Only 6 remained, and one had to go on last week's Any Dream Will Do but the wrong guy got sent home and the standard of the show took another dip.
I really do feel like a broken record now, but it's got to the stage that I can't be bothered watching one karaoke programme after another. OK I know some of these guys have brilliant voices and at least one of them is a West End star but the songs are, quite frankly, boring same 0ld same old renditions of Sunfly number 593 (or whatever).
The only saving grace of the show was the group numbers - That's Life and Don't Rain On My Parade - well at least one of them was a "proper" musical theatre song and they were both very entertaining.
Gobsmacked doesn't quite cover the esteemed Lord Webber's decision to keep Lewis and get rid of Daniel. Going on the sing-off alone, Daniel Boys walked it while Lewis's participation in Bring Him Home from Les Miserable was just that, miserable.
I'm now at the stage where I'm only watching this rather pointless search for the Joseph lead in the hope that the TV audience vote for the right person in the end. No one else but Lee Mead can pull this part off; the rest are OK sometimes, good occasionally and bordering on hopeless at the best of times.
Who knows though, maybe tonight will surprise us all and we'll get some real musical theatre... but I doubt it. My prediction for tonight's sharp exit has to be Craig, but that's based on my wish to see him leave rather than any faith I have in the public vote, or some of the judges comments. I have a feeling that Keith's luck will run out though, since Ben's dramatic turnaround seemed to do something for the judges last week. And Lewis, well I guess we'll see, his energy has definitely taken a dip, and if he can't stand the heat once a week then putting him in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat would be one huge gamble.
Saturday 26 May 2007
Sunday 13 May 2007
Lee Mead Gets "Awesome" reviews on Any Dream Will Do
Finally, we start to see a real star emerging through the dross this programme has offered so far. Lee Mead is not only a likely winner, he's the only winner going on this week's performance.
Described as "awesome" and "phenomenal" by the judges, Lee's performance of Leave Right Now (Will Young), was breathtaking. He captured the song perfectly, and delivered it like the professional he obviously is. Now, I know there is a bit of controversy about Lee being in the show in the first place, as he does have experience in the West End already. But more fool to the producers who have overlooked this guy's talent before, he really does have everything.
Apart from Lee, the only other person who came near was Keith, again. Singing Always On My Mind to show his "maturity", I'm still not sure that he has the right persona for Joseph. His first West End role could certainly be one of the brothers though.
Lewis gave a decent performance of I'm A Believer and didn't really deserve to be in the sing-off, and while Daniel's Maggie May was good from the vocal perspective, his overall stage presence lacks that certain spark needed to be a West End lead.
Poor little Ben is really trying his best isn't he? Singing Help Yourself, a Tom Jones number, he did entertain the audience and would have been fantastic in a cabaret bar or cruise ship, but he is not Joseph by the biggest stretch of the imagination. Craig, too, is trying to move away from the cabaret sound; unfortunately that is probably about as far as he'll ever get.
Rob had to go sometime, and though I probably would have put him above Craig and Ben this week it will spare him the pain of struggling through another show. Once again, he was given the wrong song, Born To Run. I just don't see how he could have proved his musical theatre potential with yet another rock number.
While I'm on a rant about the musical theatre genre, my Grease Is The Word review delves into the opinion that songs by Abba or Queen are NOT musical theatre!
All that's left to say about Any Dream Will Do for this week though, is ... Lee Mead could start seriously learning all the Joseph songs and the script now. He should play the leading role in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat!
Described as "awesome" and "phenomenal" by the judges, Lee's performance of Leave Right Now (Will Young), was breathtaking. He captured the song perfectly, and delivered it like the professional he obviously is. Now, I know there is a bit of controversy about Lee being in the show in the first place, as he does have experience in the West End already. But more fool to the producers who have overlooked this guy's talent before, he really does have everything.
Apart from Lee, the only other person who came near was Keith, again. Singing Always On My Mind to show his "maturity", I'm still not sure that he has the right persona for Joseph. His first West End role could certainly be one of the brothers though.
Lewis gave a decent performance of I'm A Believer and didn't really deserve to be in the sing-off, and while Daniel's Maggie May was good from the vocal perspective, his overall stage presence lacks that certain spark needed to be a West End lead.
Poor little Ben is really trying his best isn't he? Singing Help Yourself, a Tom Jones number, he did entertain the audience and would have been fantastic in a cabaret bar or cruise ship, but he is not Joseph by the biggest stretch of the imagination. Craig, too, is trying to move away from the cabaret sound; unfortunately that is probably about as far as he'll ever get.
Rob had to go sometime, and though I probably would have put him above Craig and Ben this week it will spare him the pain of struggling through another show. Once again, he was given the wrong song, Born To Run. I just don't see how he could have proved his musical theatre potential with yet another rock number.
While I'm on a rant about the musical theatre genre, my Grease Is The Word review delves into the opinion that songs by Abba or Queen are NOT musical theatre!
All that's left to say about Any Dream Will Do for this week though, is ... Lee Mead could start seriously learning all the Joseph songs and the script now. He should play the leading role in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat!
Saturday 12 May 2007
Any Dream Will Do - Tickets are on sale for Joseph!
I only discovered this the other day, but the tickets are already on sale for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in the West End. I'm sure that whoever wins will do a very good job, and it would be fantastic to see the show again.
I've never managed to make it to London for The Sound of Music to see Connie Fisher playing Maria so I'm not taking the chance of missing Joseph!
I've never managed to make it to London for The Sound of Music to see Connie Fisher playing Maria so I'm not taking the chance of missing Joseph!
Any Dream Will Do - Fourth Show Review
Another week, another let down!
I've said this before, but if I was in Andrew Lloyd Webber's shoes right now I'd be worried, extremely worried. Apart from Keith - who probably doesn't quite look the part - there wasn't much to shout about last week, never mind pay £70 a ticket for.
Ben is hanging on with the skin of his teeth, Craig isn't doing much better and Rob will be lucky to make through the next couple of weeks.
As for the rest, if they had decent songs to sing we might get a better perspective. I feel like a broken record for saying this again, but if I wanted to hear All Night Long and December 1963 I'd go and dig out my old 7" singles! This show is supposed to be about musical theatre, but right from the beginning it has drifted toward cheesy, bordering on boring, pop tunes.
Lewis is still in with a decent chance, not in my top 3 last week but could still turn it around. Keith had a great week and I can see him getting stronger and more confident as the show goes on. My favourite is still Lee, at the moment, but we'll see.
I shouldn't forget to mention that Chris Barton went home and not before time. Sorry Chris but you just didn't fill my world with Technicolor dreams!
Roll on the next show, but please give us some musicals - that's why we tuned in at the beginning, is it not?
I've said this before, but if I was in Andrew Lloyd Webber's shoes right now I'd be worried, extremely worried. Apart from Keith - who probably doesn't quite look the part - there wasn't much to shout about last week, never mind pay £70 a ticket for.
Ben is hanging on with the skin of his teeth, Craig isn't doing much better and Rob will be lucky to make through the next couple of weeks.
As for the rest, if they had decent songs to sing we might get a better perspective. I feel like a broken record for saying this again, but if I wanted to hear All Night Long and December 1963 I'd go and dig out my old 7" singles! This show is supposed to be about musical theatre, but right from the beginning it has drifted toward cheesy, bordering on boring, pop tunes.
Lewis is still in with a decent chance, not in my top 3 last week but could still turn it around. Keith had a great week and I can see him getting stronger and more confident as the show goes on. My favourite is still Lee, at the moment, but we'll see.
I shouldn't forget to mention that Chris Barton went home and not before time. Sorry Chris but you just didn't fill my world with Technicolor dreams!
Roll on the next show, but please give us some musicals - that's why we tuned in at the beginning, is it not?
Saturday 5 May 2007
Will Any Dream Will Do beat Grease Is The Word again?
Last week, 28th April, a huge audience of 6.8 million people tuned into Any Dream Will Do versus Grease Is The Word which pulled in 4.5 million viewers, according to the TV ratings.
I wouldn't be surprised if Grease beats Joseph tonight though. After last Saturday's dull offering, Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat just wasn't cutting the cloth.
The two shows going head to head is a pointless exercise anyway, the real fans will watch one and record one, or pick up Grease Is The Word on the repeats. Any Dream Will Do is also being shown on the TV replay service, so the strength and accuracy of the ratings is debatable.
Tonight, I'd like to see Ben going out, but predict that Craig may not win over the home voting audience.
I wouldn't be surprised if Grease beats Joseph tonight though. After last Saturday's dull offering, Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat just wasn't cutting the cloth.
The two shows going head to head is a pointless exercise anyway, the real fans will watch one and record one, or pick up Grease Is The Word on the repeats. Any Dream Will Do is also being shown on the TV replay service, so the strength and accuracy of the ratings is debatable.
Tonight, I'd like to see Ben going out, but predict that Craig may not win over the home voting audience.
Monday 30 April 2007
Curtain down for Antony and Seamus
Two sing-offs, two contestants sent home - dreams were shattered for Seamus and Antony on Any Dream Will Do's third live week.
It was certainly a show of two-halves, with a double elimination over the course of both parts of the program.
In the earlier show, Antony found himself up against Craig in the first sing-off. The challenge for this week was the Bryan Adams class, Everything I Do (I Do It For You). Andrew Lloyd Webber could have saved himself the trouble of coming back later and just got rid of both of them at this point, as neither lived up to the level needed to perform in the kids' choir, never mind the leading role. He couldn't do that though, could he, so rightly picked the worse of the two and got rid of Antony, soft-soaping him by saying he will one day be "performing eight times a week in a West End show". It sounds to me not so much like high hopes, more like false hopes.
The second person to get the axe was the unfortunate Seamus. Now despite all the things I said before about this guy, he absolutely did not deserve to go home. Going head-to-head with Ben, they sang He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother. ALW saved Ben, without giving much of a decent explanation behind his decision, and Seamus got the boot. While I don't agree, Seamus didn't do himself any favours by his not so subtle hint about a "conspiracy" in the camp.
And so there were eight. Do us a favour please, quit the cheesy pop tunes and give us some musical theatre. After all, isn't this what the show is supposed to be about?
Week 3 main review
It was certainly a show of two-halves, with a double elimination over the course of both parts of the program.
In the earlier show, Antony found himself up against Craig in the first sing-off. The challenge for this week was the Bryan Adams class, Everything I Do (I Do It For You). Andrew Lloyd Webber could have saved himself the trouble of coming back later and just got rid of both of them at this point, as neither lived up to the level needed to perform in the kids' choir, never mind the leading role. He couldn't do that though, could he, so rightly picked the worse of the two and got rid of Antony, soft-soaping him by saying he will one day be "performing eight times a week in a West End show". It sounds to me not so much like high hopes, more like false hopes.
The second person to get the axe was the unfortunate Seamus. Now despite all the things I said before about this guy, he absolutely did not deserve to go home. Going head-to-head with Ben, they sang He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother. ALW saved Ben, without giving much of a decent explanation behind his decision, and Seamus got the boot. While I don't agree, Seamus didn't do himself any favours by his not so subtle hint about a "conspiracy" in the camp.
And so there were eight. Do us a favour please, quit the cheesy pop tunes and give us some musical theatre. After all, isn't this what the show is supposed to be about?
Week 3 main review
Sunday 29 April 2007
Not impressed - my dream is nearly over.
I'm afraid the third live show in the Any Dream Will Do series completely failed to impress me last night. It's not just the standard, I'm sure some of the contestants have a lot more to give than we've seen, and this is part of the problem.
A prime example of this was the prattle about the home audience disagreeing with the judges views last week. Of course this is going to happen, the viewing public are being short changed on seeing the real journey the boys are taking from one week to the next. The judges are seeing the whole thing from a different perspective; the rehearsals, what the singing coaches are saying; the dance practice and acting classes.
If you remember the first series of Pop Idol, this was one of the best things about the programme. The viewers got to see the finalists actually working, from the vocal warm-ups right through to the finished performance. This is where Joseph, Maria, Grease Is The Word - and all the rest - fail to deliver, giving instead an increasingly dumbed down experience.
Rant over, now for the quicker-than-usual review!
Since there were two knockouts over the course of the two shows, I'll cover them both in my results review.
London Theatre Breaks - top show and hotel from £49 p/p
A prime example of this was the prattle about the home audience disagreeing with the judges views last week. Of course this is going to happen, the viewing public are being short changed on seeing the real journey the boys are taking from one week to the next. The judges are seeing the whole thing from a different perspective; the rehearsals, what the singing coaches are saying; the dance practice and acting classes.
If you remember the first series of Pop Idol, this was one of the best things about the programme. The viewers got to see the finalists actually working, from the vocal warm-ups right through to the finished performance. This is where Joseph, Maria, Grease Is The Word - and all the rest - fail to deliver, giving instead an increasingly dumbed down experience.
Rant over, now for the quicker-than-usual review!
- Seamus - I thought he did a very good job of Start Me Up, I was beginning to warm to him.
- Lewis - not as good as last week, the song (I Saw Her Standing There) is much too karaoke-esque for my liking and didn't do him any favours
- Rob - an ok attempt at Pretty Woman, but if I wanted more karaoke I'd have gone down the local pub.
- Antony - sorry but it was awful. Take That would be cringing at his woeful attempt at Patience.
- Chris - average, trying-hard-not-to-be-in-the-bottom-two, performance of Tell Her About It. Don't bother Chris, it wasn't worth listening to.
- Ben - Life Is A Rollercoaster. "Best performance of the series" according to Mr Barrowman..mmm... whatever, he won't last much longer.
- Daniel - One of the best of a mediocre bunch. His number, The Lady Is A Tramp, at least gave us a rest from the now familiar, but boring, pop song direction the show has taken.
- Lee - I'm not sure about "perfection" as Bill commented, but Lee was easily the front runner with his rendition of Rod Stewart's I Don't Want To Talk About It.
- Keith - fantastic! While he might not be exactly right as Joseph, this boy really works hard and you could see a huge difference from last week. Ok, his dance moves during Crocodile Rock leave a little room for improvement, but what a voice this wee lad has!
- Craig - one word, cabaret. Not that I'm running down cabaret singers, I love them, but this is a West End audition show, and I would not be rushing out to buy a ticket if he was to win the part.
Since there were two knockouts over the course of the two shows, I'll cover them both in my results review.
London Theatre Breaks - top show and hotel from £49 p/p
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