All over PBS on Wednesday (April 5) night will be composer

COLOR="#003163">Andrew Lloyd Webber, when the

public-broadcasting network's "Great Performances" series airs the world premiere of his Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

The production stars Donny Osmond, Maria Friedman, Sir Richard Attenborough and Joan Collins. It

will be directly followed by an encore broadcast of the 1985 production of Webber's "Requiem," recorded at St. Thomas Church in New York.

"In musical theater, our recent broadcasts of 'Cats' and the 'Andrew Lloyd Webber 50th Birthday Celebration' were exciting examples of how live theater can be translated into outstanding television," said Jac Venza, executive producer of "Great Performances."

"Requiem" features Plácido Domingo and Sarah Brightman under the musical direction of conductor Lorin Maazel. The broadcasts mark the premiere of "PBS Showcase," a new initiative to highlight culture-and-arts programs.

Religious texts and subjects have been recurring themes for Webber. From "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" through "Jesus Christ Superstar," "Requiem" and his current West End hit, "Whistle Down the Wind," the church organist's son has turned again and again to the Bible, liturgical texts and inspirational best sellers.

In his introduction to the television program, Osmond says that the main themes of Webber's career are, "in a nutshell, ... religion and the counterculture, the individual against society, sin and redemption — set to some of the most hummable tunes ever written."

Inspired both by the strife in Northern Ireland and by the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge, in Cambodia, "Requiem" is also a tribute to Webber's father.