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
