So that’s it – the judges have trimmed 14 West End wannabes (out of thousands of applicants) down to the last four after the semi-final of ITV’s delightfully laid-back Greek island-location talent show I Have A Dream and are done. Now let the public decide.
It’s Glasgow’s cheeky triple threat Stevie Doc in a shootout with towering Chester blonde Esme Bowdler, and Belfast charmer Owen Johnston going head-to-head with Somerset powerhouse Tobias Turley for the prized roles of soon-to-be-wed young lovebirds Sophie and Sky in the 25th anniversary production of Mamma Mia!
And the grand final will be live at the Novello Theatre on Sunday afternoon (10 December) – on the very stage where Mamma Mia! is currently playing. Sadly, Stephanie Costi and Craig Watson fell at the last hurdle with the winning post agonisingly in sight, voted out by the panel, West End headliners Samantha Barks and Amber Riley, singer/songwriter Jessie Ware and punny “can’t dance, can’t sing but I know talent when I see it” comic Alan Carr.
Very much present too, but not officially judging, was Judy Craymer, famed producer of the long-running show which features 23 of ABBA’s greatest hits (or did the last time I saw it). And it was from the vast ABBA catalogue that the six semi-finalists chose their critically deciding song: Watson picked ‘Take a Chance On Me’, Johnston ‘When All is Said and Done’, and Turley ‘Does Your Mother Know?’ for the Skys; and, for the Sophies, Costi took ‘Angeleyes’, Doc ‘The Name of the Game’ and Bowdler ‘Dancing Queen’.
As the judges retired to make their decision, Craymer begged them: “Please make the right choice!” And I think they did, based on what we saw, but the standard was so high that there was general agreement that none would look out of place on a West End stage.
If there was a surprise, then ArtsEd graduate Bowdler, the only one of the sextet to have figured in the bottom two in a previous round and who had got herself in a bit of a state last week, was the one who provided it. Initially short of confidence after two years of being rejected at auditions and fearful that at 5ft 11 she was too tall for Sophie, Bowdler raised her game significantly, making a pared-down ‘Dancing Queen’ more of a ballad but a pleasing one even if she was uncertain on some notes. One judge said she looked “a goddess” while another said “We believe in you more than you believe in yourself”. And Craymer was heard to say in the background: “I like her determination. Sophie is very determined.”
With versatile perfectionist Costi not doing herself full justice with an underpowered ‘Angeleyes’, struggling vocally to begin with, she was the one to go, saying: “I’m absolutely gutted. Sophie was my dream part.” Never mind, Steph, you have talent to spare and will have gone into plenty of agents’ notebooks.
There was never a doubt in my mind that perky Doc would make the final. Barks called her “the most natural actor” in the group, adding: “I fall in love with you a little more each time I see you.” And Riley called her “such an honest performer”.
Although not the best singer, the Scots lass more than makes up for it with her vivacity and the chemistry she conjures up with her partners. Her ‘Shallow’ with Johnston in round four was fine teamwork and it will take a top-form Bowdler to beat her.
Sky is a hard one to solve as Johnston and Turley are both first class but bring different gifts to the party. Johnston has a romantic gentleness about his voice and personality that is most appealing. His choice of the beautiful ‘When All is Said and Done’ – how those ABBA chappies could write a song – was perfect for him. One judge called it “a really clever” performance. Could it be significant that Craymer, who knows exactly what she’s looking for, was heard to say “magical”?
Turley, whose ‘All That Jazz’ with Doc was the highlight of week five in a crackerjack of a competition (let’s have one of these once a year please, ITV!), is all action, the full package, a good mover with a very commercial voice who can act. What’s not to like? He just edges it for me – and the panel were mighty impressed too, Barks saying “Every single week he has improved” and “I saw Sky tonight” while judge Ware weighed in with “very, very good – and at last I saw sexiness!”
Earlier we had seen the couples paired up in a wedding scene workshop with scripts they had written themselves – writing not a strong point with some of them – and ‘Father’ Alan Carr marrying them in the local chapel
But come Sunday it will be all down to the public and we know from past experience that talent comes third behind fan appeal and the “journey” with them. Only two weeks ago it was the Strictly voters who subjected arguably the most dazzling celebrity in the show’s history, Layton Williams, to a dance-off. Luckily sanity prevailed and the Everybody’s Talking About Jamie star bounced back with the first 40-point maximum of the year. Even so, with only two weeks to go, he’s still a big outsider – and the bookies rarely get it wrong.
Luckily, whoever wins the Mamma Mia! ticket will do a good job. I get the impression that Craymer’s preference would be Johnston and Doc who worked so convincingly and sounded so good together. And she is a lady who usually gets what she wants because the reputation of a brilliant, bombproof show is at stake. We shall see…
It was tough seeing the ultra-reliable Watson lose out so we can’t have an all-Scottish Sophie and Sky but in schmoozing around the panel at the start of ‘Take a Chance On Me’, he got a sweet, saucy response from the irrepressible Carr: “I loved it when you flirted with me but when you did it with everyone else, I didn’t feel so special!” Solid every week, the man from Perthshire did everything well without quite having the charisma of the two who knocked him out and as two young songwriters wrote almost half a century ago ‘the winner takes it all’. Time for the winners to take it all now – bring it on, guys!
Jeremy Chapman
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