Donovan and Yarrow to return to Joseph in London

The pair also appeared in last summer's production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Following a sold-out 2019 season, the triumphant new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s iconic musical will return to The London Palladium in 2020, with Jason Donovan and Jac Yarrow coming back to reprise their roles.

Performances of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat begin on Thursday 2 July 2020, and will run for a strictly limited 10-week season until Sunday 6 September 2020.

Australian actor and singer Donovan became a legend for his work in the soap Neighbours during the ’80s. Since launching a solo pop career 1988, he’s also sold over three million albums in the UK.

In addition to his music and television work, Donovan has appeared in several London musicals. He played Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Dr. Frank N. Furter, the cross-dressing mad scientist, in The Rocky Horror Show.

In the early ’90s Donovan actually performed the rainbow coat-wearing title role in Joseph and the Amazing Techicolor Dreamcoat at The London Palladium. He returned to the show last summer – although in a different role – as the Pharoah, which he will take on again in 2020.

Welsh actor Yarrow is thrilled to be returning to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat to play Joseph opposite Donovan. He won The Stage Debut Award for the best West End debut in 2019 in the title role at the London Palladium.

Yarrow was fresh out of drama school when he landed the major role. He previously appeared as Jack Kelly in the 2019 ArtsEd production of Disney’s Newsies and as part of the ensemble for BBC Proms: West Side Story.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is based on the “coat of many colours” story from the Bible’s Book of Genesis and was first presented as a 15-minute show for schools in the 1960s.

It became a hit when an expanded version of the show was restaged at The London Palladium in 1991 starring Donovan in the lead role.

Last year’s production, which returned to the Palladium after 28 years, also starred double Olivier Award winner Sheridan Smith as the Narrator, along with Donovan and newcomer Yarrow.

A resounding success, the updated version received rave reviews from critics and audiences.

Told entirely through song, the story follows Jacob’s favourite son Joseph and his 11 brothers, who sell him into slavery when they become frustrated by his ability to interpret their dreams (usually for the bad) and the way their father treats him – which includes gifting him with a beautiful, flowing coat of many colours.

Eventually, Joseph’s life as a slave sees him ingratiate himself with the Elvis-inspired Pharaoh, asserting himself as the leader’s right-hand man. In turn, this leads Joseph back into the lives of his father and brothers – which poses the dilemma of whether he should enjoy a happy reunion with them or test them for their betrayal.

The show includes the well-known songs Any Dream Will Do, Close Every Door to Me, Jacob and Sons, There’s One More Angel in Heaven and Go, Go, Go, Joseph.

The hit musical returns to The London Palladium from Thursday 2 July 2020 until Sunday 6 September 2020. Full casting is still to be announced.

Tickets are available right now through Ticketmaster.co.uk.

Photos shown above of Jason Donovan and Jack Yarrow are from the 2019 London Palladium production.