Jason Donovan returned to the London Palladium, scene of his triumph 28 years ago in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, to symbolically pass the Joseph baton to its newest incumbent, an unknown drama student who hails from the Welsh Valleys.
Donovan was at the hallowed variety theatre to welcome Jac (CORR) Yarrow, 21, to the lead part in the buoyant musicalisation of the Old testament tale.
It was the first Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical to be produced.
Jason Donovan (right) standing on his tiptoes alongside new lading man Jac Yarrow (left) at the announcement for Joseph and The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat on Monday
The Australian-born entertainer will be back too, this time playing the Elvis Presley-like Pharaoh.
Sheridan Smith is the star casting as the Narrator in the production, which runs for 11 weeks from June 27. The new contemporary Joseph has sold in excess of £4.5 million worth of tickets.
Donovan, 50, seemed visibly moved to be back at the Palladium where he remembered romping around the wide stage in a scanty loincloth.
He said: ‘I was quite exhausted though at the end of the show, and I was half naked. I won’t be putting on a loincloth this time, that’s for sure.’
Then he laughed, flexed his muscles and boasted: ‘Though I’m definitely in shape. I’m prepared for anything.’
When asked if he would ever step in as the new Joseph’s understudy, he chuckled, and quickly responded: ‘Well, I know the songs.’
Jason Donovan (centre) with the Joseph cast in 1991. He told Yarrow to ‘work hard, have fun’ with the lead role
Donovan didn’t have a multi-coloured coat to hand on to give Yarrow, but he had a few words of wisdom.
‘Work hard, have fun,’ he told Yarrow who was born and raised in the village of Creigiau, near Cardiff.
He continued: ‘And act. That’s essential to a good musical performance. You can’t just stand there and sing.
‘For people to love what you do or the character you play, you’ve got to be vulnerable and open as an actor. Other than that, you’ve got eight shows a week. Turn up on time and keep fit and try and stay sober.’
Baz Bamigboye’s tweet praised the young actor, saying he was ‘thrilled to see next gen of talent firing on all cylinders’
Lloyd Webber and Rice had separately told Michael Harrison, the producer charged with putting the summer show together, that they wanted a 20-year-old ‘new discovery’ to play Joseph in Dreamcoat.
In its first version the musical was performed at a London junior school in 1968 that lasted 25 minutes. Since then, as we know, the show has expanded.
Harrison found his young new star with help, unwittingly supplied by the Daily Mail.
Harrison spotted a tweet written by this reporter celebrating the ‘next generation of talent firing on all cylinders’ in the Disney musical Newsies seen at the Arts Educational School. The cast was led by one Jac Yarrow.
Donovan with Andrew Lloyd Webber in 1991 while the Australian was performing in the musical
‘That tweet got my attention.I went to see Newsies and found Jac,’ Harrison said.
Yarrow was put through three tough auditions with Joseph director Laurence Connor. A video of his work was sent to Lloyd Webber and Rice who gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
Yarrow was told he had won the role on his 21st birthday.
‘This is more than I can ever imagine,’ Yarrow said when he met the Daily Mail and Jason Donovan at the Palladium on Monday.
‘Let alone for my first job straight out of college, and to be working with Sheridan and Jason. It’ll be like a getting a masterclass,’ said Yarrow, who has been given special dispensation by Arts Educational College to begin rehearsing Joseph a month before his graduation date in June.
He said that Donovan had been generous in his advice.
‘Jason said that it’s not “rocket science”. It’s a case of being yourself in the role. He said act the role. Poor Joseph has a lot to contend with. He’s been sold into slavery by his brothers.’
Yarrow said he was raised in a rural village 20 minutes from Cardiff.
‘It’s a classic Welsh village – sheep and fields. There’s a primary school that I went to,’ he added.
He’s familiar with the role because at the age of seven he played the title role of Joseph.
‘I was part of a stage group on a Saturday and we did a half-hour revue show. One half did Sweeney Todd and the rest Joseph. I played Joseph and I’m sure my dreamcoat was made in five minutes,’ he said.
His new coat designed by Morgan Large will take another two months before it’s completed.
Yarrow said his home was always filled with music.
His parents – mother Allison a deputy head at a comprehensive school, father John, who works for a homeless charity – and older sister Beth enjoy singing.
He said: ‘My parents are very patriotic and sing Welsh songs – and Jason Donovan songs. It was a very musical household.’
Yarrow blushed and said, ‘I believe I’m going to wear a loincloth and I’m prepared for it. I’ve got a gym membership and a personal trainer. I’ve seen Jason’s tweets and hashtag about the lion cloth so I will be doing the training!’
In an age of social media and instant communication, it’s difficult to convey the phenomenon of Jason Donovan being cast to play Joseph.
Donovan was a TV star thanks to playing Scott Robinson the proverbial boy next door in Neighbours and he was a pop star.
His single Any Dream Will Do from Joseph was a chart-topper.
As Donovan noted yesterday (Monday): ‘Remember this was in the days when a song from a stage musical show could go into the charts. It hasn’t happened since, though Hugh Jackman has enjoyed huge recording success with The Greatest Showman.’
Zac said: ‘Jason said that it’s not “rocket science”. It’s a case of being yourself in the role. He said act the role. Poor Joseph has a lot to contend with. He’s been sold into slavery by his brothers’
He was also dashingly handsome. He was ‘beaut’ looking, as the Aussies said. Police and private security had to guard the Palladium stage door in Great Marlborough Street to clear a path for Donovan to get into the theatre.
Donovan’s wistful about his time as Joseph.He was on the front page of every single newspaper, from tabloid to quality. The Daily Mail analysed his every move while The Guardian ran a five-part series of him.
He admitted that he ‘did have a bit of a wild time and a few twists and turns in the nineties,’ adding: ‘But I never lost track of my passion. I love performing and working with people. Your career wobbles a little bit but it’s how you jump back that’s the important thing.
‘I come from a wonderful family and I’ve got my own family now.’
The actor, who has been touring the UK with a show called The Amazing Midlife Crisis Tour, added: #I’m in a good place at the moment.I’ve got a great family and my wife and I are still going strong. You know, I’m a very lucky person.I’m grateful for that.
‘And I’m happy. How do you measure success? How many bedrooms in a house do you need, really?’
His three children are Jemma, 19, Zach 18, and Molly, eight.
Have they shown any interest in following in his footsteps, and those of their mother, a former stage manager?
‘Definitely,’ Donovan said. #Watch this space. I say to them, “work hard, keep fit, respect others.” I don’t discourage them If they want that. This show’s about dreams, right,’ he asked, referring to Joseph.
‘If you think it, want it, dream it and it’s real, you are what you feel. That’s what the Narrator sings at the beginning. That’s the one thing I always hung onto. Those Tim Rice lyrics are so tongue in cheek.’
He said that the Pharaoh role – designed as a mirror-image of Elvis – is ‘nicely paced, just right for me’.
Donovan stood up, went and hugged Yarrow, and declared: ‘The Pharaoh wasn’t this pale. I need to get a sun tan, mate.’