Saturday 8 May 2010

Over The Rainbow: Double Elimination

The remaining six Dorothys open with Defying Gravity, the fine vocals can't hide the tension of the night as Graham tells us there'll be a sing off tonight with one to go!

It's Musical Theatre songs tonight and someone might pay for having a relatively unknown number - I hope it isn't Danielle, with On My Own, which sounds only vaguely familiar. She's strong vocally and delivered it passionately, but I'm concerned. Jessica on the other hand, is let loose with Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious - how can you not be smiling at that? Wonderful performance, ran out of steam a little towards the end, and why not?

Charlotte really enjoyed Danielle's emotive performance and called Jessica extravagant and fun; Sheila predicts the West End for both of them, though felt Jess could have relished the word more, while Danielle has star quality; John says Danielle performed with grace and sensivity and is right for Dorothy but Jessica is his Marmite Dorothy, sometimes it's a little bit cheesy. Andrew calls them both fantastic, Jessica never ceases to make him smile and he chose that song for Danielle as a complete contrast to Mambo Italiano.

Steph gets the emotional biggie of the night, Somewhere and does it justice, you can see the tear tracks on her face at the end, a moving, real performance. Jenny has Send In The Clowns and it doesn't compare to Jodie's version in the Nancy show, my mind wandered a bit, not her strongest performance.

Sheila says Steph was absolutely wonderful, beautiful, while Jenny had a difficult song, needed more colour, went for sad instead of ironic; John loves Jenny's uptempo stuff but this needed the acting skill and it was half baked. He tells Steph there's a place for her, back here next week, truth and beauty in her performance; Charlotte thought Jenny had moments of real magic and Steph is just special, superb. Andrew says they both did well, Steph got the meaning of the words.

Sophie puts in a good performance on one of those quaint old numbers I Enjoy Being A Girl, strong vocally, a lot of choreography and acting to cope with and seems more relaxed with it, after the judges recent comments I suspect she's letting go and making the most of it possibly being her final week. Lauren, as ever, faultless vocally in another unknown-to-me-song called Being Alive and I don't understand why I don't vote for her.

John says Sophie has an openess and naturalness about her, but it's a TV not a stage performance. Lauren has the best voice in the competition; Charlotte thought Sophie was great , laid it on the line, she tells Lauren "I've got stop fawning over you, it's becoming embarassing" and praised her phrasing; Sheila felt that Lauren needed to cherish the lyrics more and Sophie needed to send her song up more, tells her "learn to make a fool of yourself and you'll be terrific"; Andrew agreed with Sheila.

So the lines are open - voted twice each for Danielle, Steph and Jessica. And while we're doing that, we see the girls' mission - commanding Bobby the Westie as well as the stage, in the emotional scene where Dorothy thinks she's lost Toto but he comes back and they decide to leave. Glad to report my three seemed to do well, plus Lauren was very convincing.

Back to the singing - If I Could Talk To The Animals - and my mum phones in the middle to say that she can't get through, it's telling her the voting line has closed. I quickly ascertain it's because she's dialling 08 at the end for Lauren - and there's only six in it, mum! They're scrolling the numbers across the screen and she's swearing blind it's an 8 when it's a 6 ...

Pep talk to the voters from Andrew "Remember all the performances and tasks to decide on your Dorothy"; A glimpse of tomorrow's Toto Task; A glimpse into the BBC Performing Arts Fund. And the lines are closed!

Charlotte performs solo for the first time in four years, The Actress. Can't honestly say I liked it much, was like she couldn't make up her mind what key to sing in. Just goes to show ...

Who do the girls think will not be Dorothy? Danielle and Jenny say Steph; Jessica reckons Danielle; Lauren thinks Sophie; Sophie and Steph choose Jenny. The panel are split, Sheila and John say Sophie; Charlotte plumps for Jenny.

Safe: Steph! Danielle! Jessica! *Whoop* Jenny in the bottom two, joined by Lauren, Sophie shocked but safe! I begin to wonder if my mum got through ... viewer vote would have put Lauren out! Gasps of shock erupt in the studio! But she'll be safe, The Lord won't keep Jenny instead of her. They sing Bridge Over Troubled Water and Lauren totally outsings Jenny, who has finally succumbed to the pressure, she prepares for the worst and Andrew makes it quick, so he can follow with words of encouragement. Here come the tears but she pulls it together for Over The Rainbow.

But we're not finished yet! The remaining five sing again for our votes, a Wizard of Oz line up; Jessica and Lauren stand out. Andrew and John advise us to pick our Dorothy; Charlotte doesn't want to lose Lauren; Sheila says we only need someone who can sing, dance, act, do pathos and comedy, balance a football on her head and hoover. Simultaneously.

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