London 'Joseph' Revival to Offer Two Benefit Performances

Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group (RUG) is supporting this year's BBC Children in Need by staging two special benefit performances of the new West End production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

RUG will donate all box office receipts from performances on July 16th and November 16th, the night of BBC Children in Need.

The winners of the nationwide Joseph choir search, Brampton Primary School in East Ham, will perform at the BBC Children in Need performance on 16th November. RUG is covering all the costs of rehearsals, transport and costumes for the winning school.

RUG will also be making a donation to BBC Children in Need in lieu of traditional first night gifts on July 17th.

"Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was first performed at Colet Court in South West London nearly 30 years ago. Since then the musical's popularity has grown due to the countless school productions, which have been staged. It is estimated that the show has been performed in nearly 20,000 schools and local theatres, involving 700,000 performers of all ages, and with an audience in excess of nine million. Today there are nearly 500 school and amateur productions each year in the UK," state press notes.

In recognition of this, from July 1st until January 31st 2008 proceeds from the licensing of productions of the Joseph stage show to schools and churches in the UK will also be donated to BBC Children in Need.

André Ptaszynski, Chief Executive Officer of the Really Useful Group, said: "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat has never betrayed its roots as a musical written for schools. Therefore, it seems appropriate that the new West-End production benefits BBC Children in Need, which specifically helps disadvantaged children and young people in the UK".

Donations from the various aspects of the stage show form part of a wider contribution, which includes a BBC Children in Need single released by Polydor under licence from RUG. The single includes a new recording of 'Any Dream Will Do' by the public's Joseph Lee Mead and the heart-wrenching 'Close Every Door' by Lee and the other two finalists Keith Jack and Lewis Bradley. All net proceeds from the sale of the single will go to BBC Children in Need.

Visit www.josephthemusical.com or www.reallyuseful.com for more information.

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