Well I haven't seen either, so I can't comment on that - except to say that Connie got great reviews when the show first opened, so she can't be that bad! And while I wasn't a particular fan of Aoife's voice or singing, she was definitely better than Ben in the show.

Yeah, Aoife didn't have the same kind of vocal problems as Ben, she was secure enough, it was just that her voice didn't have a whole lot of colour and sometimes lacked tone in her lower notes.

I think a better comparison is Abi, who was also a little insecure in her tuning (although not to the same degree as Ben). She, like Ben, had star quality in abundance, was a fabulous actress and sold a song like a true professional.

With respect who are these "people". I always find it funny when friends or acquaintances say as part of an argument "well people say .. such and such" and when you challenge them they name one person not people at all.

Just to say I have seen Connie and Aoife as Maria. Aoife is stunningly beautiful and has a lovely voice. However she has what i would call a neutral stage presence. She is pleasant enough but she is just there doing it. She doesn't make you think "wow!!". She is competent nothing more.

Connie on the other hand is a star. She has charisma in spades and is as far from wooden as a big fleshy human thing can be. I say this just as I felt it at the time. i saw Connie first and then Aoife who is a very pale alternate by comparison.

As regards Ben, the fact is the boy can sing. The boy can move and he acts ok enough. (Bit tired of the down turning of the mouth when he tries emotion but hey he is learning).

However adequate as his voice is. if I was paying £60 to watch this show I would want to not be worrying about whether Close Every Door was going to end up in pieces. He is just not ready. He is too young vocally. it's that simple really. It's not an age thing. i think Keith is obviously further alone. It is just Ben's voice needs to mature. It shouldnt crack every time he goes high.

But as JB said there are no high notes in Joseph .......end of

ALW is indeed clueless............450 million times over.

In the vocal range that's needed for Joseph, Ben can sing it. Crying was well out of the vocal range needed for that part. He was asked to act it and he did that. It was an unbelievably hard song and much harder than not only the songs that the others were given tonight but any during any other part of the show.

I did feel for Craig, as it should have been Lewis or Keith that went.

Seamus should have gone. He just didn't work and came across as so arrogant.

I am surprised he got rid of Daniel, but then he was right. I wouldn't have paid to sit through an enitre show with Daniel as the lead.

That could be said for Keith as well. I really do not see what the judges see in him. He's a little boy...

I think it was right that Craig went this week. He was still the pub singer. And I think Josh's reaction when he saw him sing confirmed that he wasn't right for the part of Joseph.

Daniel was the ONLY one of the last twelve that I would pay good money to watch him starring in an entire show. The rest - well - are just boring :yawn:

Daniel has so far given the VERY BEST rendition of "Close Every Door" - there is no-one out there to touch him. He also gave balance to the show and carried the duets. When Daniel left ADWD the sparkle went out of the show

No he is not look at the millions he has made he is anything but clueless. He knows who he wants as Joseph and I think he was clever last night

I think Lee is sparkling very nicely on his own

Yes - he's a lone sparkler now ... Daniel's presence was certainly missed, particularly inthe group numbers where Lee over-powered them considerably.

Didn't go much on Lee's pyjama look either

ok


I thought it was a bit unfair last night. Lewis had the judges say you should of gone last week. Not nice. And then ALW said you didnt show strength. Well he did but its not that easy especially when you have been in the bottom two the past 2 weeks. Also ben does seem arrogant and its not nice to go and see someone who is arrogant. i thought lewis done well

'people' include many of the more critical critics and theatre-buffs, go on the whatsonstage website and you will see a lot of people don't think Connie is that good an actress. I would agree with them, Aoife acts the part at least 10 times better and has bags of chemistry with the Captain. Also what is with Connie waving her arms about all the time? its so annoying.

As for star quality, I think both of them have it in different ways, Aoife has it because her acting is just brilliant, whilst Connie is more of a show-woman.

My perception is that ALW has a sort of mental idea about what, this time, Joseph should be and then in the sing-off he chooses the one who most matches this - not that they are actually 'right', just that, of the two on offer at that moment, they are a better match to this image. And his image is for a young, poppy Joseph. As a result, after a bit of early clearing out, the musical theatre voices then went whenever they were in the firing line (Johndeep, Seamus, Chris B and Daniel), and the older (or older-seeming) guys (Rob and Craig) followed. Now we're left with three young, poppy guys and Lee. I see the last weeks offering a test of whether ALW sticks to his guns, or else chickens out and eventually goes with Lee (assuming he has a choice, and Lee comes up for a sing-off, which I presume either he or Keith must do in the penultimate programme). I'm not sure if he's 'clueless' exactly, although I certainly don't like his approach to vocal types in this context, since I much prefer a musical theatre voice. I would certainly have much preferred this week's line-up to have had Daniel and the two Chrises, say, over Craig, Lewis and Ben. I do have a fundamental problem with Ben's voice, since I do not find it convincing outside a narrow range of notes and dynamics: his soft singing is colourless and his sustained notes very prone to an intrusive vibrato, as Zoe pointed out - yet both of these are basic to the part of Joseph, whereas there isn't much of the lively song n'dance stuff he is good at.

But that isn't really the end of it. Ben hasn't yet sung anything well if it doesn't involved lots of dancing and movement, ie anything slow, and there are lots of those type of songs in Joseph. The range is only part of the story. As mooniemuk said, he just isn't ready yet.

Isnt it phone vote only from next week which means its now all up to the viewers. Connie last year was never in a sing off but ALW and the panel can still influence the voting with song choices comments etc - for example in last years final ALW said that COnnie had had the hardest Sound of Music song to do (Lonely Goatherd) implying that she was better than Helena (my fave) and Siobhan.

I thought ALW would still have a vote next week, but I think I may have just assumed that! Last year they went straight from 5 to 3 in one week, so we don't have a precedent to follow (sorry, you can tell I'm a law student!). Does anyone know?

He really did. That song is an earnest love song as cleo pointed out and he sold it beautifully. Well he made me melt anyway. They really had a go at him. The only thing I can think of to excuse them is that they actually still think that Lewis could do it but he's not quite there.

I think that he made a big step forward last night. He has never really drawn me into a song and made me feel that way about him before, even though I really like him.

yes i agree, he knows who he wants already, i tell you its the weakest link ha ha

saying that though ive seen Ben improve and he keeps me watching the screen with his dancing and attempts at acting, Craig has just stayed the same and cant keep me hooked to the screen.

I think Lees the only 1 in the competition who could cut it as joseph 7 nights a week

I agree

None of the marias were quite as bad as ben is, they were all more versatile than ben also(although thats not hard!)

1.The evidence of my own eyes, as a lover of Musical Theatre.
2.The comments of theatre goers in this thread:
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...d.php?t=570116
3.The reviews I've heard of Connie's performance from Theatre Critics who I respect. As a previous poster said, a great show woman, not such a natural actress. You may disagree, as you did in your post, but it doesn't mean the alternative view doesn't exist widely, as you implied in the quote above. I am neither a friend nor acquaintance of anyone connected with the show.

I quite liked connie in TSOM, but i think she has improved in her acting as the show has gone on.

The two Judges that said Lewis should go felt he would not be able to cope with eight performances a week

Perhaps, perhaps not. The panel seemed to think that he did quite well with the song still, almost as if trying to defend him to a public that would be blinded by the off-notes. That doesn't mean he's ready, but then Andrew still thinks he deserves to be in this stage of the competition at least, and no one has anything that can prove him wrong.