I spoke to Joe McElderry ahead of Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat's Blackpool arrival

South Shields born star Joe McElderry rose to fame as the winner of ITV’s The X Factor back in 2009 and four years later he received rave reviews as the iconic Joseph in the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Now, ten years later, the 33-year-old is back on the road again with the much loved musical, but this time he has swapped that technicolour dreamcoat for a very regal headdress as he plays the Pharoah to Adam Filipe’s Joseph.

This new production of Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat heads to the Blackpool Winter Gardens between Wednesday, April 9 and Sunday, April 13.

Before his arrival in the seaside town, Joe sat down for chat with us to talk all things Joseph and Blackpool so find out what he had to say below...

How are you feeling about bringing Joseph to Blackpool?

“I’m really excited. Obviously, I've been to Blackpool many, many times with my own shows and I think the last time I was at the Winter Gardens was possibly with the old production of Joseph, and we're now coming back with the brand new palladium production. So it's very exciting, and it's quite nostalgic for me, obviously, coming back to a show and playing Pharoah but it's a brand new, fresh version so it's been really exciting to see the reaction on the road from the audience. We've been having a blast.”

What are Blackpool audiences like?

“They're normally quite rowdy, if I remember rightly, they're always up for a good time and they always join in at the right moments. They always love a good night out in Blackpool don’t they, I'm always told.”

Speaking of nights out, do you think you'll have any plans in Blackpool outside of the shows?

“I hope so! I mean, one of the famous things that everybody always tells everybody to go to is Funny Girls so we're trying to work out if we can go. I mean, the only problem is we're always so busy with the shows so it's trying to squeeze in some socializing time in between the shows. So if we can get to Funny Girls, we'll definitely be there.”

What is Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is like?

“Well Joseph is the story of a family with 11 brothers and Joseph has these dreams that he sees, and he's kind of the special number one son, shall we say, idolized by Jacob. Without spoiling too much, things go a little bit pear shaped. These brothers, through jealousy and resentment, almost set him up to fail, really, so it's a story about family relationships but it's got a great resolve at the end of it. And the thing about Joseph is, the songs are fantastic. You've got raw emotion in places, you've got the fun, the happy, the up tempo, the emotional bits. There's something there for everyone and the songs are so catchy, you can't help but sing along. It's fantastic.”

You've already mentioned how you played Joseph a few years ago so why did you want to return to the show?

“Well I was asked. I mean, I've worked with the producers of the show for many years on other productions, and they said we've had this idea. Donny Osmond played Pharaoh in Edinburgh at Christmas, and then I took over from him, Jason Donovan had done it previously and I think they wanted to make it this thing of welcoming back the Josephs that have been a big part of the Joseph family to play the Pharaoh. And it's a really nice thing to be able to do, because you don't really get to realize the impact of the show when you're in a musical. You do the show, you finish the run, and you kind of move on to the next project so to come back to a show with a such a fantastic fan base - you know, some of the best and most loyal fans are Joseph fans- and to meet people at stage doors and see their reaction from the stage of how they felt when you played Joseph, and then they come back and they're like ‘it's great that you're back in the show in a different role’. It's a nice full circle moment, it's lovely.”

You first stepped on stage as Joseph a decade ago so what has changed for yourself as a performer between then and now?

“Obviously I'm a lot more experienced, I suppose I'm a lot older and with that comes a little bit more wisdom. But I think also to come back to this, it feels kind of celebratory in the sense of I'm just here to have a great time and have fun with the audience. It's a real step back in nostalgiq, but a fresh role in a brand new production and I'm allowed to just come and have fun and have a bit of a play around with the audience. And the Pharaoh moment in the show very much becomes its own little concert inside the show and you can tell the audience love when that happens. So we do a bit of audience reaction with them, and play around with them. It's just fun and I think after the pandemic and coming back into the industry after the pandemic, it's lovely to be in a show where everybody's just leaving smiling- packed houses of people coming just to have a great time. It's really special. “

You've already started answering my next question but why should people in Blackpool get tickets to come see you this time around?

“The wonderful thing about this show is it spans so many decades of ages. You can bring grandchildren, grandparents, aunties, uncles, parents, you know, it's a real family show, and you can't help but smile when you leave. It's fantastic.”

Is there anything else in the pipeline for you to mention after Joseph?

“Well, I go straight on a solo tour. It's only a short tour due to schedules because I haven't really got a lot of time but I'm doing about 10 shows in the autumn and then I go straight back to the Theater Royal in Newcastle to do the new production of Aladdin pantomime so it's a very jan packed year!”.

What's so different about doing your own show versus when you're in a production?

“Obviously when you're doing your own show, the pressure and the intensity all lies on you, because there's nothing else to hide behind. You're singing your music, and it's you, you're in control of that and that is a completely different ball game and beast in itself. But in a show, there's nothing better than being surrounded b so many other performers on stage. It's like a wall of confidence. It makes you feel fantastic and it's lovely to be up there with people, because you bounce off each other. There's nothing like doing your own concert and the audience singing your music back to you but there's also nothing like doing a musical and being on stage with other people singing and having the best time and all doing something that we all love.”