What on earth went on with Grease is the Word this week? The British public actually managed to vote out the only guy who could have made a convincing Danny. Kate could have done with some work, but she was by no means the worst Sandy there. Terrible result!

This highlights a problem that I have with the show. Not only are individuals chances completely dependent on the performance of their partner, but when they get voted out, it’s as a couple. I know the idea is that they work as a team, but if one person is simply more talented than the other, it’s totally unfair. I really think Tom was the best potential Danny in the show and I struggle to pick out another who could do the job half as well.

So there’s my thoughts on Grease. I just hope that next week the other contestants, particularly the boys, will have upped their performances - otherwise I’ll be very concerned that David Ian will have to look elsewhere for his Danny!

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Sour grapes anyone? Seamus certainly had his fair share on this week’s ‘Any Dream Will Do’. Ok, I don’t think he was the right choice to leave, but he could have at least done it with dignity. Accusing Andrew Lloyd Webber of a ‘conspiracy theory’ the moment he found he was going was a pretty poor response and his angry performance of ‘Close Every Door to Me’ was kind of cringeful. I don’t think he could have cut it as Joseph in the long run anyway, he was always a little bit to arrogant for my liking.

Anthony was a dead cert to go after his ear-splitting performance of Take That’s ‘Patience’. For the first time in the competition I had to cover my ears while he was singing. Saturday’s show proved he’s not a lot more than a pretty face.

I think the front runners are becoming clear now. For me it’s Keith, Lee, Lewis and Daniel. Much as I’m rooting for Chris B, he seems a little too sensitive to be able to hold it together for eight performances a week. But I’m really hoping he’ll shine over the coming weeks and show us what he’s made of. To me, Craig seems weak, Ben forgettable and Rob just isn’t Joseph. The others are excellent though. Keith did a fantastically bouncy performance of ‘Crocodile Rock’ this week, that proved he’s well on his way to sorting his diction problems out. Lewis and Daniel were excellent also, giving really solid, classy performances. But Lee’s still by far and away my favourite. Singing ‘I Don’t Want To Talk About It’, he gave a controlled, well acted performance that sent shivers down my spine. Bill Kenwright wasn’t wrong when he said ‘Lee, you’ve broken a few million hearts tonight’. I just love him!

So who’ll go next week? My money’s on Craig, but we shall have to wait and see…

Check out Andrew Lloyd Webber’s video blog to see his thoughts on Saturday’s show. Or take a look at the Any Dream Will Do site to find out more about the boys.

And, just for the hell of it, because I think he’s gorgeous, here’s Lee’s audition video…

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I found out at the weekend that my boyfriend’s sister used to go out with Chris B from ‘Any Dream Will Do’. Ok, it’s a bit of a rubbish claim to fame, considering he hasn’t even won the competition yet, but thought I’d share it with the world anyway! Now all I have to do is get them back together, make sure Chris wins and hey presto I’ll have an exclusive link into the world of West End theatre - which means I’ll be able to share all the goss right here on my Show and Stay blog…

In other news, poor old Chris has a cold this week, check out his video diary to see how he’s doing. Sure he’ll get over it and pull a strong performance out of the bag on Saturday - Chris to win!

Technorati Tags: any dream will do, chris barton, joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat

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So the sixteen finalists have been named, we are left with eight Dannys and eight Sandys. Is there a REAL star among them, the only way to find out will be to watch them in the live finals. I don’t believe that we have seen the best of any of the contestants yet, so hopefully the live shows will bring the superstars to our attention and ease David Ian’s ever-increasing worries.

Week by week he is getting more and more stressed, as the pressure of a West End flop seems to enter his thoughts. Personally, I believe the Danny and Sandy will be more than good enough to tread the famous boards of the West End Stage and the new Grease Musical will be a big hit. Saturday’s show saw him call a meeting to discuss the apparent lack of chemistry amongst the contestants, two separate pairings later and did he see what he thought would be a perfect couple? I’m not sure but i think the judges had their eyes on Danny (slightly cocky one) and Susan (Westlife bloke’s sister). They seemed to pair the two together in the hope that the sparks would fly, it seemed that it didn’t have quite the desired effect. Although i think Susan has the right look and voice to be a serious contender in the competition.

There were plenty of tears from 24 year old Joanna as she broke under the pressure of singing for the judges, am i naive or will singing live on TV and then the West End Stage be slightly more daunting? She made it through and time will tell whether she has the bottle to survive on the bigger stage.

There are still 16 contestants to concentrate on so maybe the winners aren’t really clear yet - the live finals are sure to throw a few surprises our way and as for public voting… Who knows what the phone votes are going to produce because they always seem to get rid of the favourites to much shock on the judges’ faces.

The competition will really hot up now we’ve hit the live shows, so keep tuned and see if the best Danny and Sandy wins as i have a funny feeling that they might just not…

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Charles Dickens has come back to his childhood home Chatham, the legendary author has had an attraction made after his name and literary works. Dickens was the mastermind behind many classic tales which have been read and studied for many years and his works have also seen the bright lights of the West End. Oliver, A Christmas Carol and Nicholas Nickleby have all graced theatreland and have had audiences flocking to see them.
The time-warp bubble called ‘Dickens World’ doesn’t look much from the outside but once you enter the main door and navigate through the dark alleys you surface in a victorian village complete with running sewer (which actually doubles up as a water ride!). Over a foggy bridge and down some stairs there is a sensational courtyard which seems to have been ripped straight out of a dickens novel and sprinkled with Dickensian characters, complete with pickpockets and rat catchers.
The sets in Dickens World rival that of a big budget West End production and the attractions are worth visiting alone, get spooked by scrooge in the haunted house or taught a lesson by a victorian schoolmaster.
So if you have read the novels and seen the theatre productions, it is now time to step back in time and see it with your own eyes, trust me it has to be seen to be believed!

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The wheat has been separated from the chaff. The final sixteen contestants in ‘Grease is the Word’ have been chosen. Eight Sandy’s and eight Dannys will battle it out over the next few weeks. As for who will be Danny, it’s anyone’s guess, but my money’s on Susan McFadden for Sandy. I have an aversion to her brother Brian, and as a consequence I don’t really warm to her, but I can see that she’s the strongest performer and has the perfect look for Sandy. But then again, it’s early days and I could be proven wrong, I’ll just have to keep my Saturday nights free for the next few weeks to find out…

Grease is the Word Wikipedia page

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Well, well, well. What a show this week! First of all let me say, what on earth was Chris B doing in the bottom two? He’s head and shoulders above most of the other ‘Any Dream Will Do’ contestants, particularly Ben Ellis, who’s just not in the same league. I was sorry to see Johndeep go out, but ‘The Lord’ very much made the right choice there. I think with Chris B it was a case of the public thinking he’s good enough to get by and so not bothering to vote for him. Hopefully that won’t happen this week. I may even be tempted to get my phone out and support him, as it would be a crying shame for him to go out so early in the competition. I promised myself I wouldn’t get sucked into voting, but darn it, this is how they hook you in!

Lee’s still my favourite though. This week the show was all about the boys acting abilities and his performance of ‘Bad Day’ was perfect both from an acting and singing point of view. I think he’ll be in the competition to the end and he totally deserves to be. What a pro!

Keith didn’t do as well this week, and got several comments from the judges about poor diction. But I still found him extremely watchable and likeable, and if he can sort his diction issues out I think he’s in with a good chance of winning.

As well as my favourites, I’ve started to have my dislikes amongst the group. I’m by no means a Rob fan. Something about him makes my skin crawl and I think he has the makings of a bully, as he admitted he’s already had a spat with someone in the group and said he doesn’t care what he has to do to win. The role of Joseph requires some sensitivity, which is a quality that Rob just doesn’t possess.

So, my hot tips for the coming week are Chris and the lovely Lee. I think after being in the bottom two, Chris will up his game even more and Lee has been consistently good and looks set to get even better. Roll on Saturday…

Take a look at a clip of the Josephs from this weeks show at YouTube and visit the BBC Joseph site to find out more.

Also, ‘The Lord’ has his own after-show video blog, take a look at www.andrewlloydwebber.com

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Bye bye Chris B

Working at Show and Stay has it’s perks - I recently took advantage of our wicked Wicked offer and went to see, yep you guessed it, ‘Wicked’. And it’s pretty darn good. I wasn’t sure if it was going to live up to all the hype, but it does. The effects are truly spectacular and the cast are faultless. I was really looking forward to seeing Corrie’s Susie Blake as Madame Morrible and she didn’t disappoint. It’s a pretty big jump from soap to stage but she manages it well.

Just in case you’ve been living in a cave for the the last year, ‘Wicked’ is based on Gregory Maguire’s novel and provides a backstory to ‘The Wizard of Oz’. The story focusses on unlikely friendship between Glinda and Elphaba and how one becomes the Good Witch of the North and one grows up into the Wicked Witch of the West. Add fantastic music and mind-boggling special effects to that and that’s ‘Wicked’ in a nutshell…

Take a look at this YouTube vid of the London premiere to get a taste of the show

Wicked on Wikipedia

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Last week, London Zoo held a party to celebrate the opening of the new Gorilla Kingdom. About 800 guests, mainly from the travel and tourism industry in and around London, attended and I was lucky enough to get hold of a ticket!

The evening kicked off at 6.30 when guests arrived at London Zoo to be greeted by exotic drumming and singing as well as a group of dancing gorillas (actually a bunch of guys in gorilla costumes but I was a bit scared at first!) We were all given cocktails in coconuts and led through to the new Gorilla Kingdom. The new enclosure for the three Lowland Gorillas was spectacular and all aspects of the attraction had clearly been given a lot of thought. Even the entrance to the enclosure was pretty amazing. Visitors could choose between taking the ‘adventure trail’ to Gorilla Kingdom or walking through the large aviary. (I couldn’t take the adventure trail because I was wearing suede, stiletto heeled black boots, turns out they’re not the most appropriate footwear for walking around a zoo!)
While everyone admired the new enclosure, the gorillas got very up close and personal with us. The glass that separates the visitors from the gorillas at one part of the enclosure was an ideal viewing point. At one point, the largest gorilla, Bobbi, gave the guests quite a shock when he banged the glass then ran off, it seemed to be his party trick and I think he enjoyed watching us all jump back in shock! (Apparently he did the same thing when the Mayor of London visited the Kingdom). Gorilla Kingdom really is an impressive new attraction and had loads of info for kids and adults to learn more about Western Lowland Gorillas and the threats to their survival in the wild. The enclosure took 3 years to design and 18 months to build, costing London Zoo, 5.3 million pounds! (I can’t quite figure out how it took twice as long to design it as to build it but then again, I wouldn’t have a clue how to design a gorilla enclosure!)
After we’d all spent plenty of time looking around the gorilla’s new kingdom we made our way to the picnic area of the zoo where the band were still drumming away. The picnic area was lined with tables full of food and drink - excellent! While we waited for the commercial director of the Zoo to make his speech, we spent a good part of the evening chatting, eating and drinking - it’s a tough job but somebody has to do it! After an interesting speech from the commercial director of ZSL (Zoological Society of London) the guests all split up for a tour of the Zoo. I headed to the Reptile House and, surprisingly for a scaredy-cat, I loved it. There were loads of really interesting and, yes, I would go so far to say, beautiful creatures in there. We saw a Komodo Dragon being fed which was fascinating, although I did feel a bit squeamish! One of the snakes in the reptile house is even a film star - the Burmese Python from the Harry Potter film where Harry realises he can speak parceltongue. Weird, I remember that Harry spoke parceltongue but I can’t remember the name of the film - can anyone help me out?
All in all I had a fantastic evening at London Zoo, they can certainly throw a party and design a pretty fantastic Gorilla Kingdom too!

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Darn it, I’ve been sucked in. I find myself looking forward to Saturday evening… and not because I’m going out with my friends. ‘Grease is the Word’ seems to have somehow become the highlight of my week - dangerous! I’m particularly interested to see how Cherrill Dixon does this week. She looks nothing like Olivia Newton John, but I reckon she could be really special in the part and bring something totally new to a show that’s been around for years. Grease was considered quite edgy when it was first performed in the 70’s, but has now become a classic. I think casting an unconventional Sandy would give it back the spark it could possibly be in danger of losing…

www.show-and-stay.co.uk

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