Are You Following the Yellow Brick Road?

The search for Dorothy has commenced! BBC One premiered Over The Rainbow this weekend and as of Saturday night, 10 finalists were chosen and the public are currently voting for a wildcard slot to make it a total of 11 contestants in next week’s sing off.

The Lord has a new throne (he’s ditched that horrible red velvet wannabe Elizabethan thing) and seems to be a little more integrated with the judging panel. Shelia Hancock came out as the most abrasive, questioning the contestants’ motivations in a Mother Superior kind of way, which was superb. Performing in Sister Act has obviously rubbed off.

The Judges: Shelia Hancock, Charlotte Church and John Partridge

As for Charlotte Church and John Partridge, they had their modest but non committal opinions, probably because they know it’s still quite early in the game.

The contestants sang two songs (in groups of 4), and a nice surprise was that each sang a number from a current West End show . Chicago, Sweet Charity, We Will Rock You, Legally Blonde and Blood Brothers featured in Saturday night’s broadcast (Blood Brothers was a nice surprise, it is one of the best West End shows and often largely ignored). It was definitely a good way for some current shows to obtain some prime advertising space!

If watching Andrew Lloyd Webber on Friday and Saturday night wasn’t enough, there was also a South Bank program on ITV last night, featuring interviews past and present with Lloyd Webber. It showed fantastic clips from his new work Love Never Dies, but also incorporated old footage of The Phantom Of The Opera as well as Evita, Cats and Jesus Christ Superstar. It served as a reminder that his shows really revolutionised musical theatre.

Anyways, we’ve been informed that The Wizard of Oz will start booking in about 4 weeks, so there is the opportunity to buy tickets before the winner is announced. As we’ve seen with The Sound Of Music, Joseph and Oliver! the mad dash begins when the winner is crowned and the show sells out within hours. If you know that you want to see this show, regardless of who wins, buy tickets as soon as possible.

In the meantime, I’m looking forward to following more of the rainbow next Saturday.

BBC One’s Over the Rainbow broadcasts on Saturday nights. Discount Theatre has tickets from £40.50 for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies, currently booking until the 23rd October.