Reasonably-priced Love, a Hard-Boiled Egg and Dorothy
Today, you should know where your towel is. And remember that you stand for Truth, Justice, Reasonably Priced Love and a Hard-Boiled Egg. For it is the Glorious 25th of May.
Watched finale of Over the Rainbow last night. it's been an interesting ride. No real clear squee or fervour, or massively obvious frontrunner, so people've been watching it with almost clinical interest. Though everyone had been predicting the winner from the beginning, Danielle Hope. Which probably says something about the viewers more than the competitors - we've been watching this kind of thing, know the type of person people are likely to vote for, and the type most likely to shine on tv and what Andrew's looking for.
Lauren getting through to the final wasn't a surprise whatsoever, given the praise she'd been given and how many times she'd been saved - great singer, just did *not* connect with the public and tended to play to the gods above all else - complete lack of subtlety. Good for theatre, almost certainly, will be employed by ALW in the future, but given the public didn't like her that much, unlikely she was going to win it once it was pure public vote, and out she went in the first round of the finale.
Sophie was a surprise, though. She was an interesting case. Not the most confident girl unless she was really enjoying herself, not that experienced, decent dancer, decent actress, lovely voice. Generally considered very sweet. But only ended up in the sing-off *once*, unlike the others in the competition. Which does show how far being liked and doing decently can get you when there's no clear stand-out. She did a nice job.
Danielle : got the Judy Garland-esque looks, came off extremely well on tv (confident but not overly, good range of voice, good actress - something so very natural about her acting, good dancer. Not the best dancer or singer, but good package) Did herself proud in the finale - Over the Rainbow, If I Only Had A Brain, 76 Trombones and the repeat of Mambo Italiano.
I did rather like my parents' comments - Dad wandered in and out at the beginning, mum stayed for most of it. Both of them pointed at Danielle after about two seconds of watching with 'She *looks* like Dorothy.' and then got taken aback when I answered 'What, twelve years old and blonde?' Heh. Yes, people, Judy Garland is not the be-all and end-all. Mum rather liked Danielle's performance - the natural thing, essentially, and loved her 76 Trombones as a stage performance. I told her she had to watch Mambo Italiano when it came on, and her big grin at the end of that was exactly the grin everyone had when Danielle did it first time round, including 'Andrew's loving this.' Interestingly, she took an instant dislike to Lauren on the basis of her acting and was heard to exclaim several times 'She's not even *looking* at him!' during 'If I Only Had a Brain'. Critique being that Lauren didn't connect to anyone on-stage and was constantly overdoing it. She agrees that Sophie is very sweet, but wasn't sure about her overall. And she nearly wet herself at St. Sheila's comments and couldn't believe how orange Partridge was. (yes, I do use my mum as voice of the general musical-going public)
Watched finale of Over the Rainbow last night. it's been an interesting ride. No real clear squee or fervour, or massively obvious frontrunner, so people've been watching it with almost clinical interest. Though everyone had been predicting the winner from the beginning, Danielle Hope. Which probably says something about the viewers more than the competitors - we've been watching this kind of thing, know the type of person people are likely to vote for, and the type most likely to shine on tv and what Andrew's looking for.
Lauren getting through to the final wasn't a surprise whatsoever, given the praise she'd been given and how many times she'd been saved - great singer, just did *not* connect with the public and tended to play to the gods above all else - complete lack of subtlety. Good for theatre, almost certainly, will be employed by ALW in the future, but given the public didn't like her that much, unlikely she was going to win it once it was pure public vote, and out she went in the first round of the finale.
Sophie was a surprise, though. She was an interesting case. Not the most confident girl unless she was really enjoying herself, not that experienced, decent dancer, decent actress, lovely voice. Generally considered very sweet. But only ended up in the sing-off *once*, unlike the others in the competition. Which does show how far being liked and doing decently can get you when there's no clear stand-out. She did a nice job.
Danielle : got the Judy Garland-esque looks, came off extremely well on tv (confident but not overly, good range of voice, good actress - something so very natural about her acting, good dancer. Not the best dancer or singer, but good package) Did herself proud in the finale - Over the Rainbow, If I Only Had A Brain, 76 Trombones and the repeat of Mambo Italiano.
I did rather like my parents' comments - Dad wandered in and out at the beginning, mum stayed for most of it. Both of them pointed at Danielle after about two seconds of watching with 'She *looks* like Dorothy.' and then got taken aback when I answered 'What, twelve years old and blonde?' Heh. Yes, people, Judy Garland is not the be-all and end-all. Mum rather liked Danielle's performance - the natural thing, essentially, and loved her 76 Trombones as a stage performance. I told her she had to watch Mambo Italiano when it came on, and her big grin at the end of that was exactly the grin everyone had when Danielle did it first time round, including 'Andrew's loving this.' Interestingly, she took an instant dislike to Lauren on the basis of her acting and was heard to exclaim several times 'She's not even *looking* at him!' during 'If I Only Had a Brain'. Critique being that Lauren didn't connect to anyone on-stage and was constantly overdoing it. She agrees that Sophie is very sweet, but wasn't sure about her overall. And she nearly wet herself at St. Sheila's comments and couldn't believe how orange Partridge was. (yes, I do use my mum as voice of the general musical-going public)