OF the hundreds of musicals that are written for a school production each year, very few ever see the light of day again.
Of those only one has conquered the world and led to decades of international hits for its writers.
Watching Sawston Youth Drama's production of Joseph And The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat last week, I was given some clues about the answer to th
e mystery which this has been to me.
Joseph is not a show I would go out of my way to see and it has always struck me as very much a product of its time.
Nothing wrong with that – so are Oklahoma! and West Side Story – but I have always felt Joseph dated rather badly.
But this was a persuasive production because it was not content just to be young and beautiful people twirling in a kaleidoscope of colour and music – although, of course, it was that, too.
What was more impressive was the care taken to make each number work for what it is, an unashamed pastiche of something else, and draw all the humour which flows from that.
Humour and Andrew Lloyd-Webber seemed to part company somewhere along the road, but in these early days, he was a witty composer, backed, of course, by Tim Rice's great lyrics.
Joseph's brothers are always funny, often in a crude, knockabout way, but this was more carefully thought through.
Led by Cameron Carr's committed Reuben, they drew every ounce of enjoyment from their numbers, particularly the show-stopping Those Canaan Days.
Gareth Furbank as Pharaoh provided some splendid deadpan comedy, too, while Alex Reader's convincingly elderly Jacob betrayed a delightful twinkle.
The show was generally well sung, with some particularly beautiful sounds from narrators Pippa Bransfield-Garth, Grace Furbank, Alex Murphy, Becky Sawcer, Hermione Bryant and Jess Donald.
The 50-strong choir was impressive and there were the usual high-quality dance routines from the on-stage chorus which one expects from SYD, all set against an austere but very effective set.
But the show stands or falls by Joseph himself, and Adam Bond was more than equal to the task in a charismatic and strongly-sung performance that was the centre of most scenes.
His early narcissism was underpinned by a wiry strength which immediately erased from the mind some of the more camp performers who have strutted this role.
If you imagine the young Mick Jagger adopting Ryan Sidebottom's hairstyle, you get some idea of this Joseph, and he rose effortlessly to the challenge of Close Every Door To Me.
That said, he was one of few who were able to overcome the too-dominant orchestra.
In this crossover between classical and modern orchestration there is always going to be a problem unless every soloist is miked, which is a huge undertaking.
