Defeated :(
It’s been several weeks now, so I’m coping, thanks for your sympathy!
Regular visitors of my blog will probably have read my post about the BBC search for Dorothy. I have never ever been wrong about the winner in previous searches. But two weeks ago my favourite – Stephanie – was voted off *sob*
Coming Saturday is the final with Danielle, Lauren and Sophie. Although I love Sophie’s voice, the other two are better dancers, so I think either Danielle or Lauren will win. No bets from me, I’ve lost all confidence now I’ve been proven wrong with my initial winner!
Although there are people who hate these searches for the lead in a musical, I love them! It’s too bad there’s always money involved (hence the paid public votes), as it’s not about the one who’s the most popular or has the most friends voting for her/him, but it’s about the best singer/actor/dancer, which – in my opinion – only a jury of professionals can decide.
To keep track – and just because I love lists – here are the searches we had so far. I’ve said it before, we (the kids and I) cheered for the person of our choice, almost always from show #1 and we’ve never been wrong… until Dorothy 🙁
2006 – How do you solve a problem like Maria? (BBC)
Maria in Sound of Music
Won by Connie Fisher
(Manon and I saw her live at the London Palladium, too bad we didn’t have time to wait at the stage door as we had tickets to another musical that same day)
2007 – Op zoek naar Evita (Avro, Dutch TV)
Evita in Evita
Won by Brigitte Heitzer
(Knew beforehand that I wouldn’t see her live as I already saw Evita and it’s not one of my favourites – and that’s an understatement)
2007 – Any dream will do (BBC)
Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Won by Lee Mead
(Saw him twice at the London Adelphi and he completely swept me of my feet when I ‘met’ him at the stage door – also known as scrum, because there were so many fans present and many of them were pushing, lol)
2008 – I’d do anything (BBC)
Nancy in Oliver!
Won by Jodie Prenger
(Seriously planned on seeing her live in the Summer of 2009, but I broke my leg and couldn’t travel to London *sob*)
2008 – Op zoek naar Joseph (Avro)
Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Won by Freek Bartels
(First saw him as Enjolras in Les Mis and knew he could be Joseph. Saw him live and he was awesome – though not as good as Lee though :p
2010 – Op zoek naar Maria (Avro)
Mary in Mary Poppins
Won by Noortje Herlaar
(according to producer Cameron Mackintosh, and his Disney associates, the best Mary Poppins ever! They immediately invited her to New York. For now she’s Mary in Holland and we’re frantically saving money to see the show)
2010 – Over the rainbow (BBC)
Dorothy in The Wizard of Ozz
Final: May 22, 2010
No matter who will win, I’m sure we will see more of all three of them (and other contestants as well). Contestants from Maria were understudies for Connie, and some of the other would-be-Josephs were understudies for Lee or Joseph in the UK touring production.
2010 – Op zoek naar Zorro (Avro)
Zorro in Zorro
Auditions are done, live shows will start this Fall. Not sure what to expect, but I know one of our fav Dutch actors is still in the race 🙂 Not saying anything about who we are voting for though, nope, hush, zip the lip, not a word from me!
No matter how you look at it. That’s an impressive track record Antoinette.
We don’t do this in Australia and I’m not sure why. We’re certainly into the whole voting show genre. It’s seems a brilliant marketing technique. At the end of the day you have a show with a lead who already has a current, enthusiastic fan base. And a fan base who feel a sense of ‘ownership’ of that person and are more likely to want to go and buy tickets for the show.
You’re right Karen, but still it feels like a massive loss. Maybe because there were so many wins in a row.
I have no doubt that it was a smart producer who started these shows.
As you so correctly point out, the public feels connected to the winner because they’ve gone through the whole process of auditioning live on television with that winner.
At the start of the search for the Dutch Mary Poppins the box office opened. Within a few weeks 200.000 were sold! *ka-ching*
It’s an ‘open-end’ production (it will stay as long as there’s a good amount of cards being sold) so it’ll run for at least 2 years. But I do want to see Noortje, and I’m afraid she will be rushed off to Broadway, so we’re in a hurry!