West Side story also being touted as a possible one

Now I personally would prefer that, it would give them a new spin on thing's to cast a male and female lead for West-Side Story, as they've already done the seperate female and male lead's. Mind you it did'nt work too well on 'Grease Is The Word' did it?

but their format sucked, i bet the BBC would be better at it, especially if they get ALW on board again (though he said he wouldn't I thought )

That was because that "fixed pairing" thing they did for most of it was absolutely absurd. I can see the need to find a pair that work well together but the way they did it so rigidly meant the risk of losing someone good because their partner had a bad week was too high.

WSS would be good, it's been rumoured as coming back to the London stage for some time, and I can't think of any recent productions of it of any scale. They could reuse all their Maria jokes ; they could get Sondheim (but sadly not Bernstein) to appear in person as a judge; and they could bastardise "There's a place for me ... Somewhere (else)" or "Tonight, Tonight, I didn't get the part!" as the goodbye songs ... perfect!

And damn good he was in it too

What they need is a combination of:
(1) a show that hasn't been on in the West End in the last few years, so people won't think - meh I saw that recently
(2) a show where everyone will know at least some of the songs, and get involved with it
(3) a show with a strong central character(s) who you can keep in mind when chosing who to vote for (AWL said this was where Grease fell down, as they are just charicatures. Well that and the terrible production standards!)
(4) a show that would feel different in tone to Maria and Joseph, as they won't want to re-hash old ground.

I think West Side Story would be ideal. They could get the structure of it right, and still cast male and female leads without screwing it up like ITV did, by not fixing the pairs and not making the whole thing look and feel so cheap. Grease really did feel like bargain basement tv! The BBC have got it right 2 out of 2 so I'm sure they could make it work. If ALW wasn't free, though, they'd need to get someone else of his stature to fill his boots. (Whereas ITV got... er... David Gest and Sinita?) That, and it's a truly brilliant musical.

Or how about something totally off-the-wall like Tommy? Probably not high enough in the public consciousness though.

Or, in my ultimate dream fantasy, there would be a brand new theatrical version of The Nightmare Before Christmas. But that's never going to happen - only in my dreams, or if Matthew Bourne decides to direct a new gothic ballet!

Really there aren't many shows that fit the criteria and would be enough of a success, I think. Maybe the BBC should leave it a couple of years and come back to if afresh. But since when did they ever ditch a winning formula, eh?

I think West Side Story would be a great idea. Although being a Lee fan, I would love to see him in that role and I don't think he'll be doing any more reality shows.

I think it's time for Sunset Boulevard to come back, I saw John Barrowman in the role and he really sparkled.

As far as something off the wall, I'd love to see a stage version of Moulin Rouge, although I'm sure it would be very expensive to stage.

On a slightly different topic, ALW definitely wants to repeat the format on US TV:

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111...goryId=14&cs=1

I very much doubt , with all the recent expose' on the Beeb that there will be a follow up.

There has yet to be an investigation into this genre of show , but its on the cards.

If it does go ahead....will they stick to the same format ?
Will the show be built around a pre determined/chosen winner as with Maria and Any Dream ....or will the outcome really by determined by viewers vote ?


I know there are a number of BBC production staff lurking here..............it would be nice to hear their views

I have often walked down these steps before
But then I've always been voted for before
I've been voted in, now I'm voted off
So I'm back on the street where I live

All the chimney stacks are surrounding me
Living next to a factory in Daventry
I won't be a star, I won't go far
Because I'm stuck here on the street where I live

And oh, this miserable feeling
That I won't be in the show
My head is totally reeling
Since Lloyd Webber told me to go

I'll be forever more, in Tesco store
On the checkout every day which is such a bore
I look forward to when, I achieve size 10
And I'll escape from the street where I live.

several casting options for West Side Story

Maria and Anita
Maria and Tony
Riff and Bernardo..My fave choice, lots of testosterone around
Anita and Bernardo

And again here...

http://broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=20129

I wonder whether his mention about JCS and stadium tours is a clue?

I just don't see how you can keep on repeating the show. The logic is that Maria has already produced at least 7 castings as leading lady for 4 people and other Marias are already in supporting roles. Add to that the people outside the top 10 who passed the auditions and who we saw on TV and on top of that all the equivalents from Grease. Is he going to exclude previous contestants? Are there really more people as good let alone better out there? Is he going to avoid both people who might get the job on a traditional casting and people he has already discovered? Are we all going to sit there thinking which Maria would fit the role better ? Leanne with a year of acting experience as Eliza, Aoife or Abi or Helena in any US musical, the people from Grease in Westside Story.......

Well, X-factor keeps finding a fresh crop of freaks every year.

You get each year's batch of 18 year olds or theatre school graduates (look at the youth of the last 2 in the last X factor) i suppose. But the first time they ran with Maria they had the best people they could find between 17 (or was Leanne a bit older?) and their late 20s. The whole pool has been trawled pretty deeply now and maths suggests that if you can only find a few people from a decade's output in 2006 you won't find 10 new ones as good in 2008's output.

Arguably some reality TV shows have run out of decent contestants - Big Brother 8 seems to be filled with people who wouldn't have made the cut to be late entrants in BB7 and they don't seem to have been able to cast for any story without the right people turning up.

Gypsy would be a good option looking for Mama or Rose.

Or the King and I.

Carrie Grant was interviewed a while back, and made it very clear that the pool of real talent is actually very small. Keith Jack had already won at least two similar competitions that were not televised. Leona had won another. She said that it is the same people coming through the competitions all the time!

But there are only so many oportunities for legions of winners and runners up (in multiplicity) of X factor and/or the reality castings shows. But ADWD and HDYSAPLM have genuinely reinvigorated interest in musical theatre! But I do think they ought to stop there for a bit, because legions of reality show casting winners would be as bad as always having to give lead roles to people who are already famous for the sake of putting bums on seats, irrespective of actual ability, and at the expense of the musical theatre professionals.

We already now have 4 supposed "stars" (including Grease) and reams of runners up. The whole situation needs to be allowed to settle to let reality allow those who will to rise to the top and those who won't to fall back into ensembles or whatever. All such contestants have had huge advantage from the prolonged exposure, and it will be interesting to see what happens re many of them.

In many ways I really don't want the Grease pair to be well received, and I have to say I do fear that will be the case. How significant is it that barely anyone has posted a review of the previews and that the few there are, are not very good? But it isn't going to hurt (except re them) to sound a warning that it can all go wrong. And that winning, is not necessarily a passport to everything. To rise to the top of the tree you really should have to be really special! And as luck would have it the ALW shows did find people who are special, although I have reservations re Connie Fisher because there are just not that many roles she can be cast in. Funny Girl is apparently going to be next but where after that? Time may tell that Aoife Mulholland and/or Siobhan Dillon will do better! Lee Mead is another issue entirely. Some of the other boys might do well too, but he was always the star! If that stunning boy doesn't now just take off like a rocket then there is no justice in the world. But finding him was a fluke! Fluke superstars in waiting are not hanging around on every corner. Repetition would just mean a plethora of also rans whose use will only be as temporary cash cows. And that doesn't bear thinking of!

But if they do bring West Side Story back for its 50th centenary, any sane producer, whoever, will be waiting on a Lee Mead to finish in Joseph first! If they can!

Maybe they could do a show that's just open to all those hard working understudies out there, that, like Lee maybe have been passed by for leading roles even though they are very talented.

I don't think it should ever just be professionals, or were you being facetious? But there is a lot of talent struggling as understudies that doesn't get recognised. To put bums on seats the choice roles go to famous names at the expense of the musical theatre pros. Lee might have worked for Bill Kenwright but you don't audition for BK, you audition for the assistant of the assistant. It is possible he never actually even saw Lee perform at all. And Lee mentioned in an interview that he met BK at a cast party before when BK didn't even know who he was!

A lot of professionals did audition for both ADWD and the Maria show, and that was largely responsible for the better quality overall, for obvious reasons. It was open to ALL after all! With a couple of exceptions the others were all stage school kids who would have been professional shortly after as well. There was the oportunity for an amateur to step up to the mark, but that would have had to be at the same professional level. Reality is that £million pound productions have to have people who have the tools to do the job!

But however many pros did audition, not many pros would have broken their contract with something as prestigious as the West End production of Phantom to do it. Mention was made of the risk he took, but I really don't think most people understood was a huge risk it really was. To have broken his contract as he did was potentially professional suicide! He HAD to do well! The silly young Ben made a comment once that Lee was taking it too seriously. But of course he was! It was deadly serious for him in a way that it wasn't for the others. But he is AMAZING and thoroughly deserved his break! Good luck to him!

I am not sure what the shows actually did. Maria was meant to be a tomboy with acting as a major requirement. Connie won as the nearest thing to Julie acting as Julie and teh two best actresses didn't make the final. Joseph was meant to be a boyband star - Lee the experienced older hand got the job in a field with half a dozen people who actually did look like boyband singers. To get those two the judges came up with all sorts of claims about the other contenders which often bore no relation to anything other than the fact that they wanted other people to win.

Afterwards the distinctions between winners and non-winners fell apart. Connie was Maria and Aoife suppsedly wasn't good enough for the final 3 but now she is Maria 2 days a week and for whole weeks when Connie is away. Lewis was claimed to be too young to be Joseph but guess who is reportedly Joseph in Lee's holidays. Abi some judges claimed couldn't sing consistently but her consistency as a singer as well as her acting ability has been noted in Fame and she got good reviews for a completely different type of role in Blondel. The touring Fame is by all reports far better than the West End version which was cast without any reality TV stars. Sioban couldn't be Maria but is evidently doing well standing in as Sandy wheras Susan and her Danny are not pulling in great reviews. Helena who couldn't get the public or judges vote more often than not , got great reviews for the Wizard of Oz and has now got South Pacific and will soon join Connie, Abi and Aoife in clocking up stage time.

From that I am not at all sure what winning means and whether the show helps or hinders in the long term isn't clear yet. The public vote doesn't correlate with subsequent success. The judges comments don't correlate with ability. its far from clear that the winners (Connie particularly) fit other roles. Its also not apparent yet what happens when people who showcased on the show are no longer so much in the public mind - its not clear if or when being on the shows is a problem despite how well you do afterwards. You would expect people casting to focus on the right issues but some of the arguments we heard from judges on all three shows suggest that casting is a lot more illogical.

About the only thing that is clear is that TV exposure means more bottoms on some theatre seats .

I recently read that the BBC are not doing another Joseph type show.