The Stage

Twelve ‘Josephs’ to compete on BBC show for Dreamcoat role

Published Wednesday 21 March 2007 at 16:05 by Scott Matthewman

Twelve men new to musical theatre have been shortlisted to play the lead in the revival of Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. BBC1’s new Saturday evening show, Any Dream Will Do, will follow the casting of the musical.

Starting on March 31, two pre-recorded shows will cover the audition process, callbacks and the series of lessons at “Joseph school”, before the 12 selected finalists face a public vote over the following eight weeks.

The finalists, who are aged between 17 and 35, include two school pupils, a builder, an amateur performer and a professional actor.

Both Torchwood star John Barrowman and vocal coach Zoe Tyler, judges on last year’s How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, return to join Andrew Lloyd Webber on the judging panel, which will also include co-producer Bill Kenwright and actress Denise Van Outen.

A series of guests, including lyricist Tim Rice, former Joseph stars Donny Osmond and Jason Donovan and former The X Factor judge Louis Walsh will make appearances during the series’ run.

In a separate competition, schools will be able to upload videos of their choir singing the Entr’acte from Joseph to the BBC website for rating by members of the public. The winning choir will perform live on the final BBC1 show and appear on stage for a special Children in Need production of the musical.