My favourite Oliver was Kwayedza, he had a really good voice

chester and Gareth, then laurence

I don't like the fact that it's so silent here
I'm desperately looking for something to analyse... I'm starting to suffer from withdrawal...

Mee too!

Best hair? (Harry) Best soundbites? (Chester) Best costume? (Alex) Best smile? (Laurence, after winning).

Struggling here, think most things have been covered, but thread was creeping down the page... it must be near top.

... we could go back in time and this time 'round we could decide, with regards to the Olivers of course (that's what we have our degree in after all), on:

Tasks/missions
Songs
Costumes
General format of the show

What should you have changed and what would have stayed the same?

Just curious! (and it's something new -although fictional- to analyse )

Great idea Chaperone!

I'd like to nominate two songs (which in some respects are quite similar):
1) Not While I'm Around from Sweeney Todd (Sung to/with one of the Nancys)
2) The Letter - Reprise from Billy Elliot (again sung with one of the Nancys acting at mum)

I think both those songs require real emotion and it would give all the boys a chance to sing with the Nancys one on one.

What would I have changed? Don't get me started, Chaperone!

First off, the whole semi-final arrangement - the selection of the 8 was prolonged and was perhaps unnecessary pressure; if they were going to cut down to the three 4 days later after the eighth was chosen, what was the point? Jonny in particular never really had much time as a semi-finalist. Also, why the random cutting down to 8 from 12? Why didn't they halve it to 6, then choose 3 out of those at the end? I would probably have chosen 6 finalists up till week 6, gave them 2 weeks to perhaps do something else (e.g. duets/singing in smaller groups/performing with the Nancys), then decided on the final 3 during the semi-final show. Then at least they can make a pretence that they weren't giving the other 5 false hope. Sorry if that makes no sense.

Performances with the Nancys - they really should have had a chance to do one every week to see how each Oliver and each Nancy would have fared. The two we had (Niamh and Sarah) was a revelation, and the duets in the final were one of the highlights for the series for me. All in all, the Olivers were perhaps a little too separate for the Nancys and there wasn't much chance for them to interact. And I think more people would have had an opinion on them if they were with the Nancys - a lot of people seemed to just FF through the Oliver-bits (can't see why ).

Songs - they got their fair share of fantastic songs, mind (much better than the Nancys!), but Breaking Free and Reach was just terrible choices! They always sound so much better when singing musical theatre songs, written for children, than a random pop song. I also might have liked to see more choreography with props - I liked the boxes in "it's a hard knock life", and the umbrella in "Singin' in the rain" in Harry and Sam's duet was cute.

Costumes - I actually really like the Oliver outfits and like the fact that they were all subtly different - Kwayedza's for example was ripped at the bottom for a more urchin-like look, while Alexander's was always immaculately neat. I never liked Laurence's co-ordination though; the beige scarf colour did nothing to make him stand out! And who on earth decided to give a red scarf to 3 boys? Jonny's hat in the semi-final week was a strange colour - the one the week before was much better. And the Breaking Free outfits should be burnt, buried and never seen again

Tasks - I don't think they were meant to be much help really, just giving the boys some fun I do think some were probably helpful though - meeting the Billy Elliots, the Victorian school task, the acting task with the Gavroche and most of all the "Where is love" task. I just wish we got more footage - they must have taken hours of footage but we only ever got a 2 minute segment.

http://www.thisiscourier.co.uk/displ...=sidebarsearch

A very positive article about Kwayedza

Afternoon Chaperone

Ooh now that's a good idea

Tasks:
I liked most of these,although I didn't really see the relavence of the football one.
Maybe there could have some more tasks (or at least screentime) of them dancing. I feel that came across as the least shown skill.

Songs:
Loved most of them,but wouldn't have Breaking Free,maybe another song instead of that.
Keep Reach though,I like its comedic element!

Costumes:
I thought the Can you feel the love ones were the best,as was the uniform they wore to the Victorian school task,were great. Maybe because they resemble how I envisage Oliver! clothes. Get rid of the Breaking Free costume too,the boys looked embarrassed wearing those!

The format should include more Oliver behind the scenes stuff,as we saw so little of the tasks to make proper assessments of their talents.

Thoughts?

Chaperone,you have PM by the way.

Still busy writing down my own thoughts, but I felt I had to reply to this one, Lia , because OMG, that would have had me in tears! I'm sure!

OK, that's it, get back to you later.

First on my list would be the final eight thing, because that has been bugging me all along. A final six arrangement would have been better. Also I would have had the Oliver to go through to do a duet with one of the Nancies. Although come to think of it, this might have meant that some of the Nancies still wouldn’t have had the chance to perform with the boys (due to getting send off in an early stage), while others may have had to do it more than once. So I have to give that one a little more thought.

Also, those final six boys should have had more time to show their capacities. Actually, since they were down to six two weeks earlier, they WOULD have had more time. They could have had the final six sing in trio’s. Kind of like “Where is love” last week. One trio in week 7, one trio in week 8.

I actually liked the songs (except for Breaking Free), but maybe they should have stuck to MT songs, because those clearly suited most of their voices the best.

As for the tasks; I also quite liked those, although sometimes (e.g. the football task) the relevance was lost on me. But the boys had fun most of the time, so I guess it’s fine. I would have replaced the HSM one with something else though. In my opinion very few of the boys really enjoyed this one. But I also feel musical theatre and basketball just don’t mix to begin with, so there you go.

I don’t think I would have changed the costumes much. That is, the Oliver outfits. I just didn’t really get the colour thing. Apparently, each Oliver had his own signature colour, just like the Nancies, but to me it just wasn’t that obvious. I think I would have made sure that aspect stood out more. And while I’m on the subject of colour; I wouldn’t have given Laurence beige!
LOVED the Bugsy outfits, but I didn’t quite get why one week they got to wear something special for their performance, while the next, they were back in their usual Oliver outfits.

And finally, more Olivertime! Those 5 minutes were an absolute disgrace, especially since Oliver is the titular role of the musical.

Pfew, that took me quite some time (rephrasing, rephrasing), so by now I'll probably have some reading to catch up on!

LOL Ashrell! I spend so much time writing down my thoughts, I hadn't read your post yet. And I just realised that I basically wrote what you had already said!
Can't we get a joined account or something?!

Aaah, so his voice is breaking! Nice to hear from Kwayedza what CM said to him though.

Thanks for that article! It's lovely! He seems to be handling his defeat quite well!

Just like we thought, right? This has just made me even more curious as to what was said to Chester, Alex, Jonny and Arthur though.

So we were right,the Oliver degree holders!

Absolutely I would love to know what was said to the others!

I agree with what you and Ashrell said about the format.
It seems a waste of cutting from 12 to 8 to 3. The idea of cutting to 6 and have them sing in trios is an excellent idea.

LOL. It's rather amazing how many things we said which were basically exactly the same!


Thank you for that! It's really good to know what CM said to him. But like Chaperone, I'm quite curious as to know what was said to the other 4.

You know, a lot of people think Cameron came across as a bit of an arse in the final towards the Nancys - but I always thought his involvement with the Olivers was quite sincere, which was felt in his comments towards the boys over the weeks. So I can't really hate him as much as other people!

I don't think he was even that much of an arse to the Nancies. He had a clear image in his head of what he wanted Nancy to be, and all he did was put his POV accross. He didn't do it particularly harshly either. And on a scale of panel arses, I'd say he's maybe only 3rd.

Don't have time to give my feedback into the what I'd like to change, but I'll work on it, and I'll be back later

I think CM was sincere, since he knows that at the end of the day there were 12 eager, talented and young lads who all wanted to be in musical theatre. He's found it hard to cast male roles in the past, and with the right work, he could be making his job a lot easier in the long-run.

Since the 'open' auditions for the other cast may be filled with the same kids that got turned away at the Open Auditions for Oliver!

14 June is the open auditions day apparently. For Dodger and the gang, that is.
I do wonder if any of the ex-Olivers will be auditioning for these roles. Or maybe that would be just to painful? I don't know...

Fabulous idea, Chaperone!

Tasks/Missions: I wouldn't change much about these, however I would change the football one as quite a few of the boys seemed to have a perception of what the task would be like beforehand and some appeared worried at the fact it was football (bless their hearts).

Songs: I liked all of them, and I liked the use of props in a few, like the boxes in It's A Hard Knock Life! However I'd have made sure they were more MT songs as a few seemed quite old for the song choice and this therefore contributed to their performance I thought. (Jonny mainly, as he looked slightly embarrased by some of them! Surprisingly enough, not by the High School Musical task&song!)

Costumes: It would have been nice to see them in a special outfit for their group song, though this did change towards the end and the boys had a costume change. I liked the fact the Ollies had a different coloured scarf each but I did get confused in Any Dream Will Do because 3 of the boys were in green. In You Give A Little Love they had fab costumes and I loved the hats!

General Format: Stuff the Semi-Final 8 rubbish. I genuinely thought it wasn't fair and having read another post somewhere else it seems this Semi-Final business was put in to make the show more interesting, therefore making the boys jump through hoops to entertain the viewers. I don't see why they couldn't have just put 6 through then picked 3 out of them, rather than from 8 as it was a big jump. Plus, it wasn't fair that a few of the boys nearer the end didn't get much "fame" time as the others, such as Jonny since he got through last. It seems like he was put through last to build the suspense and tension and then have a big climax at the end where he got through! It's a shame we didn't get to see more of him.

Hi everyone

Just sat down to read the lovely thread and post my opinions, but it's basically all been said already! But I love the Kwayedza article, and I too am curious as to what Cameron said to the other boys. No doubt they will all have (or definitely should have!) successful careers, each boy oozes talent.

Ashrell - completely agree about the scarf colours. Whoever chose to put Alex, Chester and Jordan in red scarves and then have Laurence in that awful beige colour should be fired. But I loved the Bugsy outfits and I thought the I'll Be There ones were quite sweet.

Would definitely have liked more Oliver time, 5 minutes was not at all enough.

I noticed this with the HSM task as well (as I know I've mentioned before - sorry guys ).
It is remarkable that quite a few of the boys seemed to feel so uneasy with the sporty tasks.

I remember reading on the BBC IDA website about how Jonny was nervous but then overcame his nervous-ness and fear and enjoyed the task! He obviously enjoys singing and dancing better.
I loved the quote "You can take the boy out of the theatre but you can't take the theatre out of the boy!" it summed up pretty much all of them!
But he did enjoy the HSM one a lot more I thought, I loved how he was bobbing away to the music! Especially in the song, he looked like a little nodding dog. So adorable.

Love that, it's great and definitely sums up all of them, it was lovely to see them still dancing away even when playing football!

By the way, I love your username!