The musical theatre world was in uproar on Friday night. Not because their pay has been cut; not because another all-American cast is coming to the West End; but because of the horror that was Popstar To Operastar (ITV1).

Darius Danesh stars in Popstar to Operastar

It’s not surprising that professional singers would object to the myriad live performance crimes of their pop counterparts, who happily confessed to miming a lot of the time. Indeed, some of the show was annoying enough for the reasonably musically-educated viewer; breathing in the middle of words and phrases was one recurrent bugbear, and ditto the lack of control some of the contestants had over their voices.

But I couldn’t help feeling sorry for some of the contenders who have a track record in musicals and presumably still consider themselves part of the fabulous Theatreland community, who have been basically thrown under a bus by their peers. Vanessa White may be in The Saturdays now, but she trained with Sylvia Young, and played Young Nala in The Lion King as well as one of the Siamese royal family in The King And I. Bernie Nolan has, obviously, played Mrs J in Blood Brothers (pretty much every Nolan sister has at some point), and most recently starred in Flashdance as Alex’s mum.

I felt most sorry for Darius Danesh, who was incredibly short-changed by the programme. Since he debuted as Billy Flynn in Chicago, his stage presence has matured and so have his vocals. He made a decent Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls, but an exceptional Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind, a shining star in a show strewn with flaws. He genuinely has a beautiful tone to his voice, technical ability, and range — so why lumber a bass-baritone with Nessun Dorma, one of the most famous tenor arias in opera’s repertoire? Well, the clue’s in the question. It’s because it’s famous. Never mind that Darius doesn’t quite have the necessary top notes — just shift it down a few tones, the viewing masses will hardly notice.

And that’s the issue I had with Popstar to Operastar. I have no problems with the judging panel — it’s very possible Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen, a broadcaster who hosts a classical music show, has the necessary knowledge about performance; Meatloaf may be over the top but he evidently knows his stuff, putting all the songs into context; Rolando Villazon is obviously highly trained and wise, even though I’m fairly sure his fellow mentor Katherine Jenkins has never starred in an opera at all. And I’ve no problem with the concept — I think bringing opera to a wider audience is invaluable. Too many people are like contestant Kym Marsh, who recognised her song Si Un Jour from the Stella Artois advert; and though Jimmy Osmond clearly knew O Sole Mio, the show’s creative team pushed it as “that song from the Cornetto ad”.

Maybe the intent was to emphasise the fact that opera is everyday and accessible, but presented in this format (Famous Opera Hits From Off Adverts And World Cups) it comes across as dumbing down of the worst kind. It’s made worse when the audience is being encouraged to applaud, Stars In Their Eyes-fashion, at the end of the song’s first line, and whenever they are impressed with a high note.

It’s a shame, because this is a programme with potential. Like the contestants in Channel 4’s Operatunity, these singers could be trained to sing opera and sing it well, perhaps with the exception of Alex James and Danny from McFly, who were clearly picked for their plucky underdog factor and of course the screaming fans they’ll attract. But instead it’s been made into just another gaudy reality show, complete with sore throats (Marsh) and dead mothers (Nolan).

I’ll keep watching, though, if only to see what happens once the creative team run out of advert soundtracks and cliched contestant narratives. Maybe co-presenters Myleene Klass and Alan Titchmarsh will do a duet.

In a review of the past decade, it would be easy to conclude that the first 10 years of the new millennium ushered in an era when the movie musical finally made a resurgence.

Moulin Rouge, Rent, Chicago, Dreamgirls, Hairspray, Mamma Mia!, Phantom of the Opera and Nine have all hit the big screen. And that’s not taking into account the immense popularity of High School Musical and the all-singing, all-dancing Disney offshoots.

Except I think I’d have been a lot happier if these movie musicals had been…well…you know…good. I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy them. I do think, however, even the very best of the batch could have been a hell of a lot better.

Hairspray I adored. It showed off Zac Efron’s knack for light comedy, and Queen Latifah was amazing. But what was John Travolta’s accent supposed to be? And did anyone in the production team notice that the freedom march across town ran from dawn till dark over the course of one single song, making it the Longest Freedom March In The World Ever?

Rent would have been fabulous with its original cast ten years prior. As it was, it looked tired and old, with the luminous Rosario Dawson making her co-stars look haggard.

Then Dreamgirls – what the hell was it? A biopic or a musical? It didn’t know, and you couldn’t tell. However, it had the plus point of fabulous vocals from Beyonce and Jennifer Hudson. You don’t even get that redeeming feature in some of the others.

Gerard Butler admitted prior to the release of Phantom that he couldn’t sing, but apparently Andrew Lloyd Webber didn’t care about that. Nor did the Chicago producers, who cast Renee Zellweger as Roxie. Her vocals were adequate in their capacity to hold a tune, but put to shame by Catherine Zeta Jones, whose musical theatre training was evident.

The same problem reared its ugly head in Nine, where poor miming combined with what sounds like autotune made the soundtrack a painful listening experience. Even Judi Dench, with her proud musicals history, ended up Rex Harrisoning her way through her number. I never thought I’d have selected Fergie as the stand-out singer from that particular cast, but she was – she had power, dynamics and emotion, rather than the feeble, vaguely melodic whispers emanating from everyone else.

So if the remakes of My Fair Lady and Carousel ever come about – as well as the adaptations of Les Mis and Miss Saigon – my wish would be for them to be directed by somebody who understands the artform of the musical. After that, the casting jigsaw, requiring the leads to be able to sing WELL, should just fall into place.

Dear hard-working, humble Danyl Johnson,

Congratulations! After quitting your job (isn’t teaching supposed to be a vocation?), you’ve ended up fourth on The X Factor. Your exceptional ability to open your mouth very wide and bellow a melody line that in no way resembles the original (sorry, “make the song your own”) has won you legions of fans, who are already very excited indeed at your tenuous hint that you might fancy a foray on to the West End stage.

Admittedly, it’s a very vague suggestion, centring on your admiration for last year’s roller-skate-wearing, claw-hand-waving, diva-palely-imitating Diana Vickers, who also left the competition prior to the final. But do you really think you’re equipped for the West End?

We already know that you’re very down-to-earth; Simon Cowell reminded us enough times. But just in case you forget yourself and allow your rapid rise to fame to inflate your ego, remember that theatreland is no place for budding prima donnas. That’ll be knocked out of you soon enough when you’re made to rehearse a dance routine a dozen times in a row without breaks, or when you’re told that you have to do your own make-up rather than having a fawning team of Syco minions to satisfy your whims, or when you’re offered a flat Equity minimum fee to do high profile but off-West End work (Olivier Award-winners do it – you’ll have to as well).

Oh, and that casual disregard for music as it is written? Yeah, that’ll have to go. Even those famously riffing Elphabas have to stick to the tune by and large.

Having said that, your voice certainly has power. Get some decent coaching and begin to differentiate between “volume” and “emotion”, you could do quite well. What do you fancy? Do you think you could make a decent Billy Flynn? Or do you yearn after some hefty self-irony by appearing in the talent show-mockery of We Will Rock You?

Still, good luck with it all. People often think that musical theatre is a closed shop and cliquey, and it’s really not. It just has a funny way of brutally highlighting who has genuine talent. If you do – and I mean proper talent, not the X Factor version of it, hidden behind the Brian Friedman gloss – you will soon find out.

As JB from JLS so rightly said, “Merry Christmas!”

All the best,

Carrie.

Joanna Riding has returned to Billy Elliot after her maternity leave, slotting back in as Mrs Wilkinson and picking up where she left off. Across town, Linzi Hateley’s using her sabbatical from Mamma Mia! wisely, reprising her Roxie Hart in Chicago, alongside Pia Douwes, who’s playing Velma Kelly again 10 years after she first took the role. Michael Ball’s had a brief break from Edna Turnblad’s floral frock, but he’ll be diving back into it early next year.

Sutton Foster in The Drowsy Chaperone

So role reprisals are beloved by actors — but what do theatregoers think about them? Is it a lazy career move, cynical playing to the crowd, or a demonstration of how much an actor loves a part and wants to make their audience happy?

It seems that it’s the latter. Just sending out a quick Tweet to ask for suggestions of perfect role reprisals elicited a flood of
responses.

First up, my best friend (who’s becoming a bit of a feature in my blogs here) reminded me that although we’ve seen him play the Usherette, we’ve never seen Richard O’Brien play Riff-Raff in The Rocky Horror Show. “I would so like to see it,” he sighs. “He’s great, and I don’t think anyone’s ever done the part as well as he. In fact, I’d have liked to have seen Tim Curry as Frank N Furter with him.”

Michael Ball’s turn as Edna wasn’t mentioned, but his other career-defining part was, unsurprisingly. “I’d pay top dollar to see him as Marius back in the day,” says Talia. “Actually, now I’d quite like to see him try Jean Valjean as well…”

“Sutton Foster in The Drowsy Chaperone!” declared the esteemed Luisa Ramirez. She’s not seen Ms Foster in anything previously, so why the desperate keenness? “I love what I’ve heard, and she’s so cute in interviews.”

The fabulous Damian Sandys would like another chance to see Ruthie Henshall as Polly in Crazy For You — her first starring role, and the part for which she received her first Olivier Award nomination. “I saw it and thought it was incredible,” he says, “and it made me know WHO she was, even though I had actually seen her Fantine before.”

And it made me feel oddly sad and nostalgic when people wished they’d been born a generation earlier. Seeing La Streisand on stage was a popular option; and one person responded: “Michael Crawford as Phantom! I didn’t exist when he played the role and I would give anything to go back in time and see it.”

So, are there any actors you’d like to see reprise a role, either because you loved them so much first time round, or because you wish you’d seen them then?

Chicago is the longest running Broadway transfer in the West End and it’s amongst the most popular too. Since the show opened in 1997 it has seen its fair share of cast changes but no other show on Earth seems to tempt celebs into treading the boards like Chicago.

Chicago certainly has something special that draws in the TV personalities. Some of them are hardly surprising, R’n'B singer Usher appeared as Billy Flynn on Broadway recently and Nigel Planer took a turn as Amos Hart in the 1990s, others however are slightly stranger.

Stuck for a half term activity? Well look no further than a London Theatre Break, it’s the perfect mini getaway for all the family.
Show and Stay have a range of shows to suit everyone, if you want action and adventure why not book to see Lord of the Rings – a powerful tale of good verses evil. If you loved the Wizard of Oz, then book the sensational Wicked and see how the good witch of the north and the wicked witch of the west came to be.
Family favorites Grease and Joseph are ideal for a half term theatre break, watch Susan McFadden, Danny Bayne and Lee Mead live on stage in the West End. The Sound of Music, Hairspray and The Lion King are just some more examples of great shows which will have your family smiling all half term.

Why not team your theatre break with a London Attraction, from as little as £12.50 per person you could be visiting celebrity wax works in Madame Tussauds or soaring above the clouds on the iconic London Eye.

If you book a family theatre break before the 14th March 2008 you will get one nights stay in a top London hotel for FREE – that’s right absolutely nothing! So get your skates on and book your family on a Show and Stay theatre break this half term.

Rumours are flying about on the grapevine that cheeky chappie Matt Di Angelo (who has recently been seen on Strictly Come Dancing and Eastenders) is soon to tread the boards in the hit West End show Chicago.
At 20 years old he is a very young Billy Flynn and in my opinion he’d look like he’s raided his dad’s wardrobe for a fancy dress party – but that’s just me! No doubt he is a talented young man so we’ll just have to see how well he makes that jump from small screen to stage.

But what’s more worrying is that he has to try and pretend that Bonnie Langford is his love interest! Now Bonny, as beautiful as she many be, is no spring chicken and it would look more like a mesh between Chicago and The Graduate!
At the moment these are just rumours, but we’ll bring you all the hot Chicago gossip when it filters through that grapevine!

It seems Duncan James, Bonny Langford and Brenda Edwards can’t get enough of the West End, these celebs are back in town and ready to take on their former roles.

Duncan James whipped the crowd into a frenzy as Billy Flynn, with his dazzling good looks and smooth voice he made many an audience member swoon. Teamed with Bonny Langford as Roxie Hart and Brenda Edwards as Mamma Morton – it should be a corker of a show and well worth a trip to the West End.

Here’s a clip of Duncan in action on GMTV – enjoy!

Stuck for gift ideas? Well look no further than Show and Stay! Whether you want to treat a loved one or just fancy treating yourself, we have THE Christmas gift package to suit any stocking.

Step one: choose a show
From the shining colours of Joseph’s coat to the wild plains of Africa in the Lion King, we have all the TOP West End shows for you to choose from. Dads, mums, daughters and sons – we have something for everyone.

Step two: choose your hotel and pre-theatre dinner.
We have a delightful range of two star to five star hotels in London and a mouthwatering selection of pre-theatre restaurants to sample.

Step Three: Adding an attraction.
Whether you want to see iconic London attractions or get in the festive spirit we have something for you. As Christmas is nearly upon us we have a great selection of festive attractions to add on to your package, including ice skating at the Tower of London and festive fun at Winter Wonderland Hyde Park.

Christmas in London is simply magical and chock-a-block with festive attractions, from Spitalfields Winter Festival to Trafalgar Square Tree Lighting – check out our Christmas events in London page for more information on these activities.

Yep the rumors are true, Miss Kelly Osbourne is set to star in the West End version of Chicago as the feisty Mama Morton. She is said to be frantically practicing in preparation for her West End Debut and has even shed a few pounds for the role
In my opinion Kelly is a bit of an odd choice for the part as we all remember big bolshy Queen Latifa in the 2002 film and the current Mama in the West End is …well…a little on the mature side – so I’m not to sure how a young, svelte Mama Morton will go down, but I guess we shall have to watch this space.