Introducing ... the new Joseph, Jonathan Parkin

2:32pm Friday 13th April 2007

THE BBC, Graham Norton and Andrew Lloyd Webber maybe wrapped up in picking the next Joseph for the West End in the talent knock-out show Any Dream Will Do, but Jonathan Parkin is already living the dream.

He has gone straight from a drama college scholarship at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts to wearing the coat of many colours in Bill Kenwright's tour of Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Next stop on his debut professional tour will be the Grand Opera House, in York.

Charles Hutchinson hears his story.

How did you land such a spectacular role for your professional debut?

"I was still at drama school at the time I got a call that they were trying to cast Joseph, which is a huge role to start your career with! I did the audition, then sang to impresario Bill Kenwright in the evening in London. That was on the Friday; I found out I'd got the job that night and went straight into rehearsals at 10am the following morning! I hadn't done anything like that before: a week of rehearsals and then straight into the show in Malvern, about ten or 11 weeks ago.

It's been very exciting."

Apparently you have previous history in Joseph in your schooldays...

I appeared in the show in the choir when I was ten, though I can't remember much about it as it was so long ago. It was with my school at the local theatre, and I just did the choir bits and pieces."

So that wasn't much help in preparing to play Joseph at a week's notice!

"No! I just had to get on with it and learn as much as I could as quickly as possible, going over it again and again.

That's how I do it, but then you also have to do all the blocking on stage when you don't know the words that well.

"All Joseph's brothers had been rehearsing for a week already, and the three girls and the narrator had been there for a few days too, and it was nice knowing that they'd had that extra week behind them. Everything was already in place and they could push me around!"

Did you feel pressure, stepping into rehearsals in the lead role a week after everyone else and fresh from college?

"I never really felt any pressure because there was no time for it. If I'd thought about the first night, it might not have gone so well, but in fact it went really well.

"I was nervous before the show but it was a fantastic experience, and I could enjoy a drink in the bar afterwards."

Does it help that Joseph is such a popular show?

"Everyone knows Joseph! It has so many good songs, like Any Dream Will Do and Close Every Door? but actually Joseph doesn't sing that often, though you see the coat 100 times, so maybe that's the real star of the show!"

Joseph has played the Grand Opera House more often than any other musical. Why is the show such a hit?

"It's not a hard musical to tap into. The songs are not taxing your hearing, unlike some of the epic musicals at the moment, and the story is told for you the whole way through, so if you've lost where you are, there's a narrator for you!"

How much can your training at drama college prepare you for the life of a professional actor?

"It can't prepare you for things like a live interview on BBC Radio Worcester after the first night, but it's all about performing and being confident, and I'm not a shy lad!"

What happens next?

"We finish this tour in July, and I haven't got anything else lined up yet - but there's plenty to do with this show!"

• Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Grand Opera House, York, April 16 to 21.

Box office: 0870 606 3595