Sorry, I meant in relation to the rest of the IDA finalists/contestants that were going to do well anyway.

I think she was great when big over the top acting was required, for example, she was fabulous in 'All That Jazz'. But subtle she's not. I can think of one performance where Stephanie genuinely stirred emotion in me as well. As an actess alone I think she was the weakest of the top 11.


I think Steph will be the most successful of the Dorothys, she could do pretty much anything the threw at her. She reminds of Aoife or Rachel.

I would've had a blonde Scottish Dorothy.


Me neither! But I will quite happily watch her perform.


I can think of about five Dorothys with better voices, though that's probably the difference between technically good and pleasant to listen to.

She's still done one of the biggest roles she could do even if it was on tour, she's been Sally Bowles, and she landed that role at 17, I call that a major success in itself. Landing a role in Les Mis on top of that before her 20th birthday is outstanding.

Would she have been better in smaller west end roles like Niamh and Jessie (the shows they were supporting roles), maybe but with Cabaret she was the star of the show.

If Stephanie landed a role like that I'd be impressed.

For me personally Stephanie did stir up emotion, Smile for instance was the best!! I was in the live audience that night and was absolutely blown away by how good she was, from everything from the vocal to the subtle nuances like facial expressions etc. Then Lets Get Loud was wicked, party starter haha

I really do think it's all down to interpretation and what you're looking for in a performance, whether you naturally think critically to begin with etc, and what you're comparing it to.

Fair enough.

I still feel BK can be a bad move if the performer stays in it for too long.

not causing an argument, just wondering who you thought had better voices?

I would put Lauren Stephanie and Sophie as my top three

Jenny, Steph, Sophie, Lauren, Bronte. Like I say I know nowt about technicalities I go for how a voice moves me.

Same goes for acting and dancing too. People keep telling me Danielle's a great actress but she does nothing for me, on the other hand I'm told Jenny and Sophie aren't as good dancers as the others but I still live watching them.

I wouldn't recommend anyone do a three year stint like Craig did as Joseph, but it's a great place to start. Both Sally Bowles are now in the west end.

Well you are so wrong there then because as we know Stephanie was offered Flashdance and would have been opening in Flashdance in September on the Westend at 17! So therefore she would have been the FIRST out of all the Dorothies to open on the Westend and I'm not surprised seeing she was the most talented, especially for her age. However, we know she has turned this down for a reason. Maybe its to do with moving to London at 17 but I'm sure she has her reasons and they must be good. I look forward to hearing what she has accepted.

Couldn't agree more. Lauren, Sophie and Stephanie for me too but must have to include Steph as I thought she was also a great singer.

Offered first and opened first are not the same thing, also you don't know what every one else has been offered, I remembering hearing on this forum that Amy had already been offered a part, so for all you know someone could already have a west end show.

Also I say Stephanie won't be the first because as I have maintained for weeks the Dorothys will continue the trend set by the Marias and kept up by the Josephs and the Nancys - 4th place was the first runner up in the west end. So I think it'll be Steph who's first.

This is a rather pointless argument as

a) She didn't accept it

and

b) One of the other girls could easily get offered something that starts sooner

Besides, I don't see any virtue in being the first on the westend. Going by previous contestants, there's a lot to be said for waiting for the perfect opportunity rather than knocking everyone down in a contest to be the first to land a role. Daniel Boys had to wait quite some time before he got Avenue Q and he was offered a lot of other stuff along the way. But I'm glad he waited because Avenue Q was a perfect role for him. And it certainly didn't make him any less of a talent than Craig Chalmers (for example), who started as touring Joe pretty swiftly.

Having said all that, Flashdance sounds like a great opportunity for Stephanie and I am very curious as to why she turned it down. Which role was she offered do you know? I'll be watching this space for further news


In your opinion. Plenty wouldn't rate her as the absolute best, though I think most would accept that she's very talented. With the exception of one or two, this year's girls all have a lot to offer and I can't wait to see where they all end up.

I think it is really impressive that Stephanie was already offered Flashdance! I knew she would be picked up fast... there really was something very impressive about her, her dancing, her lush singing (melting chocolate) and her general stage presence. Lets Get Loud was so accomplished, and 'Nobody Does it Better'... was absolutely flawless (and live!). I thought she embodied the emotions of her songs beautifully, and was the only one who proper impressed me with her dancing and rhythm.

To me, she had hands down the best voice in the competition, although I concede they were all very good, and in the end a lot of it comes down to personal preference.

When will the news be realeased?

quite excited to see how all the Dorothys do.

It was so fitting that Steph finished in fourth as she's very much cut from the same cloth as Aoife and Rachel. I hope she has as much success as they've had.

It'll be interesting to look back on this in four or five years, but so far Aoife has been overwhelmingly the most successful of all the contestants. Obviously she's had more time, but she went from a drama school grad to a fully fledged West end career on the back of the show.

The likes of Daniel and Lee had some kind of career to begin with, though they were waiting for their big break. As did Rachel.

Elphaba might be the most impressive role anyone has landed post show though.

Well we now know it won't be Stephanie first on the Westend due to her turning it down BUT it could have been thats what I am saying. It is just down to their decisions what they choose. As said on an earlier thread its not just about being on the Westend as you could have a lead on tour which is better than a supporting role on the Westend but that is were the Dorothies will be making their own choices as to what suits them as individulas. Good luck to them all!

Were supposed to be discussing Stephanie's new job not her acting, dancing and singing ability ! Its went a bit off topic in here!

Couldn't agree more and yes alot comes down to personal preference.

I haven't seen the stage show of Flashdance but in the movie there is pretty much one part of note and had she been offered that I cannot imaging her turning it down so I assume ot was a supporting role. Nothing wrong with that but there are a lot of supporting roles that are probably better and higher profile which I would have thought she would hold out for.

Whatever the people on here think the judges clearly did nt see her as the strongest in the competition (at least for Dorothy). I detest the phrase "triple threat" it is a vacuous term used on reality TV which means nothing at all. Each one of the top 6-7 girls could sing dance and act. Every one of them is better at one discipline than others and even if there was one who was equally good at all three, doesn't mean she is better overall - for instance Lauren's acting skills are her weakness and her voice is her strength but she was still a better actor than Steph (though not a better dancer)

As far as age goes there were I think 4 of the top 6 18 or under so the idea that Stephanie should somehow be considered differently because of her age has no basis at all in fact. The winner only turned18 a couple of weeks ago!

Stephanie is talented and actually has a lot more experience than the other girls her age and I am sure, like them whe will go on the a professional stage career.

If I was guessing who would land west end parts first I expect that will be Steph and Lauren who, in their early 20s are old enough and talented enough to pick up any number of parts quite quickly - just like Rachel Tucker did - and 2 years later she probably has the best role in the west end now

I agree. Hopefully it will be a good job and I'm sure Stephanie will be great in anything as most of the girls will.

I think we were discussing age regarding Stephanie as a positive thing as it indicates that there any many more opportunities to come

Judging the success of someones career shouldn't be done when they have only just begun!

Also to answer a previous question of when will we know... From what I have been told Stephanie must wait until she is given the nod to let it out and she said she will email me the news so keep your eyes peeled on the blog guys!

I take it's a lot to do with when shows open or have cast changes and when actors choose to leave. No-one from this show is likely to be in Les Mis as the cast changes have recently been announced, so it'll be at least a year til there's an opportunity for them.

Just while I'm on the subject I think Dani will end up in Les Mis given that the youngest Maria, Joseph and Nancy have been in it.

Roxie and Princeton are damn impressive roles too.

The thing about those group of actors is there all late 20's/early 30's. Apart from possibly Steph, the Dorothys can't expect to be able to compete with them. The ones you mention are the cream of the crop, not of talent but talent plus experience and training.

I quite like Stephanie's acting. She commands a stage and she can get over of the more difficult things like comedy. Not at all sure that the show or the comments have ever given us an accurate picture of acting ability on most series. You wouldn't have got from IDA that Tara, Jessie, Rachel and Miamh can act really well or that Rachel and Niamh actually seem very funny. I think with a few months training she will act as well as most of them and she can do the dance heavy numbers that many can't.

Not sure of Steph's vocal power either - though at the the other end of the spectrum we were only allowed to see one big outing for even Helena's or Rachel's. She was in Little shop of Horrors when I saw it but annoyingly I can't remember if I saw her on stage. Steph's acting pedigree though looks very strong and they didn't let her act much either.
http://www.spotlight.com/interactive/cv/1/F77560.html

She is younger still though and you can only go so young. The younger Les Mis role is Cosette but thats the purest soprano role there - hence Leanne and Katie hall.