Over The Rainbow: Week Seven
Published on Monday 10th May, 4.12pm, Written by Mike Shaw
Long after The Wizard of Oz has closed, Andrew Lloyd Webber has retired, and all that is left of the West End is a series of crumbling buildings and a decaying statue of Elaine Paige, Over The Rainbow will still be talked about.
It's dangerous to stare directly at John Partridge
Forget Cathy Come Home, The Wire, and, er…. Holby City, Over The Rainbow is perhaps the most socially important TV show of all time, and is doing more to smash stereotypes than any other show in history.
The media would have us believe that gay men are all marvellous dressers with an impeccable sense of style, but week after week, equality campaigners John Partridge and Graham Norton do their level best to obliterate those outdated stereotypes.
Look at Norton and his God-awful mismatched suits and waistcoats. Take a glance at John Partridge’s unnatural orange hue (don’t stare, you’ll fry your retinas). Every week these men present themselves on primetime TV and restate their refusal to confirm to the Ugly Betty-esque cliche of homosexuality; exclaiming to a stunned nation: “We’re here. We get ready in the dark. Get used to it.”
No longer will people make the assumption that just because someone is gay, they know what shade a human being should be. I applaud you, gentlemen.
And on with the show.
It was musical week, and so the producers decided to start with a bang by causing the spontaneous combustion of a million fangirls by having the Dorothys sing Defying Gravity from the Wicked show. None of the girls particularly stood out however, partly because the song is not really all that suitable for a group performance, but as a statement of intent, it made its point.
The first solo performer was Danielle with On My Own from Les Miserables. She looked beautiful, the performance was passable – but that’s all there is to say. She is still overwhelmingly my favourite, but after last week’s triumph, On My Own felt a little flat and she struggled on a couple of the big notes. Nonetheless, the judges still love her, and each passing week it’s more apparent that ALW has his eye on her as Dorothy.
‘Zany’ Jessica was given the ‘zany’ Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and delivered a spirited performance, albeit one with questionable tuning which left her panting for breath. The judges were all fairly uncommittal on Jessica, and seemed unwilling to give any real criticism, while Danielle was given a ton of useful notes.
See The Wizard of Oz for yourself!
Steph, up next, sang Somewhere from West Side Story which can either make or break a performer. A beautiful song, when done well, it can mark someone out as a superstar. However, it is all too common for singers to get squawky and shouty towards the end under the misapprehension that they are displaying power and passion. Steph avoided this pitfall but – despite the inclusion of tears – didn’t take it into the stratosphere either. That said, it was a solid performance guaranteed to see her through to the next week.
Along with Sophie, Jenny has been one of the favourites to go week in, week out, and the omens weren’t good when she took to the stage and the opening notes of Send In The Clowns rang out. It takes a particular type of performer to do justice to Sondheim’s classic (old, bitter) so a perky young Scots lass was always going to struggle. Sheila nailed it when she said it was a “good attempt”, but that’s all it was.
Sophie was next, with I Enjoy Being A Girl from Flower Drum Song, and it’s a mark of Sophie’s presence in this contest overall that while writing this I struggled to remember her. The most ‘fun’ of all the song selections this week, Sophie performed it the same way she performs everything: sort of uncomfortably. There was no attempt to embrace the humour inherent in the song, and while her vocals were as pleasant as usual, there was no real spark.
Incidentally, if there are any lip-readers out there who can tell me what ALW said as Sophie’s song came to an end, post a comment.
Lauren proved again that she undoubtedly has an amazing voice, but it’s so terribly hard to appreciate that when her smugness is batting away any attempts to warm to her.
The final performance was by Lauren, who remains a puzzle. Singing Being Alive from Company, she proved again that she undoubtedly has an amazing voice, but it’s so terribly hard to appreciate that when the SMUGGY SMUGGY SMUGNESS is there batting away any attempts to try and warm to her.
Is it ‘bad editing’ as some have claimed? No – I doubt it. This isn’t Big Brother and there’s no benefit to creating a baddie the audience can vote against. Perhaps (and this is going to come as a shock to some of you), she just isn’t very likeable? Comments like, “If I got the role I would consistently give a top level performance,” without a hint of modesty or self-awareness certainly don’t help. I’m sure she would give great performances, and of all the remaining girls, I see her as the most resilient and likely to gut out eight shows a week – the question is, with Lauren in the lead, how many seats would be filled during those eight shows? Don’t get me wrong, confidence is great, but she moves beyond confidence and into arrogance and it’s this that seems to be turning the audience against her.
Post-performance, John made some enemies for himself when he said of Lauren: “You are singing songs that none of the other girls could even consider, and not just other girls in this competition; other girls in the West End.” Oh really, Mr Partridge?
What about Toto? Well, as usual there was some more doggy-based stuff, but little worth mentioning. Have you ever looked up a pug’s bumhole? Me either – well, that was the case until this weekend, when during the Toto segments, the camera appeared to be glued to a tiny dog’s backside. Put me right off my bowl of Weetos.
So, the first sing off came along, and it was between Jenny and Lauren. Even before they began singing Bridge Over Trouble Water it was obvious that Lauren would be saved, and lo, it came to pass. There was little deliberation from ALW, and Jenny took her rejection well.
But that’s not all, for there were TWO eliminations this week. So let’s jump 24 hours into the future for Sunday’s not-live show.
As ever we were treated to a group performance, a medley (the worst so far), some filler involving the dogs and some chat with the girls. More padding came in the form of Tamzin Outhwaite performing If My Friends Could See Me Now from Sweet Charity.
With Jenny gone, it was time for another contestant to see their theatrical dreams dashed against the rocks of reality, so it was announced that the second sing-off was between Danielle and Jessica.
Given the suitably maudlin Take That Look Off Your Face (about taking a look off a face, according to a helpful note from ALW), both girls were evenly matched until the halfway point where Danielle got better and Jessica for worse. However, it was still quite a surprise when Andrew chose to give Jessica the chop. Again, he was full of praise for the departing contestant, telling her that he thinks she’d be perfect for something like Funny Girl or Sweet Charity. Of course, he’s right. Jessica proved herself to be an excellent performer, but her exaggerated expressions were too much for Dorothy. It’s something a couple of the remaining girls could learn: there’s a difference between acting and pulling faces while talking.
Given the chance for a few final words, Jessica displayed a lot of class and was hugely complimentary of the show and her fellow Dorothys. She knew she wasn’t Dorothy, but grabbed the opportunity to kickstart her career, and when she left, she did so with grace and good humour.
A final thought: While I also want Danielle to win, the judges clearly feel the same way and need to mask their favouritism. A major reason for Jenny being given the boot was her inability to bond with a dog after five minutes, while Danielle is told that she needs to start disguising the break in her voice, but that there is time to learn it. It’s entirely transparent and isn’t fair on the other contestants.
I’ll be live Tweeting again next Saturday at www.twitter.com/westendupdates from 7.10pm.
Best Dorothy of the week: Steph
6 Comments to Over The Rainbow: Week Seven
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Brilliant review! I agree with your comments about Lauren’s smugness, Jessica’s gracious exit and the fact that the panel could be a little bit less obvious about Danielle, in case it ends up working against her (although I want her to win too!)
When you’re in Row Z of the Upper Circle at the London Palladium, surely you’ll wish you had Jessica’s exaggerated expressions over the blandness of Sophie (for example).
The way Jessica left the competition must have left a lot of people thinking “oops – what have we done in voting her off”
lol – this is brilliant. nice one. Lauren is a nightmare but has a very good voice. Steph or Danielle to win!
Sorry to se Steph go off last night. Hope Sophie wins now not least because ALW so badly wants Danielle its sickening and spoils what is an enjoyable show.
That’s a pretty poor reason to vote for Sophie… I’m voting Danielle because I WANT her to win, and I want to go and see her onstage, not because of what the judges say (some of their comments even make me cringe, but they’re not Danielle’s fault.) It always amazes me how spiteful people can be abut this sort of thing.