Why do they get them to sing pop songs when (from the judges comments) they want them to 'act out' the song. Some of them just ended up looking ridiculous imo. Why not give them songs from various stage shows? Or does that come later in the series?

Songs written for other musicals, for example Phantom, might not show us hpow well suited the contestant is to the role of Dorothy as well as certain pop songs, but I think there should be more musical theatre songs thrown in. It's only the first week though. Rehab was a particularly sillhy choice for a Dorothy IMO!

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Some pop songs have a story though. I'd say Emilie's song from last night, 'Breakaway', is lyrically quite apt for the character of Dorothy even if it's not the most striking musically - she could have acted it much better.

I also thought, in terms of lyrics, 'Run' is quite a good choice as, bizarrely, was 'Ego' in terms of allowing acting.

Something inane like 'Mama Do', less so.

I think they should do a pop section and musical theatre Would make more sense, but with the amount of girls there are it would take ages!

I don't see how any pop song shows us how well suited someone is to the role of Dorothy. I've never watched a show like this before. Can't say I'm impressed with what I've seen so far. Only one Dorothy for me! Lol

I don't see why we need a pop section. Just because a girl can shout out a karaoke version of an Amy Winehouse song does not mean she can play a leading role in musical theatre. The pop choices are to dumb down the show to appeal to a wider audience.

While a song from 'Phantom' would tell you nothing about a girl's ability to play Dorothy, there are more than enough musical theatre songs that would. They could even compromise and take things from the poppier shows like Mamma Mia, We Will Rock You. Judy Garland has enough of a back catalogue from her youth to fill one show.

I'd like to see one week devoted to acting and one to dance as well rather than seeing ridiculous "down on the farm" tasks and any acting restricted to VT on the results shows once phone lines have closed.

Maybe we have so many pop songs because...
1. Maybe it's hard to get hold of songs from musical theatre to use? Possibly? Especially if the show is currently in the West End. I don't know, it's a guess so please don't come back with a "are you thick?" comment.
2. Maybe if they use ALW tunes they could be done for too much publicity for him?
3. Maybe they have to use pop songs, sort of as Evilredzebra said, but rather than "dumbing down" it's to do with appealing to a wider cross section as the BBC is supposed to be a public service broadcasting unit. I'd guess that the general public know more about pop music than musical theatre and if all 11 girls sang a musical theatre song each week (I realise it would go down to 10, 9, 8 etc as the weeks go on) by about week 3, the general public would be going "erm... what is this?" which could lead them to switch off.

The point is the pop songs they are given are generally dreadful.

But I do agree more appropriate show numbers would add to the production.

From what I remember, the songs do become more musical theatre as the weeks progress and in the past I'm sure there has been a bit of outrage and a few conspiracy theories when girls have been given a musical theatre song in between all the pop dross.

It's very unfair on the pure musical singers as it's very hard to sing pop when you have been trained for musicals. But then I suppose if they are really good enough they should be able to fake it until the better stages of the competition!

I didn't recognise a single one of those songs! That's not to say I didn't enjoy some of them but one or two struck me as totally inappropriate for Dorothy - or for young girls, generally.

Rehab!

Yeah, I definitely agree its to dumb it down. But I have no real problem with that.

It's all such high drama

I'm going to go a-hunting for the list of songs which both the Marias and Nancys did - then we can play "match the song to the Dorothy who'll get it"

I prefer it when they do the musical numbers. It works so much better. The majority of my favourite performances from previous series have been the theatre songs.

I watched with a friend last night who hasn't seen one of these shows before and she was quite surprised to see them come out and sing pop songs. We talked about why that may be and we felt the biggest reason was likely to be that there just isn't enough songs to go around.

What would you think of having a selection of musical songs and rotating them around between the girls each week?

Gulp. One of my favourite reference books, much thumbed, is called 'The Hollywood Musical'. It does what it says on the tin and there are 1,344 films referenced, from The Jazz Singer in 1927 to The Jazz Singer in 1980 (it's an old book). Each of these has a fair old collection of songs - the index goes on for pages. Oh, and it excludes British musical films like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

There may be a shortage of modern songs, but I do assure you there is no shortage of classic musical theatre numbers. The Man That Got Away, which Jessie sang during IDA, was written in 1954, but is as fresh today as it was then.

A song like Don't Stop Believing or Umbrella could lyrically allow a contestant to play Dorothy more than some musical numbers, which would bring to mind irrelevant characters or stories, would. Some songs from musicals would ber suitable though - that's why I think a range should be used.

A Mamma Mia theme week would be amazing! It's my favourite film, and I love the musical too! It'd really put the girls to the test!

Who's your one Dorothy then? Mine is Stephanie Davis!

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Abba songs are notoriously hard to sing. Pop Idol had an Abba week and it was without doubt the worst single week I've ever seen in a talent show!

That'd bne the fun and challenge of it - and if everyone had an ABBA song, it wouldn't be unfair on anyone, providing they all got the right song.

I sang The Winner Takes It All in a college panto last year - tough, but it was my own choice, and it went down well!

Winner seems to be a particularly notorious ABBA song.....

Rosie (Pop Idol 1) My favourite, but had a bad night. Eliminated.
Ashley (XF 3) Terrible every week IMO, but that was the last straw, eliminated.
Arianna (AI8 Top 36) Became my favourite, but I was in the minority. Great voice, poor arrangement. Eliminated.
Ashley (IDA) Wasn't a fan of hers, or that performance - but amazingly, she survived it!

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I want somebody (preferably somebody I don't despise) to do Bad Romance. It'd be great for acting. I can just see Sheila squeeling in delight at the Dorothy in question's Rah Rah Ah Ah Ah chant.

I love Bad Romance! I reckon Jessica would attempt it, but Stephanie would do a much better job!

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What annoys me is that they make out its like an audition, but can you imagine an audition for a West End show where they 9a0 ask the girls to sing a pop song and (b) didn't ask them beforehand their dance ability (c) didn't ask them to act

Its not an audition at all, as another poster has said just a light entertainment show dressed up as an audition.

I don't know. Maybe they are trying a modern take on the story whereby Dorothy in trying to make the farm crops grow sprinkles them with mephedrone and then sniffs some herself, gets high and starts having a dream of being in a strange land surrounded by munchkins and having to travel along a yellow brick road

Or perhaps when she woke up at the end, that's where Aunty Em had her carted off.....

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I totally agree. At least if they have to use pop songs they should be well known ones or at least appropriate. Dorothy would not be singing about rehab although it was a great performance.

The pop songs are at least modern ones this year. However, I think a few were inappropriate (or perhaps just silly) for the age of the girl so it's not surprising they can't 'connect' with the lyrics. That said - these girls were chosen because they have pop voices that are trained to project. I know several brilliant MT singers that were turned down (after getting quite far through the auditions) because they weren't poppy enough. They were expecting it by then and it was no big deal - as with any casting the producers have a certain look and sound in mind and have set a brief to cast to. In this case, they are also casting for TV so they have to have people from different regions and backgrounds, different sizes, and different skin/hair/eye colour that don't specifically meet that brief. These people will either be physically unsuited for the role (i.e., Amy) too inexperienced, or just not good enough. They will be eliminated. (Sadly though, due to TV exposure some of the 'just not good enough' or weaker singers will end up working (bums on seats) at the expense of those more talented.) Let's not forget as well, that not everyone goes through the open audition rounds in the same way.... As for IDA and Jody - she was the one in the stand out dress and I (and most of my friends) had her pegged as winner before the show started. With her VT edits and publicity we had that feeling reinforced. We know ALW likes young, curly heads (he used to marry them whin his younger days) but he still is casting his show - you can promote someone (e.g., Jesse) and aid their career and still put the other more appropriate candidate into the chosen role.

They are not that difficult if you are a pop sounding singer who is trained to west end standards. They can also be acted in a way that is equally effective so the singing isn't the main component of the performance - However, one has to be able to actually act