I'D DO ANYTHING .

Marian · Post by **Marian** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 10:53 am

They need to find a young Terry Parsons for Oliver!!

Marian

mariana44 · Post by **mariana44** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 11:21 am

I wonder if the "blonde" girl you were talking about was Nancy from the East End of London---I thought right from the start that she would have been great for the part, and I cannot fathom out why she was knocked out.

Marian · Post by **Marian** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 11:28 pm

I thought Nancy was really good too.
Marian

Lena & Harry Smith · Post by **Lena & Harry Smith** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:31 am

Yes, that was her. We both thought that she was perfect, but during the show A.L.W explained that he was afraid that it may be difficult for those like her to change in the way that he wants Nancy to be and the idea is to start from scratch with his own ideas and to re-invent her. So we'll see.
This could account for, and be the reason the public schoolboys have been chosen for the part of Oliver.
Their schoolmasters won't be very happy if this cockney accent sticks.

paul jh · Post by **paul jh** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 2:37 am

I gather this TV programme is about Oliver. I listened to an interesting programme last Friday on Radio 2. It was Michael Ball and ALW talking about the life and career of Lionel Bart. I didn't know that he wrote (I'm assuming lyrics) to From Russia With Love; unfortunately they didn't play it, but they both agreed it was an excellent song.

You can "listen again" to the programme through Friday. I recommend it.

jon · Post by **jon** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 9:25 am

I agree that the choice of public schoolboys does seem to contradict ALW's stated aim of having a streetwise actor. Did you also notice in relation to the Nancys that when they were showing the post-audition discussion between the judges, ALW said he thought there was "one world class performer there", though of course he didn't say who! I can only assume that she is still in the competition (or maybe not). I also didn't quite understand the meaning behind John Barrowman's walking around and touching the losers on the shoulder - was he making a spontaneous personal choice or selecting those whom the panel had already decided between themselves should go? I guess the latter but it wasn't clear.

Gray · Post by **Gray** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 7:53 am

Hi Jon

I agree, the touching of the shoulder scene seemed unnecessary to me, it was verging on cruel.
We wondered who the 'World Class Performer' was also!

Lena & Harry Smith · Post by **Lena & Harry Smith** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 6:09 pm

Yes, the creeping up slowly and touching on the shoulder was cruel, and totally over the top specially while they were having to concentrate on singing.
Is the world class performer Francesca (who had the sore throat ) we wonder.

Marian · Post by **Marian** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 8:49 am

I see from this morning's paper, that Rowan Atkinson has been signed up to play Fagin in the show. Not quite sure what I feel about this!

Marian

mariana44 · Post by **mariana44** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 11:17 am

They eliminated the "Josephs" in the same way--I think the girls found it harder to cope with. I thought that he used the phrase "World class performer" when 3 girls had to sing again-so I think it may hve been Jessie from Ireland, who is my favourite. But again, it may not be .....

I heard that Rowan Atkinson was to play Fagin--hard to imagine--but as an actor, I guess he can give it a good go.

Lionel Bart was a very prolific composer--he may well have written words and music for "With Russia with love"-I have never heard of him collaborating on "Oliver" or any of his other shows. I still remember his "Abbey National" ad--one of my favourite ads ever. He was just in a class of his own.

Lena & Harry Smith · Post by **Lena & Harry Smith** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 12:42 am

I have never been a Rowan Atkinson fan, but for the standard of acting that A.L.W. will require for Fagin i'm sure he'll be fine.
Lionel bart was a talented composer and at the time of Olivers success he was earning Â£16 a minute.
He ended up bankrupt, and tried to make a recovery without a great deal of success. Passed away in the late Nineties.

Marian · Post by **Marian** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 9:09 pm

I really enjoyed the live show tonight. I think my favourite Nancys so far are Rachel, Samantha, Cleo and Niamh, but it's so difficult to choose when they are singing such varied songs.

Marian

Lena & Harry Smith · Post by **Lena & Harry Smith** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 9:49 pm

We also thought the show was brilliant tonight, and I wasn't too keen on another Oliver, but I'm already just as hooked as the other series. It was difficult to pick out who was the best of the girls, but I still liked Rachel, and Francesca fully recovered from the sore throat that she had last week has shown what a good voice she has.
Jodie was good too, and could go far in the competition.
There were Three that I thought may possibly be in the sing off tomorrow night, Tara, Ashleigh, and Cleo, but who knows.
Weren't the boys good tonight too.

mariana44 · Post by **mariana44** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 12:00 am

The girls were all very good--but with those songs it was difficult to imagine them as Nancy--I liked the song Jodie sang, which I had never heard before--something about pavements--it seemed a more suitable song for that show.

I thought the Olivers singing "Food" were brilliant.

Marian · Post by **Marian** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 3:27 pm

Another newspaper item this morning says Andrew Lloyd Webber has bought the rights to "Wizard of Oz" and will be looking for a Dorothy next!
Marian