Sophie Evans is Dorothy at last – Full Time in Wizard of Oz http://sophieevans.org.uk/111/sophie-evans-is-dorothy-at-last-full-time-in-wizard-of-oz/

Since the start of tis year, 2011 there have been a handful of new musicals for theatre breaks opening in London. The Wizard of Oz began previews back in February with Danielle Hope starring as Dorothy, and has gone from strength to strength ever since. Expect high demand for theatre breaks and tickets around Christmas and early in the new year as families book themselves a winter treat. With somewhat less of a fanfare, the musical Betty Blue Eyes also opened in March for a limited run and is currently extended unti at least October 2011. Betty Blue Eyes is the story of a household surviving in post World War 2 Yorkshire by raising a pig to avoid the bacon  rationing. Betty Blue Blues is in fact the name of the pig! Ghost The Musical is the big one, just opened in June in London after try out in Manchester and a showcase at West End Live 2011. The dazzling new musical GHOST, is based on the phenomenal Oscar winning Paramount Pictures film of the same name, and features great rock music by Eurythmics writer Dave Stewart with the help of Glenn Ballard. If you only see one new musical this year, go and see Ghost Lend Me A Tenor is an old fashioned Vaudeville style musical, which transferred from Plymouth and stars Matthew Kelly London Tube escalators are full of adverts for The Million Dollar Quartet, a story of fame, friendship, discovery, divided loyalties, professional jealousy and incredible music as four of the music industry’s most extraordinary talents, all in their creative prime, made music together for the first and only time in their careers. A true story of the electrifying night in 1956 when Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis came together to make music and ended up making history. Rock of Ages doesn’t actually start until next month, August 2011, but we had a preview of the soft rock, 1980s style juke box musical at West End Live. And last but by no means least, we had the opening of Shrek The Musical with Amanda Holden, a major blockbuster of a film and musical which looks set to be a favourite family choice for theatre breaks in London for many years to come.

Danielle Hope is on The One Show tonight, January 25th at 7.00pm. Danielle is of course in the middle of rehearsals playing Dorothy in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new musical The Wizard of Oz, which starts previews in just over a week’s time now! The first Wizard of Oz performance should be at the London Palladium on 7th February 2011. The One Show visits Danielle Hope with Toto in her dressing room at the London Palladium. The One Show is on on BBC1 at 7:00 pm

Danielle Hope was on The Alan Titchmarsh Show yesterday to talk about her upcoming role in The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium.

Rehearsals start in six weeks time with previews starting on February 7th 2011. Danielle Hope will be doing seven shows a week as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and is currently in training at the Arts Educational School.

A 100th birthday party was held for and at the London Palladium where The Wizard of Oz will open next February.  Andrew Lloyd Webber , Danielle Hope, Bruce Forsyth, Michael Ball and a host of other celebrities associated with the Palladium were present on a Tuesday lunchtime to unveil a plaque, toast one of London’s favourite theatres, and hear Andrew Lloyd Webber talk about the planned refurbishment.

London Palladium 1910- 2010 100 years of great entertainment

Speaking to a glittering showbiz audience including Phillip Schofield, Elaine Paige, Jason Donovan, Bruce Forsyth, and Des O’Connor Andrew Lloyd Webber said: “Today’s celebration is about recognising the rich history of this wonderful theatre and the fantastic performers who have graced its stage. It is also about the beginning of the biggest programme of refurbishment and change in the Palladium’s history and I’m delighted to announce the restoration of the iconic revolving stage and plans for the complete refurbishment of the front of house areas.”

The main entrance and facade need to be repaired, a new box office area created, a new lift installed, and toilet facilities improved all before The Wizard of Oz opens in February 2011.

Danielle Hope was there of course, and spoke about her forthcoming part in the history of the London Palladium as Dorothy, leading role in The Wizard of Oz:

“Hello! and happy 100th birthday to the London Palladium. What an amazing afternoon. A wonderful group of people and such a great place to celebrate, I’m so proud  that I can be a part of it. There has been such tremendous history here, so far, and hopefully I shall make some more, all good I hope. So have a look at the cake, and Happy Birthday Palladium, cheers”

As you probably know by now, The Wizard of Oz begins previews in London during February 2011, with the exact start date as yet not firm, but advertised as 7th february and with a provisional official opening date and press night of March 1st 2011. Well here’s another landmark date for the process at the London Palladium, with a special charity gala night full performance of The Wizard of Oz in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity “Theatres for Theatres” Appeal. Following the excitement of BBC TV’s smash hit Over the Rainbow, we are delighted to announce a special gala performance of the family musical, The Wizard of Oz, coming to the London Palladium on Tuesday 15th of February 2011. This enchanting adaptation of the much-loved classic has been completely reconceived for the stage by the award-winning creative team behind the recent revival of the Sound of Music. The new production contains all of your favourite songs from the Oscar winning movie score, all the characters and iconic moments, plus a few surprises along the way, including breathtaking scenery and a revolving stage, and some new songs by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. Spectators will get a chance to see Danielle Hope, the winner of Over the Rainbow who captured the hearts of the country, playing the role of Dorothy. Danielle will also be joined by Michael Crawford as the Wizard. Crawford is internationally renowned for originating the title role in The Phantom of the Opera and loved by millions for his role in the classic British sitcom, Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em. via We’re off to see the Wizard of Oz Charity Gala… and Michael Crawford is the Wizard! « Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity. Theatres for Theatres is an exciting three-year initiative to raise £4 million to make a dramatic difference to the lives of our young patients requiring specialist brain surgery. The initiative will help to fund two new state-of-the-art operating theatres to be used by the Neurosciences team. The theatres will be used to treat children with complex and often life-threatening neurological and craniofacial conditions. Theatres for Theatres will create world-class facilities which could allow treatment of up to 20 per cent more children in the next ten years.

Drew Barrymore is set to direct the film “Surrender Dorothy,” which will be a “loose sequel” to the classic 1939 movie musical “The Wizard of Oz”.

Drew Barrymore

Barrymore has been developing the project for years, and at one point appeared set to play Dorothy’s great-great-granddaughter, who learns to use the ruby slippers’ power when the Wicked Witch unexpectedly returns to take over Oz and the earth. It’s unclear if Barrymore will still take the role or just direct. Now “Surrender Dorothy” is just one out of five “Oz” films that have been reported as being in development recently, following the big box-office success of Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland.” Possible films include “Oz the Great and Powerful,” a Disney project that would show how the Wizard came to Oz. There may also be a film version of “Wicked”, the musical prequel to the story, which has been fabulously successful on Broadway and in the London West End.

The Wizard of Oz is such a classic musical for any theatre company to put on that is stands to reason there will be a production of some sort current at almost any time of year. From June 1st Wales’ leading amateur theatre company, Orbit, celebrates its 41st year with the opening night of a week-long run of its own version of The Wizard of Oz at the New Theatre in Cardiff.
Dorothy is sung by Nicola Caldwell and the Wales Online reporter Dave Owens spoke to her about the role: Nicola Caldwell: I’m 22 years old, I come from Penarth and I’ve just qualified from university as a primary school teacher. Probably the biggest role I’ve done is Les Miserables in London’s West End for the 20th anniversary, which was fantastic. They chose 3,000 kids under 18 to apply, I was 17 at the time, and had done a school edition of the show. Out of the 3,000 who auditioned and sent tapes off, 35 got in. And I was one of the lucky ones! It’s every little girl’s dream, to play Dorothy, isn’t it, to wear the red ruby slippers and sing Over The Rainbow? It’s such an honour. It’s the archetypal dream role.

On the runner-up, Welsh girl Sophie Evans, and the winner, Danielle Hope? Nicola: Actually I liked the girl who finished third, Lauren Samuels. She was my favourite. She was really bubbly and very magnanimous and gracious when she went out. The Wizard of Oz is showing at the New Theatre in Cardiff from 1st 5th June Orbit Theatre

Wizard of Oz – Orbit Theatre Company

By L. FRANK BAUM With Music and Lyrics of the MGM motion picture score by HAROLD ARLEN and E.Y. HARBURG Background Music by HERBERT STOTHART Book Adaptation by JOHN KANE from the motion picture screenplay Tuesday 1st to Saturday 5th June 2010 New Theatre Park Place Cardiff Book Online via The New Theatre, Cardiff

If you are eagerly looking forward to seeing the newly emerged Wizard of Oz Dorothy, Danielle Hope, winner of Over the Rainbow it may be worth taking note of the following information when booking tickets for next year. Danielle is not guaranteed to play the following performances of Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium on: Tuesdays. The winner’s annual holidays have also been reserved as: Week commencing 2nd May 2011 Week commencing 5th September 2011 Week commencing 12th September 2011 Of course nothing can really be guaranteed and in the event of illness etc the part of Dorothy will be played by an understudy but if you want the best possible chance of seeing Danielle Hope in the role then avoid booking Wizard f of Oz tickets or theatre breaks for a Tuesday or those three weeks in May and September next year.

Danielle Hope

Danielle Hope winner of the part of Dorothy in the forthcoming Wizard of Oz musical in London triumphantly sings “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” for the last time on the TV casting show, but not for the last time by any means in her new career as a West End Star – Yes you are Danielle!!

Danielle Hope Fans

There’s been a lot of focus on the singing and dancing performances of the remaining Dorothys but which one would really be best suited to playing the part night after night in Wizard of Oz? One of the recent missions was about maintaining the Kansas accent and here you can see each of four contestants in a scene from Wizard of Oz that allows us to really evaluate their abilities as actors.

Now Andrew Lloyd Webber seemed to be bowled over by Danielle, so we get a clue here perhaps as to who he would like to see the public vote for tonight, but he also praises Lauren’s professionalism and wonders if she can pull out just a little bit more from inside her own emotion for us. Personally, I found the Danielle performance just a tad drawn out and over done, but there’s no doubt she would make a smashing Dorothy, as would any of them really.

Over the rainbow – Mission

After watching them each have a go at the real acting, who do you think comes out of this mission in the best position for tonight’s vote?

On Saturday 22nd May, the winning Dorothy will be finally chosen by Over The Rainbow viewers, and now it has been announced that the lucky Dorothy, as well as going on to play the part in The Wizard of Oz when it opens in London next April, will also get to release a single of the iconic ‘Over The Rainbow’ song, as first sung by Judy Garland in the 1939 film.

Wizard of oz

The charity single will be rushed out as a download available from midnight on Sunday 23rd May and all profits net of agreed expenses will be split fifty-fifty between two favoured charities of the TV show’s producers, Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber and the BBC: Prostate UK and The BBC Performing Arts Fund. But the big question remains, whose voice will be singing “Over The Rainbow” on the charity single – will it be Lauren, Sophie or Danielle?

Sierra Boggess From Love Never Dies spent some time with the Dorothys last week giving advice and answering questions, specifically related to maintaining the stamina needed to fulfil the requirements of performing up to 8 times a week on the West End stage in London. She explained that the winning Dorothy who gets to perform in The Wizard Of Oz can expect not just a wonderful job but also a complete lifestyle as a leading lady. Sierra was impressed that the amount of working being put in by all at the Dorothy house was already a good preparation for the real thing. On Sunday night’s Over The Rainbow, Sierra Boggess performed the title song from the new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Love Never Dies

Sierra Boggess

Sierra Boggess sang Love Never Dies on BBC1’s Over the Rainbow show last night

The show is a casting competition for another Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, The Wizard of Oz which opens in London in April 2011 with a Leading Lady – the part of Dorothy, chosen by the public. Sierra Boggess helped out with the final four contestants during the week giving them advice on singing, stamina, and the West End Leading Lady lifestyle which the lucky winner might expect.

Sadly, it was Steph Fearon’s time to go. All three Over The Rainbow judges agreed, the public had voted her into the bottom two and Andrew Lloyd Webber saved Lauren instead. Steph herself looked almost relieved by the decision, and was clearly thrilled to bits by the standing ovation she received from the vast studio audience. So now we are down to the final three Dorothys to be ranked by public vote only in the final episode of Over The Rainbow next Saturday. Steph’s Performance of Rule The World:

The Sing off, Sunday

Another Suitcase in Another Hall from Evita Goodbye Steph

“I’m disappointed not to have gone that little bit further but at the end of the day I wanted whatever the public wanted,” said Steph. Steph Fearon, admits she would love to star in the West End musicals The Lion King, Wicked or Sister Act, and also said that Andrew Lloyd Webber had asked to meet her later this week to discuss her future.

I thought it would be interesting to go back over something Andrew Lloyd Webber said about The Wizard of Oz and Over The Rainbow way back during one of the early audition sessions, in fact in Scotland. Andrew Lloyd Webber talked about Over The Rainbow and the Wizard Of Oz production as one of his most ambitious projects yet but said he wanted to steer clear of the classic 1939 movie. He said: This is the most difficult show I’ve had to cast. Joseph, Oliver and Maria all came from established theatre productions which are huge hits. The Wizard Of Oz has been done before, but it’s never worked properly because they’ve tried to recreate the movie too closely. I’m essentially writing a whole new musical with some of the greatest songs ever written and composing completely new music for it. There’s at least half a dozen new songs. So that’s a tantalising insight into what the forthcoming London production at The Palladium promisies. A new musical with half a dozen new songs, a fantastic Dorothy (no matter who wins) all based on but not recreating the original American story.

Oh noes! Not Jessica??! Jessica Robinson became the surprise second victim of the double knock out weekend yesterday on Over The Rainbow simply because the public voted her into the bottom two alongside of Danielle, who ought really to be the outright favourite to win. Given that dreadful choice, it was probably no choice at all that Danielle had to be saved but it still doesn’t seem right that Jessica should be out of the competition at this stage. When asked why she thought she had managed to avoid the bottom two so far, Jess put it down to her amazing fan base, but I’m afraid they let her down, just the once. Ah well, what else happened…? The mashup was a medley of songs, two from Fiddler on the roof and some pop songs.

Who catches your eye for most of the time when watching the group performances? If They Could See Me Now Tamsin Outhwaite returned to Over The Rainbow, this time to perform herself and show the girls exactly how it’s done.

Tamsin Outhwaite performs “If They Could See Me Now” from current West End smash hit musical Sweet Charity The Sing Off Danielle and Jessica were given an Andrew Lloyd Webber composition for the inevitable sing off, Take That Look Off Your Face from “Tell Me On A Sunday”

Goodbye Jessica Jessica seemed to be genuinely grateful for having the good fortune to last through the show as long as she had done, and I’m sure leaves us with the confidence that she has a bright career in musical theatre ahead of her,  (if not in Wizard Of Oz) as she sings Somewhere over The Rainbow and heads for flying moon.

Jenny Douglas Is Not Dorothy

Jenny Douglas from Scotland was the first casualty of the weekend’s double eviction special of Over The Rainbow. Jenny showed increased competence in her singing but failed the test of working with Toto the dog! Understandably perhaps, For Andrew Lloyd Webber, that was enough to rule out Jenny from being in The Wizard of OZ when it opens in London’s West End in March 2011. Over The Rainbow started this week with a group rendition of the powerful musical theatre song “Defying Gravity” from Wicked. Normally a big solo number, it was slightly odd to hear this a little under performed by the six Dorothys but then it hadn’t really been explained that this was Musical Theatre week. So firstly, Danielle sang “On My Own” from the musical, Les Miserables impeccably as always. Then it was the turn of Jenny with her version of Send In The Clowns from the musical, A Little Night Music. By the way, has anybody else noticed that the musical phrase for Send in The Clowns is just like Love Never Dies?  Jenny received a mixed response from the judges. Jessica this week took on the Mary Poppins classic, Supercalifragilistic or rather in full, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, as song which potentially leaves little for an individualist performer to build on but to my surprise, Jessica managed to to turn it into an entertaining music hall number. Who’d have thought it. Jessica deserves a place in the semi finals. Lauren performed Being Alive from the Sondheim musical, “Company” and once again I felt, justfied staying in the show right up to the line. Steph was given the well known song “Somewhere” from the musical West Side Story and rose to the occasion yet again by showing just how far she has improved in confidence with her new found variation in singing styles. Sophie has managed to evade the sing offs recently, and once again she avoided the bottom two with a splendidly up tempo version of “I Enjoy Being A Girl” from Flower Drum Song by Rodgers and Hammerstein, a less well known musical based on the 1957 novel of the same name by Chinese American author C. Y. Lee. In the end, Jenny found herself in the bottom two alongside Lauren Samuels. I don’t know what Lauren was doing there, but it’s a public vote so anything can happen. They had to sing a duet rendition of Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’, a song which I have never cared for, but whichthey managed to turn almost into a musical theatre piece. Andrew Lloyd Webber then wasted no time in saving Lauren, citing Jenny’s failure to control Toto as the reason why she would have been too much of a risk on the Wizard Of Oz Stage. Five Remaining Dorothy Contenders So the five girls remaining are Lauren Samuels, Jessica Robinson, Danielle Hope, Sophie Evans and Steph Fearon, with one more due to be eliminated on Sunday’s show and then it’s semi-final next weekend. Saturday Night’s double eviction part one show ended with the five doing a Wizard Of Oz medley starting with Follow The Yellow Brick Road and including Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead, The Merry Old Land of Oz and If I Only Had A Brain.

The weekend of the 8th/9th May 2010 will mark a turning point for Over The Rainbow as two Dorothy contenders will be set to leave the show. One contestant will leave on Saturday and one on Sunday, leaving us with a final four. I think Sophie will have to go this time but I’m not sure whether Jenny or Steph will be the unfortunate companion on the flying moon. If there’s a sing off between three girls voted least popular by the public, Andrew LLoyd Webber will only be able to save one of them in the end, and if I believe he would have to save Danielle, Lauren or Jessica. What do you think?

Stephanie Davis not Dorothy Stephanie Davis became the fifth Dorothy contender to be discounted from Over The Rainbow last night, a shocking result really, caused by the public voting two of the strongest performers into the sing off, Steph and Stephanie. So Andrew Lloyd Webber had the difficult job of choosing one of those two to survive, and he chose Steph from London, leaving Stephanie Davis to hand over the slippers and sit on the moon singing “Over the Rainbow”. Stephanie the Liverpudlian had put in some blinding performance in previous weeks, especially with up tempo dance numbers but was landed with the difficult job of interpreting “Mr Bojangles” this week, and failed to really get to grips with this awkward song which has been covered by many well known singers over the years.

Safe for another week are now Sophie Evans, 17, from Wales Sophie was in the bottom two last week and favourite to have been knocked out yesterday, but survived another week thanks to the public phone voting. I’m afraid her luck can’t last much longer though. Jessica Robinson Jessica Robinson, 18, from Middlesborough Jess doesn’t care anymore. She achieved a lifetime ambition by singing her favourite song “Cabaret” on prime time television last week so anything that happens from here on in is a bonus for her.

Steph Fearon Steph Fearon, 21, from London was in the sing-off this week, so maybe isn’t getting the support she deserves from the capital. Steph has an irrepressible little grin which would look just great on Dorothy. Here she is attempting the Moulin Rouge version of “Diamonds are a girls best friend“

Lauren Samuels Lauren Samuels, 22, from London Lauren is one of the top contenders who started at a very high standard and then continues to show improvement in her performances week by week. Jenny Douglas Jenny Douglas, 18, from Scotland Jenny has had to learn how to dance very quickly for this competition, and seemed to have been given a renewed confidence in herself from the visit to Mamma Mia, her first London musical. She’s still a bit clumsy though and bumped into the other girls twice I think during Saturday’s Over The Rainbow ! Danielle Hope Danielle Hope, 17, from Manchester Last in my list here, but after this week Danielle could well be first favourite to win the role of Dorothy. Just look at this video of Danielle really enjoying herself with “Mambo Italiano“