Matt Monro Forum

Here We Go. The hunt is on to find a "NANCY" and "OLIVER" for a new Andrew Lloyd Webber production of "OLIVER " beginning this Saturday evening 15th March.
We see that Barry Humphries is to join John Barrowman and Denise Van Outen on the panel of judges.

I have to say that if anything would put me off this show, it is the thought of Barry Humpries as a judge !!

But nevertheless, I shall stick with it.

I wonder if Jessie Wallace will audition, as she said she intended to.

Apparently there will not be a public vote for the part of Oliver as it has been decided that this would be inappropriate for children, and the winner will be chosen by the panel of "experts". There will however be a public vote for the part of Nancy because the contestants will be in at least their late teens.

Incidentally I have seen the trailer for the show on BBC1 featuring Denise van Outen and John Barrowman and noticed that the young boy who comes on singing at the beginning is the same boy who won a Blue Peter competition last year to appear in an episode of "Doctor Who" (he in fact featured in Episode 11 of the last series). His motivation was presented as being that of a mad Doctor Who fan but he presumably now also has wider ambitions.

I must admit, I am quite looking forward to this show, "Oliver" is one of my favourite musicals. (Gray, Peggy Mount had a small part in this, as well.)

Saw the show tonight. Not much to say really. Hopefully it will get easier to judge as the show progresses.
Marian

I saw the first part of the show tonight, like you say Marian, not a lot to report at the moment. It was nice to see Shani Wallace, the original "Nancy" from the film.

Apparently at one time, Shani thought that she ought to be one of the judges--and I think she had a point !

I Loved it---and love it even more without Barry Humphries in sight, as yet ! I thought the seach for the Nancy's was a whole lot more interesting than the search for "Oliver"--some great characters in the Nancys. I do not think that any of the Olivers stood out at this stage.

My favourites were a girl called Nancy--at the end, and an Irish girl--forgotten her name, but she had black curly hair.

We quite enjoyed the show also, I can see us getting right into it.
Wasn't it hearbreaking to see some contestants begging to be given another chance, gosh that was soooo upsetting to their dreams being shattered.

I agree that the competition for Nancy looks potentially more interesting that the one for Oliver, though of course this may change. The girl actually called Nancy looked a shoo-in for the part of Nancy herself, though I thought their willingness to consider the 17-year-old posh boarding schoolgirl for the part rather flew in the face of ALW's desire to have a real streetwise contestant. And I did cringe when one of the auditionees came out with the oh-so-predictable line, "my nan and grandad died so I'm doing it for them".

Yes, we know what you mean Jon, we are waiting for someone to say they are doing it for their parrot that's died, or in this case it might be their old c ock linnett. . This is what we have to prepare ourselves for. There were only just Two entrants that we throught would be ideal for the role of Nancy, can't remember their names.
One boy named Alexander had a beautiful voice, but this time, like Nancy's role, for Oliver, A.L W is looking for a tougher and grittier voice.
He said this kid is a street wise urchin who has roughed it on the streets of London.

I enjoyed the show more tonight although it did feel rather rushed to me. It will probably be better once the live shows start.
Some of the Nancys I'd noticed last week fell by the wayside tonight, so I don't think I have any real favourites yet.
Although they mentioned looking for a more urchin type street kid for the part of Oliver, they seem to have chosen a fair smattering of posh public school boys anyway.
Marian will not be pleased to see Barry Humphries has finally joined the judging panel, but as he has experience of twice appearing in a production of "Oliver" lets hope he will prove an asset rather than a hindrance.
Marian

Well one of my favourites is still there-I think she was called Jessie, but my other favourite, Nancy left. I had not realised that Barry Humphries
had played Fagin--I know that the last time Cameron Mackintosh did it in London, there were lots of different Fagins--when I saw it , it was Jonathan Price-I think Ruthie Henshall was Nancy at the beginning.

Again, the search for Nancy was more interesting than the search for Oliver---all the Olivers looked and sounded very similar, I thought.

But I still thoroughly enjoyed it.

I didn't realise Barry Humphries had played Fagin either, Marian. I also enjoyed the show tonight, I was surprised at one of the girls going though, because I thought she was quite good, can't remember her name though.

I felt slightly drained after the show tonight. It seemed the entire hour was nothing but tears, but as Marian said it will probably get better once the contest really starts.
We were surprised at One girl who had to leave, particularly a fair haired girl who sounded perfect to us, but there is another girl still in, I think her name was Rachel who sang exceptionally well tonight.
We agree again with Marian and also noticed in particular the public schoolboys who were chosen for Oliver, but they all had nice voices. Anyway, after tonights show, and with or without Barry Humphries I think we have a pretty good idea who has made the choices up to now.

Amanda & I really enjoyed the show but why the 'blonde' girl was voted out is a mystery to us also!