Gareth Gates to play Joseph

Gareth Gates to play Joseph
Gareth Gates to play Joseph (Image credit: PA)

Gareth Gates is to "fulfil a dream" by making his West End stage debut as Joseph. The singer and Pop Idol runner-up will take over the lead role from Lee Mead in the musical Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in February 2009. Lee, who won the BBC's talent search Any Dream Will Do is leaving the Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber show in January. Gareth, who earlier this year showed his skating skills in ITV1 show Dancing On Ice, revealed that he first found he was able to sing when he was in the school production of the Joseph musical at the tender age of eight. He said: "My mum was over the moon, she was in floods of tears, which is why it always means a lot to me." Gareth was suffering from a migraine during a press conference at the Adelphi and at times struggled to get his words out. But asked if his stammer, which he has tackled with speech therapy, made stage shows more difficult than concerts for him, Gareth said: "No. It's really good with Joseph, there is not much speaking. That is less of an issue." Trying on the famous dreamcoat, which was handed to him by Lee, Gareth said: "Wearing the coat for the first time was the most amazing thing, it really, really was. "It is really, really heavy as well."

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