Congrats to Derek Keeling for not only doing well in the voting, but turning in a strong performance in a song-and-dance number in tonight's show. He was picked at the end of the show as the favorite of two of the four judges - one of whom was someone who knows a little bit about the theatre - Andrew Lloyd Webber! Impressive!
I can't say I'm crazy about the elimination method the show uses. The bottom four vote-getters (two males and two females) have a "sing-off" where they take turns singing lines from a song - then the judges decide which male and female to send home. Uh, why bother having people vote if you're just going to overturn their choice? One assumes this is to keep the audience from sending home the wrong person - or perhaps it's an attempt to make the show different from "America Idol" - but it seems to defeat the purpose of having a vote.
5 comments:
Couldn't agree with you more about the sing-off. The hosts keep telling us that "it's up to you," but it really isn't...
I don't know. "So You Think You Can Dance," brought to us by the same folks to give us "American Idol," uses a similar format, doesn't it?
Leaving everything up to the public gives us Camile Velasco and Scott Savol, while having a judge make the only decision is like a certain stale show known as "The Apprentice."
I think Jim has a great point - either method has its hazards (or is your point "We can't win for losing?"). ;-)
But like Angela says, it's not really fair to make it sound like our votes will decide the competition when they have the final word. Of course, when you get down to it, how do we know they're giving us the real results? I think shows like this should release the vote totals after the final show of the season so we can see how close the votes were (I especially apply this to "American Idol"). We never know if our favorite lost by 10 votes or a million. But I won't hold my breath waiting for that to happen.
Hey Chuck,
I like the sing off where the artistic/producing staff gets the final say. After all we are talking about at least a 10 million investment in a Broadway show. It can takes years for a successful show to even break even. I'd want to retain some control if I were spending that kind of money. The two who were voted off last night were exactly right. While likable, neither of them had the goods when it came to vocals (as a matter of fact he was REALLY bad) and yet they were not the bottom two vote getters last week. Getting a lead in a Broadway show should not be a popularity contest. You and I have both had the experience where we personally love an individual who is auditioning and yet he or she isn't the best for the role. I think "You're the One That I Want" is making a good compromise between letting the public choose and making sure the show gets the best leads possible from an artistic standpoint. Oh, by the way..."High School Musical"? Seriously?
Oh, I understand that the producers would want control over who finally lands the part - but they're also getting a tremendous amount of publicity out of the show, and they might undermine that by this "You get to choose the winner - but not really" method. I agree that the ones voted off weren't up to the job - but there are several in the top tier of talent on the show who could handle the roles.
And yes, "High School Musical." Seriously! ;-)
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