There hasn’t been a professional Australian staging of this early Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice hit since 1993, so fans are understandably excited about this new production fresh from the West End. They will probably not be disappointed, as the cast is mostly strong, and it looks good, from colourful set to lively choreography.

Euan Fistrovic Doidge as Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Photo supplied

Others may feel uncomfortable with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’s veering into cultural appropriation as it bounces between music genres, and how the production doubles down on that with cultural clichés. Sometimes this show feels stuck in 1993, if not 1968, when Joseph began as a much shorter ‘pop cantata’.

It’s a sung-through, lightweight telling of the ancient biblical story of Joseph, the favourite among Jacob’s 12 sons. When Joseph receives a beautiful coat from his father, his jealous brothers throw him down a well, then sell him into slavery (which sounds irredeemably grim but is somehow played for laughs). He ends up in Egypt, where Joseph’s ability to interpret dreams ultimately leads to him becoming the pharaoh’s right-hand man. He’s such a...