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Lee Mead
Performing at Andrew Lloyd Webber's Birthday in the Park, September 2008
Background information
Birth name	Lee Stephen Mead
Born	14 July 1981 (1981-07-14) (age 28)
Origin	Southend-on-Sea, England
Genres	Musical theatre
Website	http://www.leemeadmusic.com/

Lee Stephen Mead (born 14 July 1981, Southend-on-Sea) is an English musical theatre actor, best known for winning the BBC reality talent show Any Dream Will Do.

Early Career

Mead gained professional stage experience in 2004, playing Levi (and later Pharaoh^[1]) in the touring production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. This was not the first time Mead and Joseph crossed paths. As a boy, Mead saw a production of Joseph and told his grandmother "That's who I want to be."^[2]

Following Joseph, Mead appeared as an ensemble player and understudy for the title role in Tommy. He also appeared in the touring production of Miss Saigon before joining the West End production of The Phantom of the Opera as an ensemble player and understudy for the role of Viscount Raoul de Chagny.

Any Dream Will Do

While performing in The Phantom of the Opera, Mead auditioned for the BBC series Any Dream Will Do, hoping to win a six-month contract playing Joseph in the 2007 West End revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Mead was selected as one of the top 20 finalists, and eventually won the role nine weeks later.

Announcing the result, Any Dream presenter Graham Norton told Mead: "You're now the star of Andrew's show and, officially, the People's Joseph." As winner, Mead gained a six-month contract to lead the revived 1991 London Palladium production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at London's Adelphi Theatre, with previews from 6 July and its first night on 17 July 2007. Booking was so fast that on 3 July 2007 — when the first three months were sold out — the producers extended the show's run and Mead's contract until 7 June 2008.^[3] Mead finished the role on 10th January 2009.^[4] From February 2009 Gareth Gates performed as "Joseph."

On 12 June 2007, Mead, with fellow finalists Lewis Bradley and Keith Jack, released a pair of songs on the Internet— "Any Dream Will Do" (performed by Mead) and "Close Every Door" (performed by all three finalists). Five days later, the songs entered the UK Singles Download Chart at No. 18. Six days after that, the songs peaked at No. 2.^[5] The proceeds from the songs went to the BBC's annual Children in Need charity appeal.^[6]

The 'People's Joseph'

When the box office opened 48 hours after Mead's win, bookings for the show’s revival ran much faster than they had been for The Sound Of Music in 2006, in which Connie Fisher had won the starring role of Maria in the BBC’s first search-for-a-star series, How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?, the London evening paper added. After Mead's win, tickets for the show's originally-planned six-month run sold so fast that his home town newspaper, The Echo, reported on 30 June that in three weeks all tickets for the first three months were sold out - and the producers had extended the show's run - and Mead's contract - until 7 June 2008.^[7]Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group confirmed that on 3 July 2007, adding that Mead, who had already foregone a week of holiday to which he was contractually entitled, would be taking off four weeks in January, March and May 2008.^[8]

Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group had on 27 June 2007 announced^[9] that it would donate all receipts from two special performances of the show's revived West End production to the BBC’s Children in Need charity appeal, which would benefit from ticket sales for 16 July’s booked-out preview and the sold-out 16 November performance, the night of the annual Children in Need telethon. Cast members, the group added, would not get the usual first night gifts on 17 July – the money would, instead, go to Children in Need.

Before opening night, the producers had banked more than £10 million (about US $20.4 million) in receipts from ticket sales, BBC One's breakfast show reported on air on 18 July – and the Daily Telegraph reported the next day.^[10]

Reviews

Critics did not enjoy their usual flawless evening out on 17 July's opening night. A revolving stage ground to a halt, bringing 'the multi-million pound production to a halt for fifteen minutes, the next day's Daily Mail reported.^[11] ‘A furious-looking Andrew Lloyd Webber leapt from his chair...and stropped off back stage.’ The doyen of UK theatre critics, The Guardian 's Michael Billington found the recreation of Steven Pimlott's 1991 Palladium production 'cutesy, camp ...and even by the self-parodic standards of a West End first night...a pretty bizarre occasion. The losers of TV's Any Dream Will Do competition were seated together like Joseph's envious brethren. Predatory camera crews roamed the aisles in the interval seeking soundbites'.^[12] ‘Joseph virgin’ Rhoda Koenig confessed in the Independent she had enjoyed herself. ‘Mead,' she admitted, 'more than fulfils the requirements, his way of filling a pleated loincloth...will appeal to all sexes.’^[13] The Daily Mail 's Quentin Letts, had ‘slowly thawed and by the end...Joseph had won me round. As it will do London.'^[14]

‘Lee Mead... certainly makes a stronger star than Jason Donovan, who came across as the Goldilocks of Genesis,’ wrote The Times 's Benedict Nightingale.^[15]‘Lee...was a West End star just waiting for a chance to shine...the sight of him in a loincloth almost called for the appearance of the St John Ambulance,’ wrote Alun Palmer in the Mirror.^[16]

‘The charisma of (1992’s) Phillip Schofield or (1991’s) Jason Donovan – whose coat Mead had inherited – passes him by...These limitations do not much reduce the special pleasures of the occasion, wrote The Evening Standard’s rigorous Nicholas de Jongh.^[17] The Daily Telegraph’s Charles Spencer admitted ‘to experiencing a sugar rush of pure pleasure...what Lee Mead has in spades is charm, crucial in a role that could easily seem unattractively priggish...'^[18]

“Well fit, great butt!” was novelist Tim Lott’s teenage daughter’s verdict on Mead in Joseph, anchor Mark Lawson said on BBC Radio 4’s daily Front Row arts magazine. His daughter "would not be that vulgar", Lott protested. That aside, the show was " very slick, very kitsch – and I really enjoyed it," he added. "It's sold so many tickets...it's critic-proof," said Lawson. At the BBC’s London regional website Mark Shenton felt Mead was picture-perfect. And, ‘with a resonant voice that's reminiscent of a young Michael Ball, he's pitch-perfect, too.'^[19] For the BBC Breakfast show's reviewer Mead was "a star". ‘Mead is in excellent form vocally,’ wrote The Stage's Lisa Martland. His..."Close Every Door", encapsulating both tenderness and defiance', was a highlight for her.^[20] ‘Lucky for the producers that...Mead comes up with the goods and appears relaxed and assured doing so.’ It would be, she added, a hit, ‘whatever the critics say’. For the Daily Express’s Paul Callan, Mead's ‘voice is clear, firm and convincing...there were moments when...audience went into sensual overdrive when almost all of his clothes fell away...’^[21]

‘In this musical about dreams coming true...Mead, from Essex, a cab driver’s son and winner of the television talent show...takes to the West End stage in nothing but a skimpy loincloth and a smile,’ wrote Christopher Hart in Sunday Times. ‘He’s perfect.’^[22] Mead ‘looks angelically innocent, takes being stripped to a loincloth in his stride, and sings "Close Every Door" with dusky mellifluousness’ wrote Kate Bassett in The Independent on Sunday.^[23] ‘Tuneful, charismatic and endearing’, he was a ‘faultless Joseph ...at once a torso-flashing pretty boy and serious West End player,’ wrote Barbara Ellen in 22 July’s The Observer.^[24]

Lord Arthur Savile's Crime

Following his successful run as Joseph in the West End, Mead has taken on a challenge. From January 12th 2010 he will be starring in Lord Arthur Savile's Crime by Oscar Wilde. Mead will be leading the cast playing the role of Lord Arthur, alongside many established performers such as Gary Wilmot, Kate O'Mara, David Ross and Derren Nesbitt. ^[25]

Other Concert Appearances

Discography

Albums

Singles

Awards

Charities

Lee Mead is patron of The Mushroom Theatre Company's charity Equal People. ^[31] This company is based in Rayleigh, Essex.

Mead also was ambassador of Vodafone's Cut It Out Campaign in 2008 which aimed to help reduce bullying by mobile phone. ^[32] The campaign worked alongside the West End stage production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat as it features a bullying story line.^[33] Children were asked to design their own coat for Joseph. Mead then wore the winning coats during Anti-Bullying week. Mead spoke frankly of his experiences with bullying. The Cut It Out campaign has won several awards and managed to raise £20,000 for Anti-Bullying Charities.^[34].

Into 2009, Mead continues to work hard for charity including the Music Members Benevolent Fund and Help for Heroes. He also continues to support Children In Need including a recording of a charity single for the cause.

Personal life

In November 2007, Mead began dating Any Dream Will Do judge, Denise Van Outen,^[35] who is seven years his senior. Lee and Denise moved into a new house in Kent according to The Sun newspaper. The couple announced their engagement on 29 January 2009^[36] and married in an intimate ceremony in the Seychelles in April 2009.^[37]. Van Outen and Mead are expecting their first child due in May 2010. ^[38]

References

External links

• Lee Mead's Official Music website.
• Official Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat website
• BBC's Any Dream Will Do series website