To all Jessie fans out there who think she is going to get the other dates that Jodie may or may not be playing please get real. There is no way that CM is allowed to recruit Jessie to play the same amount of shows as Jodie and he has already recruited and understudy and also if Jessie then starts playing Nancy the voting public will go mad and demand their money back from the BBC (which by the way would cost the BBC in excess of £1m which they could then sue CM or ALW for). I spoke to somone in the know and they told me that they were sure that there were clauses in the contract with CM and ALW that they had to abide by the viewing public's decision for a certain amount of time and that no other potential Nancy would be allowed to take equal or near equal limelight. She thought that the possibility of a understudy would have been possible had they not already recruited one but apparently she also thought that the understudy was not supposed to come from the top 4. I was told this all hypothetically in the same way all other information has been passed to me.

Thank God someone talking sense at last on this forum at this time of night!

I'm up late every night because of all the pain I live in. It's nice to chat with someone who does see sense as well. I know the Jessie fans are sad and so is she but I personally think the worst thing that could have happened to her is to win that role last night. She has so much potential but I really think to become the real star that she deserves she needs a year or so at drama school to hone her skills and just another year or so of life experience. I truely believe we will see her name up in lights but hopefully not yet as I believe if she goes into a role now she will have a much shorter career than if time was invested in her. In much the same way that Simon Cowell took his time with Leona Lewis. That is what I think Jessie needs. I just hope ALW and CM give her it.

Hi SmileyCharlie sorry to hear about your pain. I'm up late tonight as I am not well at the moment suffering with a bad back and have sinusitus as well so am coughing quite a lot so its a vicious circle with my back so I cannot sleep.

Getting back to Jessie she was far too young to be able to cope with a role like Nancy at the moment.

She does need some drama school training which I am sure she will be able to get that now after appearing on the show. She was turned down wasn't she by a couple of drama schools I believe.

Jodie was my favourite from the start I really liked her personality and she comes across as very genuine person. I did not like the way her size was referred to all the time.
Personally I think her figure is lovely and she looks a very real looking woman perfect for the role of Nancy.

I would have to agree, Jessie is nowhere near ready to star in the West End. It would have been unfair on her if she had won. She was fairly good on the final show but she was inconsistent throughout the series. She has too much still to learn and six months would not be enough.

Let me be blunt, the critics will have their knives out when the show starts purely because of IDA. If Jessie had won and not been good enough they would have destroyed her. I am not even sure if Jodie will be ready in time and she has much more experience.

Snap one of my main problems is back pain. I am waiting for an operation to remove three more of my discs and fuse the vertebrae together and also have my coccyx removed. Plus I had my ankle reconstructed a little while ago and it is taking ages to get better. I am still in a cast and on crutches.

You are right about her being turned down by 2 colleges. I guess they saw what the judges saw the awkward movement and things but perhaps they didn't look at what they would get if they addressed that. It will take a lot of work but I think she will get there. Also and this sounds horrible but it is not meant to bem but she need to work on her accent in her singing voice. All stars do it. You need to drop the accent in a singing voice so that you can articulate properly, which is especially needed in the theatre as you need to over articulate in a lot of cases. Again this all comes with training. I hope she doesn't lose her speaking day to day accent though as that would be a shame. She only needs to change what is necessary to get the role but as Denise put "don't lose the essence of Jessie". That's what stage school will teach.

I hope you feel better soon. Coughing is the worst thing for a back. Having had back problems for over 15 years and already had 2 surgeries the best advice I can give you is find a good accupuncture place and have it. It is the best pain relief around.

Glad our thoughts are similar. I also read on this site that Jodie has already been upped to 6 shows. She has now been given both Saturday shows which is great news.

Any other inside info I have I will pm you as I do get insider info from a high up source.

I think Jodie will make it, if for no other reason than she will want to prove CM wrong. She is a determined woman who has already proven what she can accomplish when she puts her mind to it when she was on The Biggest Loser. Let's hope she puts that determination into this role. I think she will make a great Nancy and the critics will also love the fact that CM doesn't want her. A lot of them will probably love her story the girl who fought against all the odds to win and even though CM didn't want her she still won and stole the show. You can almost see it written already. Just like the fans wanting to put two fingers up to CM after the way he acted I suspect a lot of the critics will hope they can do the same. All she has to do is deliver. Fingers crossed.

Thanks SmileyCharlie I would be grateful for a pm with any other news you may have.

Thank God Jodie has been upped to 6 shows and has been given both shows on Saturday. It would have been ridiculous not to have her working on Saturdays because thats mostly when people outside of London would be able to go and see her.

I was really disappointed before as I was hoping to book tickets for the weekend as being a Jodie fan and never having seen Oliver on the stage I was hoping to go with my hubby.

I think I have a trapped nerve in my lower back it is real agony at the minute. What amazes me also is that because my back is bad I keep dropping everything on the floor and bending down is the last thing I want to do

absolutely! it wasn't called "I'd Do Anything- Search for 2 Nancy's to share a role on the west end stage"

To be fair to us 'Jessie fans' I think there's only one or two posters actually demanding or expecting that Jessie would end up playing Nancy alongside Jodie. Some of us surmise that it's a possibility CM may WANT her to do it considering how much he was backing her and although I'd be thrilled for Jessie if he did it's not ultimately what would be best for her and wouldn't be fair on Jodie as (imho) I think Jessie would upstage her. The important words in your OP is "they had to abide by the viewing public's decision for a certain amount of time". How much time exactly? How long a run do they actually have to give Jodie before they're allowed to replace her without recrimination? I don't think they will as I think she'll be very successful - but if by any chance the critics do backlash, what then?

I didn't watch the search for Maria or Joseph - were the same restrictions put on their casting for the parts?
I thought it odd that all through this series, the panel alluded to 8 shows a week then it turns out that only 4 are offered at the moment and of course there has been nothing etched in stone afaik as to how long the winner could expect to play the part for.

Oops...apologies....found this thread after I posted
Last edited by Bonnie96 : 02-06-2008 at 08:00

Apologies for back to back posting but I have re-read the OP and thread title now


Yes......I agree....and thread starter - please don't refer to us 'Jessie fans' in such a condescending fashion.
We are just that....fans....and (speaking for myself) are not blessed with insider knowledge of the workings of the musical theatre world.
I have never bad mouthed Jodie or her fans so please be less sneering of Jessie's.

it said in the paper CM offered Rachel the alternate dates..

We don't need to get them. We already have plenty of real Jessie fans...

Simon took about 6 months or so with Leona which is exactly the time Jessie would have had, people seem to forget there's quite a while before this show starts

While I agree that it probably would have made a mockery of the whole thing to have Jodie and Jessie do four shows each, I am actually expecting Cameron to offer Jessie two shows a week.

Unless Andrew has something else lined up for her, but having witnessed Jessie's performance of ALAHNM, I really want to see her as Nancy.

Didn't we discuss in an earlier thread which Nancies would pair up, best?

Love Jessie, but think Sarah would be a better match for Jodie.

Dave

I really hope your right! I want to see her perform as nancy as well

I really like Jessie, but it would be very bad for her to get the other dates, I don't think it would do her career any good as there would be alot of bad feeling towards her if this happened. I think Rachel will get the extra dates.

Why though? Casting one of the other contestants in a back up role has become a bit of a tradition with these shows, with Aoife in TSOM and Lewis in Joseph. Why would casting Jessie cause more bad feeling than casting Rachel? If anything, it makes sense to cast those who have finished higher in the rankings, not least from a business point of view, as there are likely to be more people who are prepared to spend money to go and see them.

I'm not saying Rachel wouldn't be a good choice too, but Jessie was amazing in the final and given her youth and inexperience, might be more suited to a two shows a week role than Rachel, who probably wants something a bit meatier.

charlie did you find out about the voting figures.......what was the totals

Both ALW and CM saw star quality in Jessie and they're not stupid despite what some Jodie fans may think. I think they may well help Jessie get the training she needs to develop her potential and use her in the future - maybe in Oliver if it runs long enough or in something else.

Jessie's only 18 and has a long time ahead of her. At 28, this probably was Jodie's last chance to break into the big time and I'm pleased for her even though she wasn't my favourite.

I'm sure all the girls will find career benefits from being in IDA - good luck to all of them.

Know what you mean, but the stated (or, rather, implied) intention of the show was to find someone to play Nancy. This it has done.

IDA is a TV show first and foremost (what percentage of those who voted actually intend to see the stage show?) and we hopefully all know by now who won it.

If (as it seems) one J is more popular than the other in West-End b*ms-on-seats terms, then it would show in the sales for each performance.

Dave

Jodie is now doing 6 shows......... two on Saturdays....I can see by Dec she will be doing all 8.. I think the company has to ensure the person can actually do 8 shows before promising the public, look what happened to connie etc and Lee.

I think they have learnt from that............it will probably change nearer the time.

Has Lee ever taken any extended breaks?

I remember Connie took an extra week or two off before reinstating her for 6 shows, but can't remember the same happening for Lee.