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JOSEPH IS COMING….
AND IT’S KEITH!
Tue 10 – Sun 15 January 2012
Press Night: Tue 10 January 2012, 7.30pm
When producer/director Bill Kenwright brings his renowned production of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat to The Lowry, audiences will undoubtedly recognize the young man in the leading role…
KEITH JACK was one of the most popular finalists in the hit BBC series Any Dream Will Do. Watched by millions every Saturday night, the show was produced to find a leading man for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new West End production, and Keith, chosen from tens of thousands of wannabes, charmed audiences week after week with his vocal talents, finally coming in a close second. He went on to play the Narrator in the UK tour of Joseph and in 2011 he took over the lead role, which he continues to play during 2012.
Interviews are available with Keith Jack upon request.
This colourful retelling of the biblical story about Joseph, his 11 brothers and the coat of many colours sings out to old and young alike with a score of wall-to-wall hits - including Close Every Door and Any Dream Will Do.
The cast will be joined on stage by the Joseph choir, made up of children aged 6-15 years old. The budding singers are from all over the North West, including from the Greater Manchester area, and are members of Stagecoach Chester.
Joseph began life as a 15 minute 'pop cantata' for an end of term school concert, in March 1968. The musical has since entered the Guiness Book of Records as the longest running touring stage musical of all time, with over 15,000 performances since 1979. This year alone over 1 million people will see Joseph.
This year's cast also includes Henry Metcalfe, a mainstay of Joseph who plays the roles of both Potiphar and Jacob and is the show’s choreographer and associate director.
Syndicated interview with Henry Metcalfe is included in the notes below
Lyrics by Tim Rice, Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Directed by Bill Kenwright, Designed by Sean Cavanagh, Choreographed by Henry Metcalfe, Lighting designed by Mark Howett and Sound designed by Chris Full.
Listing Information
Tue 10 - Sunday 15 January
Lyric Theatre
Times: Tue & Fri 7.30pm, Wed, Thu & Sat 2.30pm & 7.30pm, Sun 1pm & 5pm
Tickets: Adults - £14 - £26
Children - £6 - £18
The Lowry Information & Box Office
Telephone 0843 2086005
www.thelowry.com
The Lowry, Pier 8, Salford Quays M50 3AZ
Twitter @The_Lowry
Facebook www.facebook.com/TheLowrySalford
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Notes to Editor
Images
For high resolution images, please go to The Lowry’s image library www.thelowryimages.com
New users need to register by clicking on ‘register’ on the left hand side of the page, fill in the required information (which includes creating your own password) and click ‘create account’. You will then have immediate access to the image library. For Joseph images go to Theatres/Musicals/Jospeh and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat
Media Enquiries
For further information and interview requests please contact:
Aimee Wood, Media Relations Executive
T: 0161 876 2044
E: aimee.wood@thelowry.com
Bill Kenwright is one of the most successful and prolific producers in British theatre today, (whose current hit West End shows include the musicals Blood Brothers and Cabaret and acclaimed drama The Letter), was on the expert panel of judges alongside Andrew Lloyd Webber, Denise Van Outen and John Barrowman and is delighted that Keith is taking on the leading role.
Keith Jack's Biography
KEITH JACK was one of the most popular finalists in the hit BBC series Any Dream Will Do. Watched by millions every Saturday night, the show was produced to find a leading man for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new West End production, and Keith, chosen from tens of thousands of wannabes, charmed audiences week after week with his vocal talents, finally coming in a close second. He went on to play the Narrator in the UK tour of Joseph and in 2011 he took over the lead role, which he continues to play during 2012.
Keith appeared as The Prince in Sleeping Beauty at the King’s Theatre Glasgow over Christmas 2011. He has also performed as Aladdin in Aladdin at the King's Theatre Glasgow, the title role in Peter Pan at His Majesty's Theatre in Aberdeen. Keith created the lead role of Charlie in the new musical Only the Brave, which premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Concerts include: Performing in front of her Majesty the Queen and the Spanish Royal Family at the 'Parliament Picnic', Choices for Life 2008 & 2009 playing to over 100,000 people and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Birthday concert at Hyde Park.
Keith has released two albums. His debut was called This Time and went into the Top 40. His most recent album An Evening at the Musicals was released last year. Most recently he has been in New York recording the soundtrack for a film called The Dreams of Kings which will be entered at the New York Film Festival.
Syndicated interview with Henry Metcalfe
Henry Metcalfe, the Durham son of a bricklayer, is a mainstay of the UK’s best-loved musical.
Durham-born performer Henry Metcalfe feels he’s living his life backwards. At the age of 65, he has central roles on and off the stage with the ever-touring Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, having lectured in dance and drama for seven years at the start of his career.
The turning point was the rise of theatre impresario Bill Kenwright who used Metcalfe as a choreographer for a West End pantomime 16 years ago and now employs him as choreographer/associate director plus playing the roles of Jacob and Potophar in Joseph.
Metcalfe recalls that his career got under way with a song and dance appearance on Tyne Tees TV’s North East Roundabout presented by Tom Coyne, 50 years ago.
“That was my first contract and my schoolmates teased me that I had a great North-East accent so I immediately set to work to lose my Durham twang. My first home was in a whitewashed place called Riverside House which was next to Brown’s Boathouse.
“Now there is a BHS on the site and I feel the planners have completely wrecked that area of Durham. Maybe I’m biased because it was my first home, but there was a lovely lane called Paradise Lane and playing fields. Now there’s this big monument for commercialism which blocks the view when you boat down towards Elvet Bridge… but that’s not what the interview is about,” he jokes.
Bricklayer’s son Metcalfe passed an audition for Surrey’s Laban Centre as a teenager but found he couldn’t get a grant from Durham County Council. “When the college heard that, it gave me a scholarship, which was wonderful,” he says and recalls moving from teaching to choreographing shows for “hand-tomouth producers who made enough from a production to pay everyone and then moved on to the next”.
He picks out Jess Conrad as his favourite, and first, Joseph he’s starred alongside. “Jess always kept himself in good shape and it always looked hilarious when these maggoty-looking brothers were trying to beat him up to sell him. It looked like they were trying to beat up Superman,” he says.
Metcalfe pays tribute to Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice and Bill Kenwright as pioneers of theatre.
“They were the first to create sungthrough musicals and use a character in the show as a narrator while Bill was the first to put TV stars on the stage. It seems simple now, but no one had done it before.
“Joseph was only an end-of-term show by two 19-year-olds and it is such a clever piece. Every scene has a different musical style be it cowboy, French, calypso or Elvis and Lloyd Webber’s music is always memorable and Tim Rice’s lyrics always innovative,” he says.
Before that the mainstays were things like Seven Brides For Seven Brothers and Oklahoma and conventional shows like the Desert Song. “You occasionally get these people who come along and knock Joseph and say it’s childish. Yes it is.
But it is the joy and wonder of childhood using a show done in a new way,” adds Metcalfe who works with each season’s touring cast and regularly makes changes to dance routines. “Bill Kenwright comes to see the show about every six weeks and is disappointed if there isn’t something new because he likes shows to evolve,” he says.
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