Originally posted on March 14th
This Saturday sees the start of the latest BBC series to find the star of musical theatre, but is this series going to live up to the previous two (How do you solve a problem like Maria and Any Dream Will Do)?
Whilst I’m sure I’ll be glued to the TV come Saturday, there are few things that worry me this time around…
1. How many people are we trying to find?
This time around, there will be 2 searches taking place concurrently – one for an actress to play the part of Nancy, and three boys to share the part of Oliver. Is an audience really going to want to see both of these at the same time? I have a feeling that the search for Oliver might end up being a side-show, a distraction from the main event that is the search for Nancy.
2. To vote or not to vote?
There has already been a fair bit of grumbling from avid talent-show watchers about the fact that the public will not be allowed to vote for the boys – instead, the decisions will be taken by the expert panel. Personally, I think it’s a sensible idea and it’s just not on to expose younger and younger people to the fickle nature of a prime-time audience. At least this way, they might be chosen on talent, rather than their ’story’ which should be a relief to true musical theatre fans.
3. What’s in it for the Lord?
This time around, Andrew Lloyd Webber is not producing the show, so has no vested interest from a financial perspective. He still gets the throne, but is he really going to feel the fear when deciding who to save, knowing that it’s someone else who is taking the commercial risk? I wonder why he isn’t producing the show – does he think it will be less successful?
4. Where’s Zoe?
The panel of judges has been reduced from 4 to 3 in this series, with Bill Kenwright and Zoe Tyler both missing out, to be replaced by Barry Humphries (Dame Edna in his spare time). This is the decision that I find most frustrating of all – the panel has lost the only judge that really cared about singing talent. Whilst the 3 performers (including John Barrowman and Denise Van Outen) clearly know plenty about musical theatre, they all invariably focus on performance and charisma. Personally, I care most about how well they can sing… someone needs to be on the panel who will tell the truth when one of the contestants is rubbish. Zoe added some serious experience to the group, and I’m sure I won’t be the only one to miss her.
So…
Having said all of that, I’ll still be tuning in on Saturday night, and keeping my fingers crossed that none of the problems I’m raised in this post actually detract from the show. I’ll be interested to see what the response is…
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