Sunday 25 April 2010

Over The Rainbow: Interaction Motivation

The Dorothys sing a re-written version of the Scarecrow’s “If I Only Had a Heart” – “If I Only Had The Part!” Neat. Sophie and Emilie surprising me there, sounding very strong. The Lord quips about the all the audience voting to avoid a hung Dorothy and moved on - we’re looking for interaction tonight, the girls will be split into two groups later.

Jenny out first with Warwick Avenue and it’s another strong, engaging performance, acting skills coming through, controlled. Emilie has Girls Just Want To Have Fun and whoever chose this for her must want her out badly – nobody has ever pulled this off in a reality show. Even if she was a strong, confident singer she’d have struggled with this. As it is, I’m finding it hard to watch.

Charlotte says Jenny did a good job, got every big note, bit self contained and Emilie was fun and frivolous, but control still an issue; Sheila said she didn’t see anguish with Jenny and Emilie was cute but needed to grow more; John felt Jenny’s vocal was great but needed to push the acting more. The Lord says the panel are spot on, particularly Sheila’s comments to Emilie about being able to take criticism and his tears weren’t as jerked by Jenny as they should have been.

Stephanie and Nobody Does It Better, loved this interpretation, she’s so likeable and so consistent, no matter what type of song, really good job. Lauren with Nobody Knows, the first complete performance of the night, fantastic vocal, emotive, really felt the song.

Sheila is convinced by both, Stephanie needs to act more, Lauren superb at the end, a huge step forward; John wants Stephanie to bring her up-tempo performance skills to the slow stuff and didn’t want Lauren to stop; Charlotte says Stephanie could sing the phone book and Lauren was vulnerable, broken and beautiful. The Lord says they’re both incredibly talented, be happy to see either as Dorothy.

Sophie, with London Welsh, lucky girl. Ouch! Love Song was a strange song, didn’t show off her vocal as much as I’d have liked, bit in and out. Jessica does it her way for There’ll You’ll Be, stayed put, relied on the emotion, one of her best performances.

John tells Sophie she’s going to have to work twice as hard as everyone else, a little understated but Jessica’s was her most truthful, honest performance to date, what he’s been looking for. Charlotte said Sophie had a hard song, struggled a bit, it wasn’t what she did in the masterclass; Jess was magic from the last chorus out; Sheila thought Sophie was terrific and Jessica overacted up till the end when she really felt it. The Lord says there are times in Jessica’s performance when he’s watching a world class performer and Sophie is a talented girl, asks the audience not to punish her for a bad song.

Danielle sings Cry Me A River, great entrance, lowered on a swing – I’m not a fan of the vamp look I have to say, interesting arrangement, all round performance again, still more to come I think. Steph is gaining in confidence every week and delivers again with Use Somebody, she’s one of the most versatile.

Charlotte says they’re both exceptional, Steph sang beautifully, so at home on stage, while Danielle was sultry and vocally perfect; Sheila says these two have the best interpretations, Danielle has a subtlety and gravity, Steph beautifully done; John says Steph was fierce, Danielle so consistent - both girls should make the final! The Lord agrees with John - incredibly strong contenders.

The group songs – the Deadwood Dames (Emilie, Jenny, Lauren, Stephanie) with The Deadwood Stage are all very strong – Emilie again, much stronger than when she’s alone. It’s a shame the mics weren’t working at the start of the Oklahoma Outlaws (Sophie, Danielle, Jessica, Steph) but they got it sorted – but Oklahoma only has one catchy line so they were never going to get the panels’ vote, which goes to the Deadwood Dames. I couldn’t pick anyone out as being less interactive than the others - The Lord says that he wants to cancel the competition and give them all one performance a week!

I voted based on who I don’t want to lose: Steph, Stephanie, Jessica, Danielle. As for the sing off, no-one is safe. Till the morrow ...

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