The search for Joseph has begun! Andrew Lloyd Webber and his esteemed panel of judges opened the flood gates on Saturday, whittling thousands of hopefuls down to just 50. Next Saturday that 50 will be cropped to just 20 during ‘Joseph School’ before performing at Webber’s Irish castle in front of an audience of influential theatre buffs (and a few critics), where 12 contestants will be chosen based on their performance to go head to head live on the reality talent show.

Graham Norton hosts the BBC1 programme and adds his own flair and creativity to what could be seen as a duller version of The X Factor - minus Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne, Louis Walsh and the plethora of tantrums and water throwing. The new talent search is already different to the search for Maria and not in the obvious sense, this time around you can guess Lloyd Webber will stick his nose in and mix things up, you can guess that the contestants who have been filmed at home will be taken through and you can guess that Zoe Tyler will be issuing some tough love. Any Dream Will Do has a lot more to live up to than How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? which was a relatively new concept when the public chose Connie Fisher to play Maria in the Sound of Music, but this time we’ve been there and seen it all before and with the opening of Grease is the Word on ITV1 (the ITV search for Danny and Sandy) Andrew Lloyd Webber and his team are going to have to pull something out of the bag to keep the viewers interest.

Perhaps I am being too hard on the show and expecting too much, but the whole programme was lacking in something. I was all too aware of who would be going through and who wouldn’t and even the cameo appearance of the “scary girlfriend” and her boyfriend smacked of the “crazy” auditions that occur regularly on The X Factor. It is possible that I am trying to draw comparisons between the two channels because I enjoy the idea of the two reality shows fighting it out to be supreme champion of the West End and I think a small part of me wishes that champion to be Grease. I am sure this has nothing at all to do with my life long wish to play Sandy, my love of leather jacket clad men and 50’s disco dancing but completely to do with my need for conflict!

With all that said, Saturday night’s show was more than a little entertaining! I don’t think i’ve ever seen so many men cry in all my life! They were all at it, from grandfathers to 32 year old married men, to 17 year old boys! I ran out of tissues half way through and had to run full pelt to the toilet incase I missed any of the crying action! I already have my favourites and agree with Denise Van Outen - being attractive is definitely integral to playing the role of Joseph!

I will be tuning in next week to see who has made it out of the three lads who wouldn’t take the panel of judges at their word and confronted Lloyd Webber privately. I’ll probably even stay tuned to find out who will be going on to the live show but if it clashes with Grease is the Word I can’t promise to stay glued to BBC1.

Technorati Tags: andrew lloyd webber, any dream will do, graham norton, joseph, reality shows

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This entry was posted on Sunday, April 1st, 2007 at 12:30 pm and is filed under Theatre, Joseph. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.