Last month saw bubbly northerner Jodie Prenger crowned queen of the Nancys when she was cast as the lead in Cameron Mackintosh’s upcoming revival of Oliver!. She will, no doubt, go on to lead a glittering and lime-lit career in London’s West End. But what, you may well ask, will happen to the 11 unlucky finalists that made it to ‘Nancy School’ but failed to make the grade? Where’s Tara now? Or Amy Booth Steel? Or Jessie? Well, let’s just have a little root around and see if we can’t come up with one or two answers…

In correct fashion I suppose we should begin with the first Nancy to bite the proverbial, trained actress Amy Booth Steel. In the wee link appended to this blog you can see the young redhead strut her stuff through a rendition of RESPECT by Aretha Franklyn. Frankly, judging by that clunkathon, it’s hardly surprising that Webber booted her in to touch so early. But, Booth Steel proved her mettle by getting straight back in the game and winning a part in the brand new (and by all accounts pretty saucy) musical All Bob’s Women. Speaking to the Stage last week, Amy said “I did not win the role, but I won a career” Hmmm… we’ll see I suppose.

Tara Bethan, remember her? She was the star of Welsh TV that belted out a quite unmistakable rendition of “Suddenly I Seeyahhh” which, I am told, is something close to a song KT Tunstall brought out a year or two ago. Tara was worried about how her voice came across on television and had feared that she’d done her career more harm than good. These doubts were quashed however when Bill Kenwright cast her as ‘the Narrator’ in the touring production of Joseph. Surrounded by a host of unlucky Any Dream Will Do finalists, Tara is contracted until the end of January. She says she’s “loving every minute of it”, let’s hope the rest of the cast feel the same way.

Actually, talking of ex-Any Dream Will Do chaps, did you know that Ben is now the lead in the current hilarious production of Hairspray?… Small world.

Anyway, sorry about that. Back to it: what, I hear you ask, about the two runners up, Jessie Buckley and Samantha Barks? Have they landed roles in upcoming shows? Well, no, not as yet anyway. But then I wouldn’t despair, both Sam and Jessie were big hits with the public. In fact, when Jessie spoke to the press last week she was just on her way to have a private audience with Webber and Mackintosh. Who knows what schemes those two get up to when in cahoots? Samantha on the other hand is playing it very cool. She abandoned her A level studies to perform in the competition and is now weighing up her options. One only has to remember electric performances like her rendition of Sway though and it’d be madness to think that there wouldn’t be something major looming for her just over the way.

What about the others? Well, what do you think? Do you reckon we’ll see Keisha belting it out in the West End? Or Rachel crooning on Broadway? Maybe see Francesca on Crimewatch… Up for charges of ‘murdering’ show tunes? Or Niamh living out of some bins on the outskirts of Watford? -Wait, what are we saying; Niahm’s going to be a star. I’d put my house on it… if I could afford one.

But enough from us, what do YOU think? And how do you think Jodie’s going to get on? Have a look at these and let us know your predictions. We’d love to hear from you…

Technorati Tags: all bobs women, amy booth steel, bbc talent shows, hairspray, id do anything, jessie, jodie, joseph, nancy, nancys, niamh, samantha, tara, west end casts, what happened next, what happened to them

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Oliver! Update
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I’d Do Anything Update

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 17th, 2008 at 12:06 pm and is filed under Theatre. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.