As background, this is about the BBC TV show Over the Rainbow, where they search for a girl to play the part of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. I’m not all about sciency/politics things you know!
Firstly, I know we’ve had more than half of the shows (no idea where the time has gone…), but with 6/11 girls still in and a double eviction next week, I think it counts! The questions for me are: how were my predictions from the audition stages and have I changed my mind!
My picks from the top 10 were listed in 3 groups like so. I’ve struck through those which have already been eliminated.
Jessica
Stephanie
Dani
Amy
Danielle
Jenny
Lauren
Sophie
Bronte
Steph
And then Emilie was the wild-card who has been and gone.
So apparently I can’t pick them! Although I still think Jessica stands a great chance.
Contrary to my original rankings, I’m quite glad that Stephanie went tonight as while I still think she would have been great technically, she just isn’t as interesting to watch as some of the other Dorothys. In some ways, now we’ve seen more of the girls on screen, in my mind I have mentally moved the goalposts so now they can’t just look and act like my mind’s eye thinks Dorothy should be but also have to win me over generally. I’ve fallen into a horrible trap of not judging them objectively at all, rather falling for the different personalities we are shown. Given I’m sure that is how most people vote, I’m actually surprised the programme-makers don’t have get the girls to engage more with the public and garner up more votes. Why don’t they publish diaries/twitter accounts/web-only video and the like? Certainly seems to be a demand for it if the way people lap up the official facebook page.
Embracing my change of heart, I’d like Jenny, Sophie or Lauren (I realise I’ve just named half the field…) to win as they are just very watchable, both in their performances and in flirting with the camera in the prerecorded segments. Otherwise, I stick by my shout of Jessica from way back!
I’ve also warmed a lot to Steph and her addresses to the camera, but I can’t see her as Dorothy: she just doesn’t seem vulnerable enough for me. I’d like to see her in something where she could use that confidence, Chicago maybe?
On a separate note, I’m going to see it LIVE next week at Fountain Studios in Wembley! I’m ridiculously excited, both by seeing it all live, but also in a geeky way by seeing how they work that mix of live theatre and live broadcasting. I’m sure it will be amazing, and I’ll try to write it up here. (Obviously without any spoilers, given the backlash in the Twitterverse last night over the leaking of potential spoilers!)