Lauren Samuels Wins Role Of Sandy In Grease
Published on Tuesday 29th June, 8.25am, Written by Mike Shaw
We all knew it was going to happen, but the speed at which Lauren Samuels has broken into the West End is astonishing.
The girl who came third on Over The Rainbow – the BBC’s hunt for a Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz – has been signed up to play Sandy in Grease at the Piccadilly Theatre.
How Lauren might look as Sandy... if she was crudely photoshopped
She takes over from Siobhan Dillon, another TV talent show contestant, on July 26, and is set to play the role until 22 January, 2011. She will star alongside fellow reality show star Noel Sullivan who will continue to play Danny.
Lauren said: “[Grease] was one of the first musicals I was taken to see as a young child and so to be given the opportunity to recreate the iconic role of Sandy and to make my West End debut in the show is a dream come true. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world!”
And she kind of is. The rate at which she has transitioned from reality show also-ran to West End leading lady is incredible. However, if anyone was going to do it, it was Lauren. Of all the would-be Dorothys she had the strongest voice, and her steely determination was evident from the get go.
During Over The Rainbow, there were a lot of suggestions about potential roles for Lauren, but Sandy never came up. What do you think? Is she the right fit?
My heart really broke when she lost in Over the Rainbow, but I thought then that she will have other moments to shine, and I was right. I would watch Grease all over again if only to see her perform.
I was like crying about half an hour, when she only came third in “Over the rainbow”, but then I thought, she maybe wasn’t the best ‘Dorothy’, although she obviously was the best girl in the whole competition. That she went on to other – even bigger – things so soon now makes me really happy!!!