Dreamcoat Stars At the Grove Theatre, Dunstable Review

Reviewed by Hilz

On arrival we were encouraged to scan the QR code on a banner which would give us access to an online programme and to a place where we could post questions we would like to ask the stars.
We liked this!

The show comprised four singers, each of which had previously had the part of Joseph in professional productions of ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat’ in the West End, Broadway and all over the world. All their biographies were impressive and one had played the part of Joseph more than 4000 times!

They encouraged a lot of audience interaction, many times starting off clapping and waving and encouraging us all to join in.
And from the beginning encouraged everyone to sing whenever they wanted to – which again we liked.

Their voices were all very strong and one could imagine them shining as the lead man in many different shows.
We were particularly impressed by Jonathan’s voice, and his solo was good.

Many iconic pieces were sung, for example:
The hills are alive
Edelweiss
Dancing Queen
Bring him home
Go go go Joseph
Joseph’s coat
And Any dream will do

It seemed that they had written their own musical arrangements of many of them introducing harmonies and speeding up the tempo of some.

Many of the songs seemed to be sung at high volume with gusto. Almost as though the performers were in competition with each other. Sadly we felt that this detracted from the nuances in each song.

Disappointingly the set lacked interest – it did not change throughout the entire performance and was basic.
The lighting effects were also rather basic.
And the choreography was okay but lacked excitement.
There were plenty of smoke effects though.

We felt that a storyline weaved in – even a simple one – would have helped us to engage more.
Apart from the occasional medley -for example from ‘The Sound of Music’ – it seemed almost random as to what was going to be sung next – at least it seemed so to us – maybe there was a plan that we didn’t understand.

The best part of the whole show was the Leighton Buzzard children’s choir – Razzamatazz.
They were superb – confident and able, perfectly in time and with no mistakes! Swaying in unison. Singing at least three-part harmonies with confidence. They were amazing.

We spotted quite a large number of parents in the audience, Videoing the pieces on their phones, waving at their little ones, one even holding up a name banner (!) We did think that the children would probably not be able to see this what with the lights, but it was lovely to see people there supporting their children and grandchildren, nephews and nieces.

Many people in the audience joined in enthusiastically – there was plenty of applause and some whoops of appreciation,
The performers used their skills to get the audience to participate and chose good crowd-pleasing songs
And it was a completely family friendly show, which is rare nowadays and much needed.

Unfortunately we didn’t really enjoy it.. but there were a lot of people there who did and who left the show looking happy so that’s got to be good.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Dreamcoat Stars showed at Dunstable Grove Theatre
Court Drive
Dunstable
on Sunday 12th March
And is on tour around the country for 64 days
Ticket prices start at £25.50
Information can be found and tickets can be bought using the following link:
https://dreamcoatstars.com