[Apricot]

I went to the ALW party in Hyde Park and had a wonderful time. The thread on this evening ended up focussing to a large degree on one singer. I am not musically knowledgable, but know what I like when I hear it. As a middle aged, not particularly musical person who loves ALW's musicals I took the opportunity, went along and adored the whole evening.

For me Rhydian was one of the stand out performances but it seems that to say this is like a red rag to a bull for some established members of the site. I honestly don't get it? From their body language, he seemed to have the respect of the conductor and other artists. He is a nice young man, well educated musically, he has a lovely voice (I listened again last night on Radio 2).

....so please, no sarcasm because I am honestly asking the question seriously, I can't believe it is because he entered a talent show as so did Lee Mead - why is it apparently considered 'poor judgement' to like Rhydian, or have I totally got hold of the wrong end of the stick?

[wickedgrin]

Well there is no doubt he is talented but this is not enough. As Simon Cowell would say you need the "likeability factor" which he is sadly lacking. Lee Mead is "likeable" Rhydian isn't. In fact there is something quite scary about him - can't put my finger on it. He's like these people you see on Channel 4 documetaries who belong to these wierd religious cults in America! So no I don't predict a great career. Something should have "happened" for him by now and it hasn't. There was talk of him doing Phantom wasn't there and that hasn't happened. Perhaps being "quite scary" would be ideal for this part!!??

[Matthew Winn]

why is it apparently considered 'poor judgement' to like Rhydian

There are two types of fans. There are normal fans, who like someone's work and that's as far as it goes. And there are crazy fans, who take it as a personal affront if anyone disagrees with their assessment of that person, who cannot tolerate any dissenting opinion, who build up elaborate fantasies to justify their preference, who think their favourite is capable of every role ever created, and who launch campaigns of aggression against anyone who has the temerity to think less of the person in question than they do.

Rhydian Roberts has more than his fair share of the second type of fan.

It's as if their entire self-image is based on him. It's not enough for them to like him; they need everyone else to agree in order to validate their opinion. If someone doesn't agree they're accused of "jealousy" or "ignorance". (The "jealousy" argument is pretty much the hallmark of the delusional fan on this forum.)

As far as this forum in particular is concerned, we're suspicious of Rhydian's fans because of the way the lunatic fringe of fandom behaved back at the start of this year. They organised a flood of postings in which half a dozen or so people pretended to be many more posters and tried to bully everyone else into submission, all in the hope that if they made Rhydian look popular enough word would get back to Andrew Lloyd Webber who would then give him a lead role. They did their level best to upset as many people as possible. This is a discussion forum, but they weren't here to discuss anything. They were here to cause trouble.

So to answer your question, it's not poor judgment to like Rhydian Roberts. It is, however, poor judgment to think that he's so wonderful that he can transcend his lack of theatre experience and be able to handle a lead role in a musical, and it is poor judgment to think that anyone who doesn't like him is jealous or ignorant. If his fans want to discuss him I'm sure nobody would have any problem, but experience suggests that there's not much chance of that happening.

[Apricot]

Wicked Grin - First, thanks for answering and I'm glad agreed that he is talented because from the Hyde Park thread I had wondered if that was in question.

The likeability factor? Of course that is personal taste always and noone is universally liked. The world would be a boring place if there was no difference in who and what we all like. Yes his looks are unusual, but he has a beautiful smile. He has done some performances 'in character' which may be misinterpreted as him being strange, though among a theatre loving group that should be easily distinguishable. He has been recording an album - out next month - which will I suppose be a test of his likeability? I had a bit of a dig using Google and any people who have actually met him say how really nice he is - his teachers, fellow contestants who lived with him, Andrew Johnson, Simon Cowell - so is the question mark on likeability just a looks thing?

I thought Lee Mead likeable too and enjoyed his performances. He is well suited to the handsome hero roles and I like his voice.

Matthew,

I can well see that the multiple identity thing is likely to have raised ill feeling and wariness, though I would not tarnish the artist for the behaviour of a small handful of fanatics. Problems are probably largely due to the anonymity and ease of misuse of the internet - often ill mannered if You Tube is an example. Thanks anyway for explaining the 'atmosphere' which was puzzling. Rereading the thread with your information made more sense as the negativity was marked. I did notice though that those who were bluntly critical were often critical of more than one artist.

The inexperienced artist - isn't that exactly what ALW has been doing or have all his show winners been experienced. I did not watch so don't know their backgrounds. Lee Mead is certainly a find. As an ALW fan, I am personally very happy to wait for his casting choices and will be open to enjoy whoever he decides. He is the one with the original vision after all.

Thanks again to both of you -

[theatre*fairy]

I do not like him at all, he thinks hes all that because of his voice....there are much better singers!!!! Plus just his whole look is silly!!

[Apricot]

I do not like him at all, he thinks hes all that because of his voice....there are much better singers!!!! Plus just his whole look is silly!!

Strong opinion

[NewRomantics-x]

I think Rhydian is a fantastic peformer. His voice is outstanding. Yes there are better singers than him but that could be said about anyone.

[jaqs]

I quite liked him on x facor but found him very uncomfortable to watch at the ALW birthday and he didnt sound as good as the others doing phantom songs, the difference sounded even more stark on the radio.

[NoahsAark]

I quite liked him on x facor but found him very uncomfortable to watch at the ALW birthday and he didnt sound as good as the others doing phantom songs, the difference sounded even more stark on the radio.

I have to agree with you. I found him refreshing on the X-Factor as he was bringing something different to the competition, BUT, I didn't like his interpretation of the song at the ALW birthday and he was horrible to watch. I thought I might think differently just 'hearing' him on the radio - but unfortunately it left me just wishing that they had let Ramin Karimloo sing it instead.

Interestingly the other performance I found distinctly 'forgettable' was Jonathan Ansell (ex G4) and I wonder whether it shows that, whilst good singers, they are not at this time capable enough to pull off musical theatre performances.

Just my opinion