I close my eyes…

Upon reading those words, it’s very likely that you will have sung to yourself the opening lines of ‘Any Dream Will Do’ from’ Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (and if you weren’t before, chances are that you’re singing them now!)

The song holds a special place in many of our hearts we remember singing those very same lines at our end-of-term school show or perhaps with our families at home. For so many of us, Joseph was our joyous introduction to the wonderful world of musicals.

Joseph was also a ‘first’ for its composer, Andrew Lloyd Webber, becoming his first success, one that came very early in his life and, was the making of his career. Joseph placed Lloyd Webber firmly on the path to achieving his dream of writing musicals. Its biblical subject matter (it is based on, you guessed it, the character of Joseph from the first book of the Bible), wasn’t typical theme for a musical at the time(or even today for that matter!), however, the timeless story of family and forgiveness continues to resonate, capturing the hearts of children and adults alike.

But what is the genesis of this beloved musical?

In April 1965, Tim Rice, an ambitious pop-songwriter of only 20 years of age, wrote to a 17- year-old Lloyd Webber (yes, 17!) saying:

Mr [Desmond] Elliott told me “you were looking for a ‘with it’ writer… I wondered if you consider it worth your while meeting me.”

Intrigued, Lloyd Webber agreed to meet with Rice and the pair embarked on a legendary collaboration. Shortly after, the pair realised that their first joint effort, The Likes of Us, would not see a stage any time soon, Lloyd Webber received a commission from Colet Court School, to write a Bible story set to pop music that the whole school could perform, no matter what their musical ability. Whilst a school show did not exactly scream ‘West End’, Lloyd Webber and Rice agreed to give it a shot.

The duo considered Val Landsay’s The Congo, and even James Bond as inspiration for their piece, before ultimately returning to the original Bible story suggestion (we are still holding our breath for 007, the Lloyd Webber-Rice version!) From The Wonder Book of Bible Stories, Joseph sparkled the brightest for its themes of revenge, forgiveness and the potential for humour.

The very first performance of Joseph took place on 1 March 1968 to an audience of 200 parents. Short and sweet at only 22 minutes, the show went down a treat with the school - not least thanks to Rice’s clever and masterfully-constructed lyrics alongside an Elvis-inspired performance of Pharaoh! In fact, the parents were so entertained that they requested a repeat performance. Lloyd Webber and Rice decided to give Joseph another “Go, Go, Go”, and two months later, the pair brought Joseph to the stage again, at the Methodist Central Hall in Westminster, to an audience ten times the size of the first.

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Amongst the proud parents was Sunday Times's music critic, Derek Jewell, who praised the performance as “irresistible”. When, soon after Jewell’s glowing review, Decca Records came knocking with an offer to turn the piece into an album, Lloyd Webber and Rice realised that perhaps they should start to dream big.

They were right. In February 1973, Joseph and his dreamcoat began dazzling audiences in the West End, when it premiered at the Albery Theatre with Gary Bond in the starring role. Today, almost 50 years later, hundreds of amateur and professional versions of the show are performed across the globe each year. From its seemingly humble school choir start, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat became a global phenomenon and continues to bring a rainbow of joy to all generations.