Not really sure at the moment, really like Jessie but not sure if she's going to be able to last if she doesn't get some of her confidence back, Sarah is just not Nancy for me nor is Sam or Niamh and I can't quite decide what I think about Rachel and Jodie, But as for Ashley I'm afraid I'm still bitter that its because ALW saved her that we lost Fran

All in all I really don't know at the moment, sorry for the waffle

Well I've supported Sam since the stage at ALW's house (Fran 'grew' on me a bit more gradually) so she's the only fave I have left now!

I like Sarah and Niamh as well, but I just don't see them as 'Nancy'. I can see Sam in the part - especially during the group 'Oliver' songs, when she really stands out, but just not sure she has enough support to win.

I think Fran's right in that Rachel or Jessie will probably win, but Sarah and Sam should also give them a run for their money.

Was just watching Fran's exit again and did anyone else get the feeling that she new she was going - there was this look on her face that said to me I'm gone but then as soon as andrew said the P word it changed to a well that seals it I'm def going home look...... It was just so unfair that even then she couldn't shake the label she was as much a contestant as Ashley..... and another thing several people have made a fuss about her having a lisp but if you listen to Keisha's exit interview her lisp is much worse than Frans sorry just had to get that last bit of my chest been annoying me all day

I can't understand why she got such a raw deal - even now that she's gone you don't hear Rachel and Sarah labelled with the professional tag. She said she knew it would be her when she heard ALW utter the word 'pro.'

I don't find the competition particularly compelling any more - but I'll watch, probably as much from curiosity more than anything else.

That's how I feel at the moment about this show as well.....

Hot Topics just PM'd you in something you might be interested in let me know and I'll sort or send or produce you a hard copy

Ah, come on. It's ALW you should be bitter at, not Ashley.

Personally I think he's treated both Fran and Ashley pretty shabbily.

I agree with you...........man in his business , at his level should not need to be so disrespectful......

Don't get me wrong I know what your saying but it's the fact that Ash is still there and Fran isn't that bites me but yes your write it is all ALW's fault and he has been disrespectful to both parties - well pretty much everyone still in after his outburst this week......nothing like letting everyone feel worthless by storming out as one of your favourits is going.

If the public had liked her she would not have been in the bottom two.

Well said.

Fran was in the bottom two more than once.

She also was excused from her poor performance at Nancy school due to her being sick.

They gave her every opportunity to win but the public just didn't like her and ALW realized this. If he had saved her, then the public would think that ALW liked her and she would probably not be in the final two in the following weeks, which would have put one of his favorites in jeopardy in the following weeks.

So he had to get rid of her. If it had been anybody but Fran, I'm sure Ashley would have got the boot. But Fran was a bigger threat to his favorites since she is quite skilled and that alone would have probably ensured she made the final 4. (with ALW's approval)

^I'm not so sure. ALW made no secret that he liked Keisha but she kept ending up in the bottom 2. Fran was one of my favorites and in my mind, she was the most suited to the role of Nancy, but she was inconsistent and failed to win the public over. I highly doubt she would have won even if ALW had saved her over Ashley. She's a very talented performer, but she had too many strikes against her as far the public vote was concerned.

There is no doubt in my mind that Fran wouldn't have won.

But if ALW had saved her the second time, then she probably would have a reprieve from the public for the next one, two shoes. This would mean the chance of two of his favorites being in the bottom 2 highly likely.

Let's say he voted Ashely off.
Then Fran would probalby avoid the bottom 2 for the next two weeks as the public thinks that ALW sees something in Fran. (This is what happened the first time Fran was in the bottom two)

So the following two weeks there is a possibility of getting something like Niahm and Jessie/Samanth (or whoever ALW favors). Then he has a very difficult choice.

If he has say 4-5 favorites he wants these 4-5 to last as long as they can so they have the most television exposure. If one of his favorites leaves early then they don't get exposure which hurts them later when they try to put her as understudy or on the travelling Oliver show.

He really had to get rid of Fran when he had the chance, unfortunatley for him it came at the same time as Ashleygate.

She wasn't really given a chance to try and win the publics support......The media was too busy trying to bring the whole show down with it's tabloid headlines and making things so awkward for her and denise that she never had a chance as too many people wanted to see her fail

That's true. But she should have realized that this would happen when she auditioned for the show.

Either way there was no way the public was going to vote for her as the winner, so she would have served to just knock someone else off as just based on ability she would have probably made the final 4 of 3.

But why she she have she auditioned for her dream role - something she's wanted to do since she was about 14.

Denise left rent in Dec and they had not spoken since then and Fran was still in Rent until the day before the auditions.

The fact that she had worked with denise should have never come into it just like it didn't when Lee had just come out from one of ALW's productions (ok he was only the understudy) but ALW still had experiance of Lee's working ability and that should have been more of a focus than Denise and Fran come on Denise never had an influence in the show as to who stays and who goes she's not the vocal coach and doesnt pick the songs why should it have mattered.

Well it is looked at as a conflict of interest by the public when one of the contestants is friends or knows the judges. I think people have a hard time ignoring that fact.

It is a difficult position to be put in for Fran and Denise. If Fran wins then there will be people who wonder if Denise being judge helped in that process. And Denise is put in the difficult position of having to judge her friend. If she says something bad about Fran, does she do it tactfully, or be more blunt about it to overcompensate.

It opens up a lot of problems. I'm sure there were many other roles that Fran could have auditioned for. If she wanted to do Oliver, she could have done a different production of Oliver. She did not have to do this show and I think in retrospect she would not have done it.

Loved her voIce. She looked lIke Nancy.

I think that's an exaggeration TBH - the public aren't idiots and they know when someone isn't singing in tune.

http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/di...entPK=20506382

Im so glad Fran is auditioning again, she will soon get that confidence back.

But if you open up the audition to professionals, that's always going to be a danger. The West End has a pretty small circle of established performers. Both DVO and JB have worked there fairly extensively (well, JB has ), so it would be very easy for a professional to bump into them. So how much is 'too much'? Sarah worked with JB before. Lee, who've worked in the West End far less than either DVO or JB, mentioned he knew or knew of half the contestants.

A show like IDA is a rare opportunity for young talents to get noticed---by ALW no less! The entertainment industry is *extremely* competitive. Most people can't afford to be picky about the choices they are given. Fran saw a great opportunity, and I don't blame her for not giving it a shot. Any exposure is better than none at this stage in her career.

I think this is true, as I've said before, I liked Fran and was willing her to do well. But she made too many mistakes, too often (from right back in the auditions to the live shows.)

Although some of the papers did dwell rather on her association with DVO, I really don't think it was this aspect of her being a pro that troubled people. (as she seems to think).It was more that she should not have been going out of tune so often with her experience. (And that she couldn't even hear it herself!) Both the public & ALW gave her reprieves thinking maybe she was having an off day and surely she would improve but she didn't.

When she was good, she was excellent, and she could have played Nancy, but I think everyone had doubts about her reliability.

She would have made a great Nancy and if they were given Musical theater songs and not pop songs this might show who will be able to play Nancy better..... I just don't think giving someone pop songs to sing gives them the opportunity to show how good they would be at musical theater.


Me too I just saw that article as well

so what if she went out of tune a few times, so have many of the other contestants which hasn't been picked up on. she has been in a west end show before and don't think she was going to get that part if she an 'out of tune singer', the night i was there she sang perfectly in tune and also at least you know she is able to cope with doing 8 shows a week and she was one of the strongest actresses.

This is all so true. She would have done an amazing job, such a shame we wont get to see it. I just hope there is something even better out there, i hope for her this has happened for a reason.

I agree that some of the others have had tuning issues that weren't picked up on (Sam and Niamh spring all too readily to mind). But with Fran, it was the regularity with which she went out of tune. She didn't once get through a whole performance perfectly in key. I'm perfectly willing to believe that she just had a harder time adjusting to singing in the studio than some of the others, apparently she was amazing in Rent. But from the point of view of the audience at home, it didn't look good.