Oz Blog: 20 become 10…
Saturday
Saturday night, and our final 20 Dorothy’s were back – this time, wearing gingham onstage in front of a live audience and, of course, the Lord himself. As if that weren’t enough, Jodie Prenger was on hand to tell us more about the search for Dorothy’s companion Toto. Jodie, as the winner of I’d Do Anything, has been playing Nancy on stage in the hugely successful musical Oliver! But that wasn’t all – Graham revealed that an additional five West End leading ladies were also on hand to help our girls.
The final 20 were split into 5 groups, with each performing a pop and a musical song for the panel. Pop first. Sheila Hancock might not like it – “[pop] is about generalised emotions” – but there was some great girly pop songs here: ‘Mercy’ by Duffy, ‘Cry Me Out’ by Pixie Lott, ‘Take A Bow’ by Rihanna. Luckily John Partridge doesn’t have the same problem with pop, telling group four (Lauren, Katie, Bronte and Clare Harbourne) “If it doesn’t work out, you could give Girls Aloud a run for their money.”
All the girls could certainly give Girls Aloud a run for their money in the style stakes – they had some gorgeous outfits to strut their stuff in: the black lace dresses worn by group three (Emma, Steph, Tegan and Jenny) were particularly striking and the girls in group five (Danielle, Claire Hillier, Amy and Emilie) paired their nautical stripes with some killer shoes. This is clearly the contemporary Dorothy look – Judy Garland, who?
After their pop numbers, the groups each performed a musical track, getting some guidance along the way from some of London’s leading ladies. Group one (Stephanie, Camille, Jessica and Sophie) had some help from West End legend Ruthie Henshall before performing ‘All That Jazz’ from Chicago. Group two (Dani, Philippa, Sarah and Tasheka) were fired up with “Girl power” as former Spice Girl Melanie C, currently starring in Blood Brothers, put them through their paces before they performed a song from the show, “Tell Me It’s Not True.” Legally Blonde ’s Sheridan Smith, _Sweet Charity_’s Tamzin Outhwaite and Kerry Ellis, formerly of We Will Rock You and about to take over the role of Nancy in Oliver!, also shared some tips with the girls.
And after ten heartfelt performances it was time for the panel to pick the final 10. They had some tough choices. As Sheila said, “they all look so different… it really shows that Dorothy could be anyone.” And, as Andrew told group one, referring to the first TV search for the star of The Sound of Music, “any of the four of you would have made the top ten of the Maria programme. That’s how the talent in this country has come on.”
As the panel deliberated, the audience were treated to an emotional final performance as Nancy from Jodie Prenger as she sang ‘As Long As He Needs Me’. Jodie then told Graham how excited she is about the search for Toto: “he can be any kind of dog, any breed… can you imagine a Great Dane playing Toto?!”
Jodie will be joined by two doggie experts to select the winning Toto… but in the meantime it was time for the panel to return and for Graham to reveal the final ten Dorothys. “It was very hard,” Andrew said. “There were five we all agreed on – but we argued about the rest!”
As each group stepped forward to be told whether or not “you could be Dorothy,” it was all very dramatic as we were told the final line-up is Jessica, Sophie, Stephanie, Dani, Steph, Jenny, Lauren, Bronte, Amy and Danielle. But it’s not over yet! This year there’s a twist, as the audience was invited to vote for their favourite ‘wild card’ candidate – an eleventh Dorothy. Each of the ten girls not voted through by the panel sang a line of ‘Over The Rainbow’ for the audience’s votes (voting is now closed.)
Next week we’ll find out which of those ten wins the wild card entry – and, as the live shows begin, the pressure to find Andrew’s Dorothy is well and truly on…
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For more information on Over The Rainbow, visit www.bbc.co.uk/dorothy.
