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Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Analysis

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The musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat has lyrics written by Tim Rice and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber (Gänzl). Joseph is one of Lloyd Webber’s most popular works and has been performed in multiple countries both professionally and in schools. It is based on the story of Joseph and his coat of many colors from the Torah. The majority of the musical takes place in ancient Egypt during Biblical times. Joseph’s interpretation of ancient Egypt influences the audience’s perception of the country in that time.
Joseph’s first “performance” was in March of 1968 at St. Paul’s Junior school in London England Originally composed for a school choir as a 25 minute piece. It was the first piece of work by Lloyd Webber and Rice to be performed publicly. It has since been revised performed multiple times at various schools and theatres (Playbill). Following Lloyd Webber’s success with Jesus Christ Superstar, the show had its first professional performance at the Edinburgh Festival of 1972 by the Young Vic company. After it was not deemed to be very successful in the UK, the music and lyrics were revised again, adding more characters and songs. And then the script finally became solidified (more or less) to the version we know of today (The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre Vol.2). Its first Broadway production was on November 18, 1981 at the Entermedia Theatre in New York City (Gänzl). Although it technically premiered in 1981, it is considered part of the 1982

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