As an avid musical theatre fan, I agree with ALW when he says that Michael Ball and John Barrowman are the only two leading men who can guarantee putting bums on seats in a new West End show.

As MB is now 44 and JB is coming up to 40 (though both are still wonderful leading men), it's about time we had a new young one to follow in their footsteps.

I think Lee is going to be *the* leading man of the West End in the future.

Ball's great strength is his fabulous voice. Barrowman's is his handsome looks, but all three (MB, JB and Lee) have charismatic stage presence.

I am looking forward to seeing how Lee develops.

I don't know, I will have to judge when I actually see him in theatre.

I expect he will generate bums on seats purely because of the media exposure though (similar to Connie).

If John Barrowman himself says he's happy to pass the leading man role to Lee then that's good enough for me!!!

Lee imo embodies all characteristics of a LM, theatrical voice, acting skills, good looking, knows how to communicate with the audience through his endearing personality, & of course he has command of the stage!

He needs this role to even enhance further his skills & confidence & then he will definitely conquer the West End & Broadways in not too distant future I hope, like John did & still does.

JB and MB have been their for a long time will Lee be around that long, only time will really tell - but it is funny with all the West End Shows only two leading men are that well known, it may just remain the same!

Have to agree with all of the above; the difference with these 3 is that they'll all have made their careers by being West End leading men, NOT soap/pop stars who were paid originally to 'pack em in' & learnt about the stage by being thrown in at the deep end.

Not even Jason Donovan, now ALMOST as associated in the public's mind with Joseph as he was with Neighbours, can say that.

Will continue to watch Lee's career with keen interest.

I think Lee has the potential to have a career like Michael Ball or John Barrowman but he's not in their league yet!

Actually JB and Michael Ball are examples of how tough it is for great MT performers because we don't really know what to do with them. I think it's very ironic that we can see JB being on a panel on a Saturday night or on Dr Who, but you won't see the BBC putting him on to sing to us on a Saturday night himself. Michael Ball's been presenting on This Morning and a judge on Soapstars Superstars (!) but you're lucky if you hear him sing on TV either. Both of them have had to develop lots of other strings to their bow to get any level of national fame or just job security. These talent shows, when they are just starting out, seem to be about the only way TV companies are currently willing to put MT performers on the TV, which I personally feel is a great shame.

Some pop/soap stars are good are several genres of theatre. Nigel Harman started as a musical theatre actor. Kim Medcalf is great as Sally Bowles There must be several actors from soaps etc who would be good in MT. Another one who springs to mind is Darius who is just about to start touring as Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls.

Not just Lee. I think Daniel will crave out quite a successful MT career as well!

It will be good to watch all the Jospehs over the next few years!

Agreed totally, but the West End also need to generate it's own people to stop it becoming stale.

I have my seat booked for Tuesday at Edinburgh Playhouse!!

Darius had great success (in the Adelphi Theatre) as Billy Flynn. His original run was extended, then after the production moved to the Cambridge Theatre he was asked back for a further run.

He has just completed 2 weeks in Liverpool as Sky Masterson and now heads to Edinburgh for a further 2 weeks. He definitely has what it takes to be a Leading Man.

Wasn't there a recent show [last year I think] on BBC1 where John [and others] sang songs from the musicals ... I would like to see something like that again [featuring some of the Joseph/Maria contestants who are now working in the theatre.

Yeah, I was going to mention that.

I think Lewis and Ben will be giving him a run for his money in a year or 2 and Daniel nipping at his heels straight away.

After sitting through utter carp like Adam Ricketts in Rent the thought an influx of song and dance men to the west end is very exciting.

I couldn't agree more. Both Michael Ball and John Barrowman are wonderful singers yet although we see them on TV reasonably frequently, we hardly ever get to see them do what they do best!

Completely agree. It's great that we're finally getting some good, honest theatre talent - I wasn't "fortunate" enough to see Adam Rickett in Rent, but there's also Darius (and a whole load of awful soap stars, including Barry from Eastenders!) in Guys and Dolls and Jon from S Club in Les Mis.

And I reckon Ben, Keith and Lewis will all be taking over the West End in years to come. And Daniel as soon as possible!

yep was about too add Daniel Boys to the list of rivals to Barrowman and Ball

You know he's got my vote . Cant wait to see Daniel on stage

No one has mentioned Richard Fleeshman from Corrie who won soapstars superstars. He is an amazing talent and only young too. He sang moondance in the series and knocked socks of Keith. I did hear he had a role in west end production that was cancelled at the last minute

Oh, so am I

There are so many roles that I think he would be amazing in and in a sense, I can't wait until Joseph is over and he gets to tackle some of the really outstanding parts in musical theatre.

But I will also be following the career of Mr Boys, and I feel certain that he will make his mark too.

I'm so glad that this show brought these two talents to the wider public view, not to mention some of the other boys who have great potential for the future.

I agree that Richard has enormous potential. I expected to see him quickly succeed as a pop singer but that didn't materialise.

I would love to see him in a musical but everything seems to have gone quiet. Maybe someone knows what he is up to these days. Perhaps he is still studying?

I saw Lee on BBC Breakfast this morning. A lovely guy but at this stage he certainly doesn't have the personality plus that Michael Ball and John Barrowman have.

Well, it's early days yet ...

Aaah, Nigel Harmon. When are we going to see him on TV again? I miss him so much!

He wasn't half bad in guys and dolls.

IMHO of course but people are getting a bit carried away here. Lee certainly shows potential to be the next Ball or Barrowman, but I don't believe that Lewis, Keith or even Daniel can be put in that category. I'm not saying they are not talented, and they will all improve with time too of course, but for every one Lewis there are hundreds more just like him.