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Musicals Week/Quarter-Finals
We opened with the big Hello Dolly production, and I’m sure the dancing was lovely - actually I loved Shirley and Motsi coming on to dance with Anton and Kevin - but this cast singing business MUST STOP. I take back what I said about Anton’s singing last week (Kevin sounded all right with what little he got, but the pandering to him suggests he’ll get a ringer next year too.)
Enter Tess in a metallic tribute to Joseph and His Technicolor Coat and Claudia in a silver fringe thing, Shirley and Bruno in red, Motsi in a confusing outfit and Craig looking classy.
Chris was as funny as ever in his VT. Their ‘Consider Yourself’ routine was fun, and, yes, I still see improvement, though he clearly danced the musical number bits with more gusto.
Gareth Malone had to suffer that noise at the beginning so that he could do the Ts and Cs.
Alex took charge of her VT. LOTS of solo work from her (and a lift if such things apply on Musicals night) and a lack of the movement in the body, probably because of what Bruno said. Which is on Neil. She danced with confidence, but I’d say it was a ‘samba-flavoured street commercial’/musicals routine myself. The score reflected her being in the death slot.
Luke Evans popped in to share his character notes for playing Gaston. The dancing from the competing coupes got much better with Kelvin’s American Smooth. The routine worked as a whole, with the proper dancing fitting in beautifully, danced well. I thought Kelvin became more and more the part, there were nice in-character accents. I loved the lifts: and the antler chandelier swinging CLEVER OTI.
Claudia then reminded us of how ITT had turned the tables on Kelvin with his dad and restored his rep.
Predictable 39.
Another Welshman came in to give character notes…(but have you voted for Karim, Michael Ball?). I loved Amy’s dress, Karim’s suit less so. But that was quite the jive, with so much going on, so fast. I did think his free arm wasn’t quite where it should be always (or, basically, I preferred Kelvin’s jive) but what a spinning section to close.
And then it became about how much the judges wanted to keep him and Craig not finding anything wrong and it all got very overwrought. (Am I wrong? Will it join the canonical Jives, although I’m not sure which ones they are beyond Jill Halfpenny’s and Jay’s by this point. Ore’s? Ashley’s?)
Follow that, Emma. But it was clear from the VT that the combo of Charleston and musicals was right up her street (and as they get someone in to choreograph the Charleston, Anton couldn’t ruin it choreographically). And she was a star. She looked great in the outfit, but her dancing was equally good-looking. I loved all the details, loved how she could turn into limp rag doll and get the quirky accents as well as style throughout. Easily my favourite dance by them.
Granted, Kelvin had done the VW before, the jive should suit Karim and the Charleston has been the gimme dance, plus they all have more acting experience than the other two, but the top three made a good case for being in the final. But mindful of the fact there are five couples left and there was one tie, I voted for Kelvin and Oti and for Emma (and Anton.)
I’d say ‘dial it down, show’ but I trilled ‘she can sing’ at the news that Idina Menzel was turning up for the results show and ‘and so can she’ about Beverley Knight, so I was clearly not unaffected.
Results
We opened with Beverley Knight singing ‘Memory’ (because Jennifer Hudson wasn’t available?) and Vicky Gill et al sensibly didn’t try to make anyone look like cats. Although there were some nice vocal bits, I don’t think that song is in Knight’s wheelhouse, but loved the dancing around it.
Enter the presenters in more normal clothes, although I don’t think Motsi’d thought through the dance debrief bit when she picked her dress.
The recap switched the order so that Karim came last and we had enough time to hear all the judges.
Karim was safe! Ditto Emma! Chris was not and took it jovially. Of course, it depended who he’d be facing as to how much of a chance he had, as Tess and Shirley tried to remind him.
Does Motsi know Kelvin is an actor? Shirley made her ‘not enough samba’ point.
Idina Menzel was flawless (couldn’t they have asked her to sing ‘Memory’ too?), although promoting her album, not Frozen II. I liked the contrasts in the songs, and Karen and Giovanni did some beautiful work, going as big as the singing.
Unsurprisingly, Kelvin was called safe and Alex would be up in a close dance-off.
I thought Chris went for it even more, although there was a moment where I looked at his topline and shuddered. I didn’t see any mistakes from Alex, and they were both fun routines. Bruno made it a split vote, leaving it to Shirley, and the dance with more content won it, which is on Neil, but what do you do with the samba? I’d have liked them to stay, because I think she’s the slightly better dancer. BUT Chris is doing a rumba next week, so I can live with it.
Emma is doing traditional week 1 dances, Karim is getting an Argentine Tango and an American Smooth, and the latter might favour him more than Kelvin getting the paso and quickstep, although if he can pull off the paso where so many have failed, he’ll deserve his win. But Chris….the rumba…PRECIOUS.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/409138.html.
We opened with the big Hello Dolly production, and I’m sure the dancing was lovely - actually I loved Shirley and Motsi coming on to dance with Anton and Kevin - but this cast singing business MUST STOP. I take back what I said about Anton’s singing last week (Kevin sounded all right with what little he got, but the pandering to him suggests he’ll get a ringer next year too.)
Enter Tess in a metallic tribute to Joseph and His Technicolor Coat and Claudia in a silver fringe thing, Shirley and Bruno in red, Motsi in a confusing outfit and Craig looking classy.
Chris was as funny as ever in his VT. Their ‘Consider Yourself’ routine was fun, and, yes, I still see improvement, though he clearly danced the musical number bits with more gusto.
Gareth Malone had to suffer that noise at the beginning so that he could do the Ts and Cs.
Alex took charge of her VT. LOTS of solo work from her (and a lift if such things apply on Musicals night) and a lack of the movement in the body, probably because of what Bruno said. Which is on Neil. She danced with confidence, but I’d say it was a ‘samba-flavoured street commercial’/musicals routine myself. The score reflected her being in the death slot.
Luke Evans popped in to share his character notes for playing Gaston. The dancing from the competing coupes got much better with Kelvin’s American Smooth. The routine worked as a whole, with the proper dancing fitting in beautifully, danced well. I thought Kelvin became more and more the part, there were nice in-character accents. I loved the lifts: and the antler chandelier swinging CLEVER OTI.
Claudia then reminded us of how ITT had turned the tables on Kelvin with his dad and restored his rep.
Predictable 39.
Another Welshman came in to give character notes…(but have you voted for Karim, Michael Ball?). I loved Amy’s dress, Karim’s suit less so. But that was quite the jive, with so much going on, so fast. I did think his free arm wasn’t quite where it should be always (or, basically, I preferred Kelvin’s jive) but what a spinning section to close.
And then it became about how much the judges wanted to keep him and Craig not finding anything wrong and it all got very overwrought. (Am I wrong? Will it join the canonical Jives, although I’m not sure which ones they are beyond Jill Halfpenny’s and Jay’s by this point. Ore’s? Ashley’s?)
Follow that, Emma. But it was clear from the VT that the combo of Charleston and musicals was right up her street (and as they get someone in to choreograph the Charleston, Anton couldn’t ruin it choreographically). And she was a star. She looked great in the outfit, but her dancing was equally good-looking. I loved all the details, loved how she could turn into limp rag doll and get the quirky accents as well as style throughout. Easily my favourite dance by them.
Granted, Kelvin had done the VW before, the jive should suit Karim and the Charleston has been the gimme dance, plus they all have more acting experience than the other two, but the top three made a good case for being in the final. But mindful of the fact there are five couples left and there was one tie, I voted for Kelvin and Oti and for Emma (and Anton.)
I’d say ‘dial it down, show’ but I trilled ‘she can sing’ at the news that Idina Menzel was turning up for the results show and ‘and so can she’ about Beverley Knight, so I was clearly not unaffected.
Results
We opened with Beverley Knight singing ‘Memory’ (because Jennifer Hudson wasn’t available?) and Vicky Gill et al sensibly didn’t try to make anyone look like cats. Although there were some nice vocal bits, I don’t think that song is in Knight’s wheelhouse, but loved the dancing around it.
Enter the presenters in more normal clothes, although I don’t think Motsi’d thought through the dance debrief bit when she picked her dress.
The recap switched the order so that Karim came last and we had enough time to hear all the judges.
Karim was safe! Ditto Emma! Chris was not and took it jovially. Of course, it depended who he’d be facing as to how much of a chance he had, as Tess and Shirley tried to remind him.
Does Motsi know Kelvin is an actor? Shirley made her ‘not enough samba’ point.
Idina Menzel was flawless (couldn’t they have asked her to sing ‘Memory’ too?), although promoting her album, not Frozen II. I liked the contrasts in the songs, and Karen and Giovanni did some beautiful work, going as big as the singing.
Unsurprisingly, Kelvin was called safe and Alex would be up in a close dance-off.
I thought Chris went for it even more, although there was a moment where I looked at his topline and shuddered. I didn’t see any mistakes from Alex, and they were both fun routines. Bruno made it a split vote, leaving it to Shirley, and the dance with more content won it, which is on Neil, but what do you do with the samba? I’d have liked them to stay, because I think she’s the slightly better dancer. BUT Chris is doing a rumba next week, so I can live with it.
Emma is doing traditional week 1 dances, Karim is getting an Argentine Tango and an American Smooth, and the latter might favour him more than Kelvin getting the paso and quickstep, although if he can pull off the paso where so many have failed, he’ll deserve his win. But Chris….the rumba…PRECIOUS.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/409138.html.