Another week, another reality TV show promising to discover another West End star.
Or, in the case of Grease is the Word, two West End stars. Yes, David Ian — Live Nation supremo and Stage 100 perennial — is on the hunt for both a Sandy and a Danny for his new production of Grease.
So, what is the word on Grease is the Word? Well, having seen a press preview, I would say it’s a little bit like How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? — but a lot more like X-Factor.
The panel includes Ian himself, former pop starlet Sinitta, choreographer to the stars Brian Friedman and general troublemaker David Gest.
From what I can tell from the 15-minute clip which us press were shown this week, I would suspect that the series may not play well with certain members of the industry.
It’s big, it’s brash and unlike in Maria, there seems to be little attempt to pretend that the early stages of the show are anything other than a chance to laugh at people who can’t really sing, dance or act and really would have been better advised not to turn up to the audition in the first place.
To be fair to the producers, it makes entertaining TV, but it remains to be seen whether that will appease the dissenting voices who have complained that the Pop idol auditioning format is degrading.
Meanwhile, in another nod to the X Factor, the obligatory squabbling between judges seems to be breaking out, with a rather entertaining show put on by the two Davids (Ian and Gest) for the assembled press as they bandied sly digs at each other.
Gest seems annoying enough that the dislike on Ian’s part could certainly be genuine enough, but whether the whole thing is contrived for entertainment’s sake is anyone’s guess.
Certainly the two of them are singing off very different hymn sheets. Ian was keen to play down the rivalry between his and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s rival show Any Dream Will do, saying:
Like all TV programmes, viewers have got a choice of what to watch and I think it’s great, as a theatre producer, that Saturday night television for a time will be dominated by the theatrical industry on prime time television. If someone had told Andrew Lloyd Webber or I that a year ago we wouldn’t have believed our luck.
Gest was taking a different tack. “I think Grease has great songs,” he declaimed. “I don’t think Joseph has as good songs. Not by far. Everybody knows. Screw it, Grease has great songs.”
I suppose for the short term this makes entertaining tabloid TV but in the long term it destroys the heritage and integrity of both Broadway and the West End.
The whole thing is a bloody sham. They put people through to the later rounds who're completely wrong and have no idea how to perform and hold a stage. I say this as pro who went up for it (and no I'm not bitter - just pissed off at the hipocracy of it all.) Am in the process of watching tonight's episode as I write this and a kid was just put through who not only looked wrong (ear studs, pink spikey hair and not very attractive) but also had a stammer! Somehow this guy got through to the SECOND stage of boot camp where as I was kicked off after the first day. Sadly I didn't have the sob story and/or regional accent to carry me through. I also think I would've given the guy who I'm sure was a 'plant' a run for his money (certainly in the vocal/acting department anyway.)