booked for Saturday 7th!
Can't imagine a Sunday matinee will have quite the same atmosphere but am umm-ing and ahh-ing whether to book for that too....

Yeah I totally get it - IMO the atmosphere of a Saturday night last show is unrivalled!

^In short,the 90’s version was a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow and the Sheridan version is Del Boy’s Reliant Regal lol 😂

Carmella 1... you have nailed it...the source material deserves more than this clowning around...it is a Summer panto for all the family granted,but the 90’s version combined reverence with a sense of fun where appropriate...this is just plain non-stop daft.

Not sure about that...if he had been the original director of Phantom, the show would have closed a couple of years into the run. He gets away with the revivals because the shows are established, so I guess the audience doesn't care too much about the direction (though they should). A skilled director should be able to cover up a show's flaws; he simply exposes them and somehow makes everything worse. 

You're clearly over thinking it all.

I've seen this twice already and could happily watch it over and over again just for the sheer exuberance of the piece but I must exercise budget restraint and self-control. However if there is an understudy narrator at any point I'll try be there though I hope it won't happen. I assume the intention is for Sheridan Smith to do the complete run but would be interesting to see how an understudy would fill the role

Very pleased that westendwilma is in a minority with the negative and potentially libellous review linked a few pages ago.

No show ever pleases everyone and the man next to me in the cheap seats on Wednesday afternoon told his wife at half time they'd ruined the show and Sheridan Smith was awful. Wife told him not be a misery and he looked towards me for support but I said I was on a return visit and loved the show. He didn't applaud once.