The second episode of the ITV talent show Mamma Mia! I Have A Dream, a search to find a new Sophie and Sky for the 2024 cast of ABBA musical Mamma Mia!, ended in tears with Maddy Erzan-Essien [pictured below] the first to be voted off by the judges (Samantha Barks, Jessie Ware, Alan Carr and Amber Riley).
This was Sophie Week on glorious Corfu for the seven West End wannabe Sophies, each singing a song of choice, and sadly for bubbly Maddy with her mass of auburn curls the Mamma Mia! dream is over… until next year. She can come again.
The 20-year-old barmaid from Brighton performed the lively ‘Say a Little Prayer’ for her audition but was facing an uphill task as she had lost her way a little in the acting workshop the night before the concert. Barks commented that Maddy needed to act better because her face looked happy when the line was sad.
Maddy wasn’t the only one to miss a line or two at the acting workshop. So did Desmonda Cathabel but the 2022 winner of the Stephen Sondheim Student Performer of the Year competition bounced back with the best vocal of the night, taking on ‘I’ll Never Love Again’, the Lady Gaga number from A Star is Born, a song that requires tip-top acting as well as testing all facets of one’s vocal range. She deservedly received a standing ovation from the audience (including the judges).
Jessie Ware admitted: “I’m jealous of that voice!” Alan Carr, a man normally with plenty to say, was for once lost for words and Amber Riley, of Glee and Dreamgirls fame, said: “Amazing and when I say amazing, I mean amazing.”
Showing off a high kick of which even Bonnie Langford would have been proud, Stephanie Costi, a genuine triple threat, was a confident all-rounder who gave us ‘What a Feeling’ (from Flashdance) but the voice was not always controlled and “forgettable”, according to one judge after hearing the powerhouse Leah Rutherford, who followed Stephanie, set about the Queen classic ‘Somebody to Love’.
Amazingly, this 20-year-old Yorkshire lass was visiting London for the first time when auditioning for I Have a Dream. “Leah just blew us all away,” said Barks, herself a competitor in a similar spot-a-star TV show I’d Do Anything when at 17 she placed third to Jodie Prenger and Jessie Buckley for the role of Nancy in the revival of Oliver! Leah admitted: “I never actually thought I could be a Sophie but just wanted to show what I could do.” Never fear, Leah, you made an impression all right!
Esme Bowdler, a barista from Chester, and Maisie Waller, a factory worker from Margate, both 22, looked perfect for Sophie (played by Amanda Seyfried in the Mamma Mia! movies). Barks said Esme took a difficult song ‘Just a Girl’ “and made it mean something” while Carr said her voice sent shivers down his spine. Esme is worried that being 5ft 11 might count against her. “I keep getting turned down, I never expected it to be so difficult to get work,” she said. Her luck could be about to change.
I liked Stevie Doc, a Glaswegian in her third year at drama school, more than some of the judges. One said she “got behind the beat” in ‘Trustfall’ the Pink song she sang. She has a deeper, more flexible voice than some, and a strong stage presence.
Mamma Mia! creator and producer Judy Craymer was on hand with words of wisdom and is anxious that the two who eventually get the job “have the strength to do eight shows a week”.
Next Sunday it’s the turn of the guys – early days but I sense they are not collectively as strong and a great chance is coming up for an ace to jump out of the pack and stake a compelling claim. It’s a terrifically more-ish format and great fun. Can’t wait!
Jeremy Chapman
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