Lord Lloyd Webber has his work cut out. Yet again, the usual audition process, that
we were drilled in at drama school, has been shunned for weeks of live singing
on the television in front of a panel of celebrities. He will be assisted by Dawn French and Jason
Donovan in his search. They certainly
add more calibre to the panel than in past versions; at least Donovan has performed
in a Lloyd Webber musical as Joseph (of Dreamcoat fame,) who also rose from pages
of The Bible so he must be able to offer some valuable advice and French’s
qualifications as “The Vicar of Dibley” may prove to have godly insights despite menial musical credentials. The last of the panel is renowned West End Casting Director, David Grindrod, who my 21 year old self auditioned in front of for Mamma Mia! all those years ago; still as scary as ever!
Whatever my personal feelings about reality TV searches you
cannot deny that they certainly get the ratings. Millions of people tune in to watch their
favourite young hopeful (whose three year drama training is cleverly replaced
by a career as a cold-caller) and book tickets to see them perform the ultimate
prize. And there you have the real
reason behind these programmes; revenue.
Searching for a Nancy/Maria/Joseph has enhanced audience figures and
introduced people to the theatre who perhaps would have previously been loathed
to leave their sofas for a night. But if
“that ginger girl who we voted for off the telly” is playing Dorothy then more
tickets are sold and West End profits are up.
The ultimate prize this time is to play Jesus in the arena tour of
Jesus Christ Superstar alongside Chris Moyles as Herod, Tim Minchin as Judas
and Melanie Chisholm (Sporty Spice) as Mary Magdalene, not an unknown in sight. “Jesus Christ Superstar” is a rock opera
penned by Lord Lloyd Webber and Sir Tim Rice in the 1970s with huge box office
success in the West End and around the country.
Lyricist Sir Tim Rice is notably absent from the programme, although he
supports a new arena tour version he has called the TV talent search “tacky,”
and was quoted in The Daily Mail at the beginning of this year:
“I really don’t think Superstar needs that tasteless reality television treatment. Those shows are relentlessly downmarket, which is fine if the show is a lightweight bit of fluff. I am fully behind an arena show, but I just don’t think you need another television series to do that.”
The tour itself only amounts to eleven performances over a
one month period; hardly a challenge of vocal or performance stamina. Perhaps this is a lesson learnt after past
winners haven’t been able to last the rigours of an eight show week and so will
negate the need for “runner-up understudies” to appease the expectant
audience. It is horrible to be the
“normal” understudy of a reality show winner; as your name is announced before
the show you can hear the groans of patrons and squeak of theatre seats as they
hurry out to demand a refund at box office.
You don’t really feel like listing your “favourite things” after that!
So what can we expect from the new Saturday night search for
Jesus; fresh-faced hopefuls, impressive voices, sob stories and rising against
the odds? Columns of media hype and
interest is a dead cert and plenty of ‘tweets’ and water cooler discussions
regarding the success of John from Croydon’s rendition of Maroon 5’s “Moves
Like Jagger” can also be expected.
Introducing new people to the theatre and filling our
auditoriums is something that even the most disgruntled performer cannot
disagree with, we want our industry to thrive and the whole nation will have an
opinion on musicals during the coming weeks.
We cannot
change the way musical casting is evolving; Superstar is well on its way and who I
am to challenge the Lord?
(This post was originally written for The Huffington Post)
Update!!! – I watched parts of
the two episodes screened over the weekend (for research purposes only!) and
luckily I wasn’t playing some kind of “down a drink when you spot someone you
know” game or I would have been sozzled.
Men that I have auditioned with, done West End shows with and are
Facebook friends with, all kept appearing and rockin' out for the panel. Not just ensemble boys but well-established
West-End leads; a sign that they are moving with the times or sad that this is
the only way that proven talent can now get jobs? Let’s see how many of them make it past the builders
and pub singers to the live shows........
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