Longest-ever serving Joseph in Dreamcoat Stars

Among them is Mike Holoway who played Joseph at the Swansea Grand when he was 19, going on to become the longest Joseph ever, totalling more than 4,000 performances in the role spanning a 24-year period. Dates include The Hawth, Crawley on Wednesday, March 15; Yvonne Arnaud, Guildford on Saturday, April 1; New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth on Thursday, April 27 and the Royal Hippodrome Theatre, Eastbourne on Saturday, May 27: “It is great to be working with this visionary company now,” Mike said: “After the pandemic, the entertainment industry was completely obliterated in so many ways so it's great that a middle-sized company like this was able to pop up and get out there and make some great work touring middle-sized venues. It is right for our times and exciting now because this is a show that's very much a talent show in terms of the people doing sound, the people doing the costumes, the lighting, the performers, the producers, just everything about it. It is done by people who are the best in the business. I first played Joseph when I was 19 at the Swansea Grand Theatre, and I was out of my pop career by then.”

Mike was the drummer and percussionist in Flintlock and at the same time became an actor, notably in the cult TV series The Tomorrow People. He made his first TV appearance with the Young Revivals; two years later they changed their name to Flintlock, making numerous TV appearances on programmes including Blue Peter, Magpie and Top of the Pops.

“I was 13 when I was on Top of the Pops. We were one of the very first teenybop boy bands but it was not always a very pleasant journey. Around the early 70s and mid 70s before punk rock came along, everything was experimental. There were no ground rules and we were overwhelmed by the effect that pop stardom had on teenagers. No one knew how to cope with it and it was a bit scary to be honest. We were not equipped go through all that as just kids but after punk rock came along, glam rock almost overnight was history and my manager thought it would be quite cute to cross over into theatre.

"I auditioned and I just thought let's see how it goes. I got the part of Joseph and I did a six-week run and then I went on and did other things like Grease and Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar and Tommy, various rock musicals and I also did Pirates of Penzance in the West End. I learned my craft from studying the people and just doing it. Back then in the theatre there were no click tracks or vocal enhancements. You had to actually deliver the goods yourself.”

Joseph just kept dragging him back across those 24 years: “I think the great Josephs are the ones where there is no ego, where ego just doesn't takeover so that it is definitely played as a team performance. Joseph is the best and just gives you goosebumps when everyone is working together properly. Joseph is obviously the main role and you've also got the narrator but when everyone is playing together then the effect can be devastating.

" If you've got a good pool of talent and everyone is equipped with the charisma that they need, then all the brothers come to life and you’ve got a great narrator and it all works just perfectly with Joseph – this wonderful story of this boy who's downtrodden and who could have become bitter against his brothers but who in the end just tests the thief and then find it in his heart to forgive them all.”