LIKE Topsy in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, who explained her origins as “I’spect I grow’d’, so Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s show has also grown. Written as a 15-minute pop cantata for Colet Court School in London, it developed into a full scale musical that has endeared itself to the public for more than 50 years.

During those years there have been many productions featuring famous names – you will find David Cassidy, Jason Donovan and Donny Osmond among those who have played Joseph, but it is doubtful that any of those productions has been bigger in scope and more wholehearted than this one under the guidance of director-choreographer Lizzie Rose.

Marshalling 19 named cast members, a 26-strong ensemble, 14 children, another 14 sharing the poignant Canaan Days number, and four singers adding extra vocal volume from the pit, where they joined MD Rob Henderson and his fine 15-piece orchestra, Lizzie Rose produced a flamboyant production to match any that have gone before.

With three matinee performances to contend with during the week’s run you wonder if principals and ensemble can keep up that intensity without something giving way before the show ends on Saturday evening.

Especially admirable are Will Lunt and Emma Bingham, who leave nothing in the locker with their full-blooded portrayals of Joseph and the Narrator. Both blend very well with the children – Joseph in a mellow mood with Any Dream Will Do and Close Every Door, where the ensemble also put in a good shift, and the Narrator bringing them with delicate skill into the Jacob and Sons, Joseph’s Coat and A Pharaoh’s Story numbers.

Joseph and the Narrator are matched in commitment by the Brothers, with Edward Corbishley’s Reuben leading them and the elegant dancers in the poignant Those Canaan Days as they were when George Miles’ Reuben took over the leadership for the exuberant Benjamin Calypso.

And as if that were not enough changes in musical style for the company to deal with, there is the country and western hoedown One More Angel in Heaven, which gives us a chance to see Dave Key-Pugh’s patriarchal Jacob in his full glory and the vocal and dance talents of the Brothers and their Wives, and Matthew Graham’s Pharaoh in full flight with his flamboyant Elvis Presley-like Song of the King.

There were moments when the sheer pace of the production was a little overwhelming, but when you have a company of this size in full flight it is doubtful that the director could, or that it would have been profitable for her to have tried to rein in this on the verge of a runaway-horse production.

How successful this was can best be judged by the bubbling conversations of the exiting audience, many still singing along with some of those perennial hits from the short pop cantata that grow’d into one of the best-loved shows in the musical canon and can be seen in its full glory in this Bath Operatic and Dramatic Society production.

GRP