Donny Osmond—who played more than 2,000 performances in U.S. and Canadian productions of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat between 1992 and 1997 and later reprised his work in a 1999 film opposite Joan Collins, Richard Attenborough, and Maria Friedman—will return to the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical later this year.
As previously reported, the famed vocalist will play a limited engagement as the Pharaoh when the international hit musical kicks off its latest U.K. tour during the holiday season. Osmond will get to rock out nightly with "Song of the King" when the tour plays the Edinburgh Playhouse December 3-29. Joe McElderry will play the Pharaoh for much of the tour (including dates in Sunderland, Canterbury, Nottingham, Belfast, Leeds, Wimbledon, Blackpool, Woking, Newcastle, Plymouth, Leicester, and Sheffield), with other Pharaoh casting to come.
Newly announced for the production, based on the previous London Palladium staging, are Christina Bianco (Forbidden Broadway, The Wizard of Oz) as Narrator, Adam Filipe (Prince of Egypt, Titanic tour) as Joseph, Hugh Cotton as Reuben, and Will Haswell as Simeon, with Aaron Archer, Bella Baldock, Daniel Bowskill, Imogen Bowtell, Taylor Bridges, Joseph Browlie-Johnson, Joseph Craig, Davide Fienauri, Ellie Greenway, Oliver Hawes, Kiera Haynes, Siobhan James, Ben Lancaster, Nicole Lupino, Bradley Perret, Harvey Shulver, Jessica Sutton, Charley Warburton, Jenna Warne, and Alex Woodward.
The children’s company will include Luke
Beggs, Sofija Bele, Sidney Bond, Chloe Boyle, Coco Chapman, Charlie
Cox, Max Crisp, Shae Marie David, Isabelle Chiara Dawodu,
Josh Desai, Erin Donovan, Jasper Eglin, Safia Francis, Ernest
Fransella, Marisia Georgiannaki, Poppy Graham, Coco-Lili Hodder, Poppy
Kunorubwe, Eliott Marsden, Alex Neophytou, Shyanne
Ononiwu, Rio-Blake Power, Leia O'Sullivan, Zachary Richardson, Daniel
Rodriguez Castillo, Felix Schmitt, Dexter Seaton, Azalea-Belle Sharp, Arthur Tennant, and Raine Williamson.
Osmond, who has sold over 100 million records throughout his career, said in an earlier statement, "I
always knew I would return to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor
Dreamcoat. Having starred as Joseph in over 2,000 performances
in this magical musical, I am now ready to channel my inner Elvis and
assume the role of Pharaoh in Edinburgh starting this December."
Producer Michael Harrison added: “Following the extraordinary reception the Edinburgh Playhouse and thousands of theatre fans gave Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat at the end of the 2022 tour, it made absolute sense to begin the new tour here and to ask Joseph royalty, Donny Osmond, to star as our festive season Pharaoh. Few shows bring the generations together the way Joseph does, and we are honored to have an icon of the show join us to create a magical moment for families this Christmas, who will cherish the experience for years to come.”
The forthcoming tour of the family-friendly biblical musical will feature direction by Laurence Connor, choreography by JoAnn M. Hunter, set and costume design by Morgan Large, lighting design by Ben Cracknell, sound design by Gareth Owen, wig, hair, and makeup design by Sam Cox, orchestrations by John Cameron, musical supervision and direction by John Rigby, casting by David Grindrod, and children's casting by Amy Beadel.
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is produced by Harrison.
For ticket information and the current touring itinerary, visit UKTour.JosephtheMusical.com.
