The bookies favourite came out on top. 18 year old Danielle Hope from Manchester won the role of Dorothy in the upcoming West End production of The Wizard Of Oz.

Danielle was one of the panel’s favourites from early on in the competition, but she seemed to seal the deal with her acting abilities and performing range.

On Saturday night, the first installment of Over The Rainbow saw the final three perform a song from a musical that Lord Lloyd Webber had chosen especially for each. Sophie sang an excellent version of Tomorrow from Annie which really suited her. As much as the girl struggled throughout the competition, she seemed to find herself with these big songs that showed off her voice.

Lauren sang I Could Have Danced All Night from My Fair Lady which was absolutely perfect for her voice. She had the best vocal performance of the night, but unsurprisingly, she completely overacted the song.

Danielle had a very odd musical choice with Seventy-six Trombones from The Music Man which showed off her adaptability and stage presence, but was a bit shouty at times. In fact, it was a bit like watching a wannabe cartoon character strutting about. Not good.

I liked Danielle’s performance the least, but wanted Lauren to leave the competition first, which she promptly did. She flew away on the moon, leaving Sophie and Danielle to battle it out in the second half.

Both Danielle and Sophie sang their favourite songs from the series (Danielle’s notorious Mambo Italiano, and Sophie’s Reflection which finally made her a serious contender). They then simply had to come out and sing Over The Rainbow and generate the most votes. Last week, I backed Sophie to win, and after hearing both sing the infamous song, I still think Sophie should have won. But…. Danielle is the better all round choice to perform on stage and I can’t wait to see her at the Palladium. She didn’t seem to have the vocal power that Sophie demonstrated, but it’s not just about singing, right?

So what was your favourite moment of the series? Was it Lord Lloyd Webber’s strange mutterings? John Partridge and Charlotte Church’s spats? Or Sheila Hancock telling it like it is. Graham Norton’s horrible waist coats should be erased from memory, along with Emilie’s singing. It was a good competition with excellent talent, and will be missed by all of us at Discount Theatre towers……sniff.

Since announcing Sophie as my favourite in the last blog, I’ve had to listen to endless diatribes from my colleagues about how unsuitable she is. With the final three having such different qualities, the outcome is really going to come down to personal taste. Let’s recap:

Lauren: without a doubt she is the best singer of the finalists. She’s also been the most consistent vocal performer and could easily handle the rigorous nature of performing night after night. My problem is that her acting looks really forced and she does this really weird thing of flitting between accents when she sings. I started out really liking her, but got bored by mid series…that perceived arrogance hasn’t helped her cause. She should be the first to go on Saturday night.

Sophie: I’ve jumped on the Sophie bandwagon and as I said earlier, it’s down to her performances in the last two weeks. In the first couple of episodes, when the girls were performing in groups, Sophie stood out as a favourite, but she had some disasters, including a Shania Twain episode, which became a Welsh/Hillbilly car crash. As someone said to me, Sophie is the most striking of the final three and her voice is really quite good. If she can sort out her American accent (and there’s time to do that) I think she’s the one.

Danielle: She is the safe bet and the one that will probably win. A very good actress and has the voice as well. I just find her a bit boring and with the exception of her Mambo Italiano, I can’t really recall anything extraordinary about her performances. When the search for Dorothy began, the panellists and Lord Lloyd Webber said they wanted to redefine the role of Dorothy and make it a little edgier. Danielle is a sure bet, and I would go to see her in the show, but will she bring anything new and interesting to the role?

If you are on Twitter, watch out for Discount Theatre’s live tweet on Saturday night. The role of Dorothy is still up in the air and the result may be as unpredictable as the competition.

Sadly, we are all facing the ultimate question: What are we going to do on Saturday nights without Over The Rainbow?

The Wizard Of Oz is on sale now… if you want to see the show regardless of who wins, don’t wait until Saturday night when the masses will descend onto the internet, resulting in a mad grab for tickets. Buy your Wizard Of Oz tickets here.

One more week to go until we find out who will be the latest West End star for the new production of The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium. At Discount Theatre towers, we are all in a flurry wondering which girl will win the crown and the role of Dorothy.

Last weekend, the final four sang their hearts out, and I have to say that Danielle, Sophie, Lauren and Steph all performed tremendously. I honestly could not pick my favourite and neither could the panel it seemed. Lord Lloyd Webber also remained coy, not wanting to influence the viewers, but who listens to him anyways?

It was, regrettably, Steph’s turn to ride on the moon, which was a shame as she definitely had the most natural stage presence of the girls. Hopefully she may get an audition for Elphaba in Wicked; she would be perfect.

Danielle didn’t wow me, but I think she impresses everyone else and seems to be the favourite for the role. Sophie really improved this week, I think singing a ballad is the thing for her. She’s actually emerged as my favourite, which is really surprising as I think she’s had some terrible performances in the competition. Lauren should be the first to go next week though. She’s a very good singer, and I’m sure she is a very nice girl, but has really come across as too arrogant and assertive for the role of a Kansas teenager.

So, I can finally say that I have a favourite. Sophie should win, but if I was placing a bet I think it will be Danielle.

And if you don’t care and just want to see the show, tickets are on sale now so buy them before the raid on ticket websites begins on Sunday night. Discount Theatre has tickets for The Wizard Of Oz from the 25th April 2011 and the show is booking until the 17th September 2011 (and has Sunday matinees!).

Buy your Wizard Of Oz tickets here. 

Wizard of Oz Tickets went on sale this weekend as two more Dorothy’s bit the dust in BBC1’s Over the Rainbow.

This weekend double exit on Over The Rainbow was a little hard to bear for the Discount Theatre team as our personal favourite Jessica went home on Sunday evening.

Last week I predicted that we’d be seeing the back of Jenny and Sophie and I was half-right as Jenny found herself on the way back to Edinburgh on Saturday after the ‘Lord’ decided to save Lauren Samuels.

On Sunday Jessica found herself in the bottom two with Danielle and from that moment I Jessica was on the way home. Whilst we all love her here it’s clear she’s not really a Dorothy, more of a Sally Bowles.

So with four left in the question remains – who will be Dorothy? Or does it matter?  Will you buy your Wizard of Oz Tickets anyway or are you more likely to go and see the show if the winner  is your favourite?

We’d really like to know what you think so feel free to chip in with comments.

To book your Wizard of Tickets CLICK HERE.

See you next week for more Wizard of Oz news.

After Emilie’s exit last week I really didn’t know who was going to be in the bottom two this week, The competition so far has been a free for all; there’s some great talent and even greater variety between the contestants.

My bottom two bet was on Sophie and after I heard her sing It’s a Wonderful World, I thought that she might be out. It wasn’t bad, but it just didn’t grab me and I didn’t think the song fit in with the big band theme of the week. Jenny didn’t impress me either. Poor Stephanie got stuck with Mr. Bojangles, which is a song that was used in “I’d Do Anything”. It didn’t work then and didn’t work for poor Stephanie, which is too bad because I really like her voice.

The night belonged to Danielle with her version of Mambo Italiano which was absolutely brilliant and even seemed to catch Lord Lloyd Webber’s attention. Lauren was good singing The Man That Got Away and Jessica’s performance of Cabaret was not too bad at all.

So Mr. Bojangles and Stephanie were voted to be in the bottom two along with Steph which didn’t make sense at all especially since her performance of Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend was a great show opener. Lord Lloyd Webber did the right thing and saved Steph (who is good performer, rather than just being a good singer) and sent Stephanie to the moon.

But next week should be interesting as we head towards the nitty gritty; there will be a double expulsion, one contestant will leave on Saturday and one on Sunday, leaving us with the final four. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Sophie and Jenny should leave at this point as they don’t compare to the other four girls in the competition. Next week should be good!