It's a great review. I liked the concluding comments - "This isn't an intellectual evening and isn't intended to be. What it does provide is two noisy hours of witty fun, headed by a genuine new talent." The comments posted below Theatremonkey's own review are worth a read too.

I love theatremonkey. They don't have any pretentions and their reviews do exactly what they say on the tin - tell you whether something is worth it, whether it's the quality of the show or the view from the individual seat!

I know - I actually think that was a disgraceful thing to say -completely irrelevant, inappropriate bullying.

A female performer could get a complex about her body if she were to read such comments...

...but the same applies to men too!

I hope Lee doesn't get all upset about that comment - he needs all his energy to keep his voice safe!

Hmmm.. I'm not sure if calling someone chubby is wrong - I could well imagine Tracy Turnblad (or the actress rather) being called the young chubby dancer or something. The issue for me is that Lee's muscley legs can hardly be accurately described as chubby.

One of the fan reviewers said Lee had a '1970's perm and lispy voice...'

WRONG and WRONG, James from Kent

-The curls are all natural

-The pronunciation quirk is sibilance, not a lisp. If you're going to insult Lee, get your facts right first.

All done now!

Very true - it's just so nasty though.

I can imagine him getting all paranoid for no reason now.

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117...goryid=33&cs=1

Nooo. I'm certain Lee is stronger than that (and not just in the thigh department!) and won't let such things, particularly when untrue, get to him

You're right, they aren't chubby. I seem to remember getting a bit a flak when I suggested a certain young man was 'plump' - is that worse than 'chubby', then?

Also from Theatremonkey:

"Eleven fratricidal brothers decide that their second-to-youngest brother is worth more in cash than as a shepherd. His gaudy clothes (and the fact he was voted into the family by TV viewers) may not have helped either... (nor the fact that the brothers' own votes were not sufficient to get them the brother they wanted.) Still, the one they did get does OK in right-wing Egypt and ends up saving the lot of them..."


I love this synopsis of the show . (especially the tv-viewer thing

Yes, that bit made me LOL too (literally, in case anyone was wondering!)

Brilliant!

Love ya Eryn!

Thank you very much! I thought you might want to know!

This one is thanks to groovygran:


This was In London Lite on Thursday, so have copied it as coul, nt find link to it

LOINCLOTH LEE HAS A VOICE TO LIVE THE DREAM

You would have to be a recently emerged recluse, explorerof a far flung land, or hostage held incommunicado for the last 20 or so weeksnot to be aware that this revival of the 1968 TR/ALW musical was spurred by the BBC's ADWD search for a new West End star. But loathsome though the practiceof auditioning by reality TV may be, it looks likethe right man came out on top. Despite the pressures of opening night, winner Lee Mead stepped uo with boundless confidence, a smile as wide as the Aldwych, and apart froma couple of badly fudged notes in his final reprise of CED, didn't put a foot wrong all night.
As well as having the looks and physique necessary to carry off a barely there loincloth, he had a voice that's easy o the ear, being both rich
and strong, and he is a gifted enough actor to convey Joseph's transition frombumptious son to Pharoah's magisterial righthand man, and tpo produce a genuinely touching moment when he is finally reunited with his brothers.
there is more blah about it being completely daft, but thats not a bad thing in musicals.
Finishes by saying that it would be a cynical Heart indeed that could fail to be swept along by this joyous revival's exhuberance and charm

Review by Valerie Potter and she gave it 5 stars

thats absolutley brilliant !! its soooo subtle but sooo hilarious lol/ LOL !!

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/critic/pa...,-1163,00.html

Here is Mr Billington. Lee needn't worry what he thinks about his thighs.

Priceless! I love it!

A new one from the Times Online :-

http://entertainment.timesonline.co....cle2099536.ece

Brilliant review from The Observer:-

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/revie...131732,00.html

"Mead deserved his win. Tuneful, charismatic, endearing, he is a faultless Joseph - at once a torso-flashing pretty boy and serious West End player."

Thank heavens some of the reviewers Get It. I'm amazed at how many dour, mirthless people have gotten jobs as theatre critics. Thanks for sharing, Marylouise!

Thanks again Mary Louise your trawling has come up with another couple of gems

There's also a little Vox Pop section in the printed version of the Observer, which I shall type out:


IAN WILLIS - 38, IT consultant
"I've seen the show three or four times: they seem to have upped the productions. There's a lot more energy and it's a better show. I saw the TV programme: Lee Mead was not great to start with but showed he can do it."

NAOMI PENN - 10
"It's a good show and Lee does a good job. The show is funny and clever; especially all the props that come down. I liked Joseph's coat: it's so colourful. The music is wicked and the show is funny too. Lee is a really good singer."

CHRISTINE MARRION - 61, retired
"I have seen other Joseph productions, but this one is fantastic beause of Lee Mead. He had bad reviews about his acting, but tonight he was brilliant. All the energy of the performance - two-and-a-half hours just flew by."

ISLA FRASER - 32, accountant
"I've never seen 'Joseph' before; it's fantastic. The best thing about the production must be the different styles of music. Normally my favourite show is 'Les Miserables'. I wasn't expecting a comedy so this was a nice surprise."

ALICE NEIL - 9
"It was really good. I thought Joseph's coat was really nice and I thought the children were really good singers. I thought it was really funny when the sheep came on stage; they were all different colours."

What a great article, very positive and hilarious at the same time. I loved that part about GN risking his life every week.

This is a review from Laura Stadler, published in the Majorca Daily Bulletin on Sunday July 22nd, sorry there is no link.


All dressed in white, he’s descending like an angel into a cloud of mist. His familiar grin is saying, “Yes folks, it’s really me and I can’t believe my luck!” His crinkly dark locks tumble around his intent face, caressing his strong jaw line as he launches into song. I find myself torn between a motherly urge to hug him and the somewhat disturbing desire to jump on him.
I’d picked him out from week one: watched his progress with “maternal” pride and voted with the majority to see him scoop the star role of Joseph from the dozen other hopefuls. Now finally there he is: polished, fresh and bursting with enthusiasm. A surge of emotions boil inside me and I find myself applauding spontaneously. Looking around there are rows of smiling faces around me doing the same. Young children dressed in their Sunday best to smartly suited pensioners have come to see Lee Mead realise his ambition: to play the lead in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream coat”. Would he live up to our high expectations?
Top marks for first appearances. He has stage charisma, and even without the spotlight, dominates all around him. No mean feat, if you believe the old stage adage never act with animals or children. Indeed the set is filled with classrooms of them: ranging from plump pubescents to the cutest plaited and ribboned-little-sweeties, thrilling harmoniously as on-stage choir. (Just as well Lee says he loves children.)
Throughout the series I had been impressed by the unique way in which he could add a new dimension of interpretation to an old song. In act as he sings, “I closed my eyes, drew back the curtains” it’s as though I hear the words for the first time.
During the series we heard all the contestants but Lee, sing themselves out of the show with “Close every door to me”. Many renditions have been powerful, but hearing the winner’s pleas, stripped to the waist with his head flanked by prison bars game me goose bumps. I’ve seen the show on innumerable occasions; the first at the Roundhouse in 1972. I’ve witnessed Phillip Schofield, John Barrowman, Jason Donovan and Donny Osmond sing those familiar tunes; yet non-impressed me as much as 26 year-old-Lee Mead from Southend on Sea. As I watch him parade in nothing but a mini loin-cloth (and boy is it mini) I can’t help imagining what the runner up, the boyish Keith with the toothy grin, would have looked like. A close shave with disaster for Lord Lloyd Webber. Lee has an adequately muscular well-honed body, albeit in need of some Mallorcan sunshine. Considering his lustrous hair, one can only assume he’s been waxed, exfoliated and polished to shiny perfection. Visualising Keith, his rival in the finals, I imagine he would have looked hilarious, like a scrawny kid in a nappy.