Dying for our sins can’t have been easy and rising from the dead must have been even harder, but there are those who say that teaching the world forgiveness was the hardest thing he ever had to do.
On September the 21st he’s going to have to keep a straight face, and remember which eye to look at, as a Radio 1 DJ tries his best baby-killing king of Judea in front of thousands of people at the O2 Arena.
It’s going to make getting nailed to a cross look like a stroll across the Thames so we’d better find the right Jesus for the job. This Saturday night we begin the search.
SUPERSTAR IS COMING TO OUR SCREENS!
I’ve already had the last sinews of the BBC’s ‘The Voice’ flossed from between my canines and now it’s time for ITV, and particularly the knight of the realm Sir Andrew Lloyd-Webber, to have the cold, harsh light of my opinion shone in their eyes as I play ‘good blog, bad blog’ in the interrogation room that is my weekly column.
Speaking of bright lights, I’ve already seen the official advert. If you haven’t, it’s based on ‘Close Encounters’ and might turn out to be a mini representation of the series to follow in that it opens well with good intentions and then has a very disappointing ending, with ALW acting about as naturally as a tazer-induced seizure.
This brings me to a question:
I can sympathize with the Webster because acting isn’t easy, as anyone who has seen five minutes of ‘Hi-de-Hi’ knows. I know it looks easy but it really isn’t. Will the acting abilities of our hopefuls be tested? Jesus Christ Superstar, (or ‘Cheese ‘n’ rice- soup to start’ as I’ve been known to call it) whilst having no spoken dialogue, requires an intensity that a great singing voice alone won’t bring.
I’m sure this has been covered by ALW, if only to calm the simmering resentment of his erstwhile partner Timothy Rice who has been reportedly against this TV show from the get go. Some worried junior producer must have knocked on his velvet lined, light-proof carriage and asked the great Lord Webber if he wanted Rice appeased.
He may have misheard and responded that he’s not a fan of Jamaican food but might be tempted with a little jerk chicken instead- but I doubt it.
The judging panel of this reality spectacular is interesting to say the least and bodes well in my view.
I’m a massive fan of Dawn French and I think her inclusion is inspired. I like Jason Donovan even though he came across just a wee bit too earnest in the jungle and a tad ‘I’m not amazing I’m just an ordinary guy’ on the dance floor, even though he misplaced more feet than a Heather Mills doll factory. At least he’s done big production ALW musicals and can speak with authority.
What I’m most pleased about- and this’ll probably shock you, is the appointment of Amanda Holden as the host of the live bits, or the Dermot ‘n’ Dec slot as it’s known.
Firstly, it’s nice to have a female host for a change. Don’t get me wrong, I love O’leary and the twins but a woman’s perspective will be refreshing. Secondly, I’m actually a bit of a fan of Ms. Holden. Most people aren’t and seem to have a grudge against her like the Les Dennis fan club’s anti-botox division, but I’ve always found her to be intelligent and quite funny and genuine when in front of the camera. I’m expecting her to shine in this new, more involved role but she might fall extremely flat on her face- we’ll see.
One last thing. This tv show will be live every weekend and have millions of viewers spending millions of pounds on millions of phone votes. It will take up many column inches- written by people like me, and generate a lot of buzz and media hype.
The entire tour- the actual job itself, will consist of just eleven performances. That’s only eleven shows, spanning just a single month.
There are second cover understudies that go on more than that! This is the equivalent of ‘The Apprentice’ final winner being hired just to cover the Amstrad stand for a three day exhibition at the NEC.
Now, I’m sure the exposure will help the finalists to get plenty of work and it’ll make for some good telly- or some bad telly being written about in some good blogs, but it does seem like a bit of overkill. It’s as if they’ve felt obliged to put the tour on to justify the tv show… they wouldn’t do that, would they?
I shall be tweeting live during the shows and blogging about them soon afterwards so follow me @MrIanWatson and watch this space.
See you Saturday.
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