On it was a boy who captured hearts of women nationwide and seemed capable of doing so just by singing. Or by breathing to be honest. Or blinking. Oh he was gorgeous!!!!! And frankly the moment the boy Mead won the show the theatrefairies were planning a trip to see Lee Mead on stage. In person. In a loincloth. With curls. And eyebrows. And with toes that curled fetchingly on the steps of the stage of the Adelphi (but more about them later).
The point being, the musical. 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicoloured Dreamcoat' has been seen and done so many times (And loved. Especially in schools). Karina owned the 'Donny Osmond' version. Both Tamsin and Karina managed to avoid the 'Jason Donovan' era and better still, the Darren Day spectacle. Karina would have quite liked to have seen Phil Schofield in the role just to see if Gordon the Gopher made a surprise appearance. Ah well. But this one was going to be special. This one had Meady the Beautiful and we'd seen him on telly and fallen in love with his goofiness and his shy smile. And his velvety voice. Never had a production held so much promise.
But we'd forgotten it was 'Joseph'. And we knew 'Joseph'!!!! Everyone does! And maybe that was the problem. Saying that, there was a lovely familiarity to it; Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice had created something that has endured...and although off the West End for now, we have no doubt it will find its way back there again soon in a few years time. It's inevitable really. Like Haley's Comet only quicker.
The familiarity included the staging, the orchestration, the choreography...and was it always so short??? Pointless really getting into a big debate about the specifics, and also going into detail about the show itself, as that's not really the point of this post. The point being, Meady. Was a star born?
Oh. Yes. Or so we thought at first. The thought of seeing the boy got us back to the Adelphi a couple of times, and there were definite highlights; such as every time the boy was on stage. But to give a few examples:
- Lee Mead emerging from a cloud in the opening scene dressed as Luke Skywalker
- Lee Mead twirling in his colorful coat (personally we preferred the one he was given in the TV show, but no one asked our opinion. But he was handsome and he was smart)
- Lee Mead behind bars dressed in a loincloth with sweat trickling down his chest (did we just write that...?) singing 'Close Every Door'
- Lee Mead in the second half chatting to Pharaoh as (here it comes) he curls his twinkly toes to grip the stairs. So sweet! Didn't everyone notice?
- Lee Mead all masterful in golden Doc Martens with gold nipples and a very swishy loincloth
- Lee Mead rising to the skies on a cherry picker
- And every scene with Dean Collinson (as Karina wanted to have his babies)
However there had to be more to the show than that??? But there wasn't really. Other than Lee Mead sang beautifully and it looked as if the sky was the limit for him. During both our visits to the show we did witness a phenomenon called 'his fans', and were taken aback at the hoards of women elbowing anyone they could out of the way just to get a moment with him. These were women old enough to be his mother...now. As much as the fairies like to spread the theatre-love we draw the line at being intrusive and thus never hang around stage doors or accost actors in the street. We buy our tickets, we see a show, we applaud the show, we go home. During our extensive visits to multiple productions all over the West End and beyond we have witnessed this countless times in varying degrees and have rarely seen anything so...bizarre (We actually think stage door fans need a post dedicated to them So moving on).
Meadys star shone bright. He does seem to have something that draws you in, and it's hard to take your eyes off him when he's on stage. That's pretty bankable. But its hard to twinkle furiously in a production that is so tarnished round the edges (Having said that, the fairies also had the misfortune to see the touring version around the same era. Sweet Jesus. And that's still doing the rounds).
Lee left, taking his energy with him, and the production closed shortly afterwards, which begs the question - was he pulling the crowds? Did the show just reach it's sell by date & he got out at the right time? Hard to say, but our hunch is the former. Whether you like it or not, the TV talent shows create "names" and many people like to know who they are seeing before they go. Look at where they are now. The Joes, the Marias, the Nancys - most of them probably working far more than before the show, and for some acheiving true West End status. (Rachel / Aiofe - we are talking about you....) Maybe they would have got there anyway? Maybe.
Our view is fairly simple. We liked the look of Lee & the sound of his voice. We weren't disappointed. At times we even left nail marks in each others arms... he certainly has a belt, and the Adelphi is only so big...
We await his next move, because much as we enjoy a bit of Oz, the part of Fiyero sucks. 2 songs???? And he gets paid how much???? (OK we know he's in the ensemble, but come on....)
Oh stop, you say, he's doing concerts as well!! Well, good for him.
Much as we admire his efforts, we don't fancy the concerts. The West End is his rightful home - he ain't ever gonna fill the NEC. He ain't ever gonna be a Rock God. (Guess this post could come back to bite us in the arse one day and we'll be flattened by legions (or is it institutes?) of ladies of a certain age squealing "I told you so" as he fills Wembley.)
Our point simply is this - Lee, we love you dearly, but we need you in the West End, in a decent role, so we can admire you like we sooooo want to.
We want to see if you can do more - we want to be proved right - and we can't bloody wait!
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