13 replies to this topic

[stitcher]

The current Dutch Evita was cast on reality TV in exactly the same format.

Can you imagine TV casting Fagin?  A bunch of 40 something slightly skeevy looking men speak-singing on telly every week?  That'd pull in the punters!

The Beeb wanted this show to be to cast an Eliza for a revival of Trevor Nunn's My Fair Lady, but Cameron's office turned it down because of the whole Martine McCutcheon fiasco.

Could you imagine how disastrous trying to cast Eliza Dolittle in a reality show would be? She'd have to be an amazing actress and a vocal gymnast!

[Orchestrator]

What a patronising and clueless comment in itself. Quite true that very few of the audience work in the field of casting but they know what they want, who they would pay to see and who would make them part with £60. I wouldn't pay £6 to have to sit through 'Oliver' again but clearly lots of people would and it is they who have spoken.

But the public weren't choosing their ideal Nancy. They were choosing from a self-selecting group of so far relatively unsuccessful performers whom virtually no one has heard of. I suppose at the opposite extreme you could have Celebrity IDA with Kerry Katona, Billie Piper etc fighting their way to the role. What the public will never get is the chance to see the most qualified and best-suited West End performers for the part slug it out on TV, because those performers wouldn't have anything to gain but everything to lose from such a potentially humiliating process.

I agree with those who have suggested the Great British TV Voting Public wanted to give ALW and CM a bloody nose. What I would add is that ALW, JB and DvO have done nothing to convince viewers of their skill and professionalism in carrying out the task of selecting a West End star.