Any Dream Will Do’s Keith Jack leads Eastbourne Joseph show

Dreamcoat Stars plays the Congress Theatre in Eastbourne on March 15, Yvonne Arnaud, Guildford on Tuesday, March 26, The Hawth Theatre, Crawley on Wednesday, March 27 and the New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth on Friday, April 26 on its third UK tour.

The concert promises “everyone’s favourite West End and Broadway classics”, Les Misérables, We Will Rock You, Dirty Dancing, Hairspray, West Side Story and the toe-tapping Jersey Boys in a megamix production.

Among the performers will be Keith Jack for whom the BBC1 search-for-a-Joseph show Any Dream Will Do proved a massive turning point 17 years ago when he came in second in the contest. Shortly after the programme Keith joined the UK tour of Bill Kenwright’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in which he played The Narrator. He then created the lead role of Charlie in the new musical Only the Brave, which premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Then he returned to Joseph, taking over the lead part of Joseph for three years.

Dreamcoat Stars draws on those happy memories.

“It will be an evening of great classic songs and a few newer ones and we will chat a bit about ourselves. And what is great is going to be the range of musicals. Iit will be about enjoying the individual moments. Nobody will feel that they are more important than any one else. Everyone will be there in their own right.

“This is the first time that anybody has done a show like this with Joseph,” says Keith who for the first time in his career is co-producing for Dreamcoat Stars. “This is something that's completely brand new and is booking really well. People had never heard of it obviously but they're just seeing the posters and we're getting lots of sell-outs already and we're adding extra dates and shows which is lovely.”

For Keith, last year, the show was confirmation that we're putting the pandemic behind us: “I think there's still a little bit of hesitancy but I think it's people that are worried about the fuel and gas crisis. I was on a plane a few days ago and I could hear people saying that they're going to have to watch the electric and I think it is worrying people.”

Keith recently finished playing the role of Alistair in the Edinburgh festival and UK premier of Sincerely Mr Toad and was in HMS Pinafore playing the part of Ralph Rackstraw. Pantomimes include Aladdin in Aladdin and Prince in Sleeping Beauty (King’s Theatre Glasgow), the title role in Peter Pan (His Majesty’s Theatre in Aberdeen) and Prince Charming in Cinderella (Whitley Bay) Dick Whittington (Maidstone).

Concerts include performing in front of the Queen and the Spanish Royal Family at the Parliament Picnic, The Great Scot Awards, Scottish Hotel of the Year Awards and Choices for Life 2008 & 2009 playing to over 100,000.