Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Richmond Theatre

Director Bill Kenwright - as chairman of Everton FC - would probably have admitted last night’s opening of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was a game of two halves.

Whether it was first night nerves or the fact the company were getting used to their new surroundings having arrived in west London earlier in the week for this six-day run, but even the inflatable sheep were a little off flat prior to the interval.

With the fact Craig Chalmers (Joseph) came fifth in the BBC’s reality talent search Any Dream Will Do nagging in the back of your mind, there was a slight sense of the ‘amateur dramatic’ behind the first hour.

This show has always been more about the songs than the story and it seemed the cast were going through the motions as they reeled off Joseph’s Coat and Any Dream, along with other favourites One More Angel in Heaven and Close Every Door.

A Go, Go, Jo lacking a little zip closed the first act and whether a long interval was deliberate or not, you could easily imagine Kenwright giving his own version of the hairdryer treatment at the break.

Whatever happened, it worked and the audience responded in kind.

Like Joseph’s own resurgence from an Egyptian prison, Chalmers seemed re-invigorated and the entire cast was suddenly on top of its game - with Adam Hepkin (Zebulun), Chris Dilley (Levi), Lee Mathieson (Napthali) and Scott Cripps’ Pharoah the pick.

By the time the closing medley of tracks - including a much crisper Go,Go, Jo - accompanied the finale, a young audience was raucously singing along and lapping up the encore.

Putting the first half down to the teething troubles of playing a new venue, I imagine Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber would be more than happy to give his stamp of approval on this long-running touring production

Stuart Amos