i'm not even going to comment on this

thats great news, i assume she is taking over from siobhan dillon when she finishes her run as sandy!! thats a strange coincidence as siobhan came 3rd in hdysaplm and lauren came third on otr

(and even stranger these two were my favorites from these series, and sam barks was my fav for the nancy show, i must be a jinx as all my favs end up third!!!)

is Grease on in the west end?

It's here: http://www.greasethemusical.co.uk/

yeah at the piccadilly theatre,they have recently extended booking to september 2011

well done Lauren. I love grease.

We all ready know she can do, "Nighhiiiights..."

Here's another Danielle fan popping over here to say congrats to Lauren for getting the part of Sandy! That will be a great role for her, I'm sure. I always figured Lauren would get cast in something very quickly, because she's incredibly talented even if I didn't think she was ideal for Dorothy. I'm sure she'll be a great Sandy!

Yay! Well done Lauren, that's brilliant! A West End lead at 22 (?), she must be thrilled to the back teeth! I can't say that Grease is my favourite musical ever but it is such good fun and is one of those musicals that I always think the cast must be having a fantastic time with as well as the audience, just because it is so upbeat and cheesy (see also: Mamma Mia!). I wasn't going to bother seeing the West End production as I saw a touring version years ago and have the film on DVD, but I'll definitely arrange to go now.

On a very selfish note I'm now very happy that my two favourites from the competition (Steph was my other) are now both going to be appearing in London shows shortly so I'll get to see them both live in the next couple of months! I bet Lauren will make a great Sandy, I can really see her in the part.

ETA: Thanks for letting us know, both of you! I very much rely on this thread for Lauren news, even if I don't post all that much.

Ooooohhh that's so fantastic!!! Massive congratulations to her!!! Wow that's such a great role! And one that she thoroughly deserves!

BTW: Is someone going to post this in a new thread for the people who don't read this one *wants to show off our girl * Or am I just being blind and one already exists? I'll post one later if no one else does

Big congrats to Lauren, don't think it was ever in any doubt that she'd do well from this show but to get a west end lead so quickly is even better! I'm sure she will do a fantastic job and it will give her lots of opportunity to show off that brilliant voice of hers.

Congratulations to Lauren, she'll be a lovely Sandy. Any idea who her Danny will be? (apologies if it has been mentioned already!) You can see the innocent Sandy in 'Nobody Knows' and the sexy bit at the end in 'Sway'. Bet her 'Hopelessly Devoted To You' is a cracker.

Is it just me, but if she's young enough to play Sandy wasn't the too old for Dorothy thing a bit dumb?

to a certain point it was, but i suppose in peoples heads judy garland is the origional dorothy and looked young doing it, whereas age wise in grease they can get away with murder with the ages, because look at the origional film, danny and sandy were meant to be teenagers but john travolta was 24 and olivia newton john was 30!!! when she did grease

I know but Olivia newton John was like 29. So we see Sandy as anything from 16 to 30, actualy I always assume an older actress should play her, someone in her 20's. well I do anyway. I sort of See Dorothy as being a bit younger than 22, I mean the actress who plays her. It's all about perception. It doesn't mean people are being dumb about it.

please let her have a better leading man than Noel from Hearsay ...

Also during OTR we were constantly being told that Dorothy was 12 so the voting audience will have had this age in mind, even though actresses playing Dorothy in theatrical productions are very often in their mid-twenties (I know both Rachel Tucker and Helena Blackman have played Dorothy and I'm pretty sure they were both older than Lauren when they did it). In Grease Sandy just needs to be an older teenager and Lauren can probably pass for that with ease even without make-up, costumes and being far away on a theatre stage! Plus of course everyone knows that people in their twenties very often play teenagers both on stage and on film.

So I can rationalise the difference between the two, but really I'm with you jill1812, the too old to play Dorothy thing was always more than a little doubtful if you look at the actresses who've done it on stage.

Rachel Tucker played Dorothy just before IDA I think which would make her 24/25 I think. I think Helena was in her 20's, so was Sarah Lark, although she quite regularly played characters a lot younger.

Lauren wasn't my pick for Dorothy but I never got the too old, I never got it about Steph either.

Sorry, didn't mean to insult anyone. I just meant Lauren could have convincingly been young enough for Dorothy.

I guess she could. But maybe more suited to a more maturer role. And although the character of Sandy is only 16, many think of her as older, becuase of the actress in the film. So it's more of given that someone a bit older plays her.

whoop this means my 3 favourite Dorothys have west end parts!! uber happy, when does lauren start?

Confirms Siobhan's leaving date may well be July 24 which I think was what she twittered. Presumably Lauren would be on the next show?

Siobhan and Lauren had two of the biggest voices on their series and Sandy needs that. As long as Lauren can play girlie and looks good in a Leotard she will be great. Lauren has done really well to to get to the WestEnd leading role straight off - only the winners and Aoife have managed that.

The only problem with Grease is that the sound there is painfully too loud and the story dies before they thought of a decent ending which means its short as musicals go. Its its very near to Piccadilly tube though.

I thought he was pretty good - acted it well. My problem with Grease has been that both times I went to see/hear Siobhan she wasn't on. The boys in the show were all very good.

Well done Lauren, that is great for her.

Haven't seen it since Sonia was in it but it may be time for another visit.

Its Noel (from Hear'say)

Of course she looks good in a all in one, thats what she had on for Danielle's birthday remember!!!!!!

Go Lauren Who the **** wants to be Dorothy eh!