ALW has said numerous times that he wants a young, poppy, fresh joseph. and, from decisions that ALW has made in the sing offs, i think that is def what he is looking for.

I just wonder whether others think, like i do, that maybe if thats what ALW wants so much, then he should have put an age limit on the auditions.

It seems abit unfair on older contestants like seamus and daniel if they would never have won becasue in ALW's eyes they were simply too old for what he wants to begin with.

As someone posted elsewhere, ALW also said he wanted a young, tomboyish, more modern Maria, yet ended up casting a safe, professional, Julie Andrews clone!

I think he likes the idea of a toyboy Joseph, but has left his options open by including a few "safer" bets.

If it was clear to him, right from the start that he was never going to cast Daniel or Seamus purely because they were too old, then I don't think he should have put them in the top 12.

On the other hand, I'm sure Daniel and Seamus are glad, in spite of everything, that they got a chance to go on the show.

I agree - its not fair to put people in if they never had a real shot. Saying that I don't put much stock in him saying he wants youth. Thats just spin to make it seem like he's doing something new.

Do you not know is against the law to discriminate against someone because of their age

Just because someone is old they cannot pull of portraiting someone younger. How old was Jason Donavon, Donny Osmond, Phillip Schofield when they played the part? (yes they had fanbases but ADWD brings that too)

On the other hand, remember that stage makeup and the distance between the performer and audience can make up for an actual "older" Joseph. People would have screamed even more if ALW had capped the contest at 21 or younger. We'd never even have SEEN Daniel, Lee, or Seamus. Neither would the agents who are now keeping Daniel busy. Exposure is better than no exposure, even if the results seem cruel.

I might be wrong, but with the new age discrimination stuff can they put an age limit on it? Or is showbiz exempt as age would be a Genuine Occupational Qualification, just a a man couldn't complain if he wasn't cast as Juliet!

Yes, but there's an exception if it's a genuine requirement of the job, such as for believability in the theatre... strange but true!

Ooh sorry, I missed this post before replying. Yes, age in showbiz is exempt!

i was jesting i do understand the believabilty thing.

funnily enough I think their should be an agelimit. Only I think it should be on the youngers!

Even if I felt Lewis (for example) was far and a way the most talented on the show I still wouldn't want him to win. At only 17 his voice is still developing and eight performances a week under a lot of pressure could well damage his voice permenantly and wreck his career.

The fact is someone slightly older, could act younger, and then theirs the wonders of make up. Someone too young however is less likely to cope.

I agree that the older contestants would prob cope alot better with the demanding schedule of the part.

This is exactly what I'm thinking.

By the way houw much older than Lewis is Ben cos he can't be much older yet he seems to be older when he performs.
Last edited by nats18 : 22-05-2007 at 20:14

I think Ben's 18 and Keith 19. Lewis seems like by far the oldest of the 3 to me, but I think that's partly because Keith has such a young face.

I think Ben looks the oldest without a doubt, lewis seems the oldest, and keith seems like a kid to me, sorry.

This is what puzzles me: If a teenager's voice wouldn't be able to cope with the pressure (and I agree, I don't think it would), why is ALW so keen to have a "youthful" Joseph?

Even Connie, who I think was one of the more experienced Marias, is now having to take 2 performances a week off, so how does ALW think a teenager will be able to do 8 performances a week?

Maybe he isn't actually planning to have them do the 8 shows when it comes to the crunch, he may already be planning to have an understudy doing some shows?

Ben looks 12 and Lewis looks about 28.

I think Ben looks about 26 and lewis looks about 19

Whoa, seriously?

Yep

I did wonder (in fact, that was what he was originally planning on doing with The Sound Of Music) but I think when he got rid of Anthony his reason was he didn't think Anthony would be able to do 8 performances a week. So I assume the chosen Joseph is going to do all the performances.

Despite Connie's demands to do all the shows, and the professional "alternate" quite justifiably getting miffed when her schedule was being gradually eroded, I think the box office was facing serious hassle from the public who wanted to know when they booked, whether Connie would be performing.

Having built up the publicity based on a reality TV show, of course the public are going to want to see the winner. I think it's important that ALW gets someone capable of playing all of/the majority of performances. He has to take that into account in his decisions.

I don't think that Joseph is as demanding a role as Maria - not as much stage time or songs therefore it's probable that the winner will be expected to do all of the shows. Having said that I took my daughter to see the Friday matinee of Joseph when Ian 'H' Watkins was playing Joseph and it was the understudy much to my daughters dissapointment who had been looking forward to seeing H from Steps.