{"id":592,"date":"2010-04-06T15:17:09","date_gmt":"2010-04-06T14:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/?p=592"},"modified":"2010-04-06T16:50:16","modified_gmt":"2010-04-06T15:50:16","slug":"how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-lloyd-webber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/2010\/04\/06\/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-lloyd-webber\/","title":{"rendered":"How do you solve a problem like Lloyd Webber ?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The full, commercial horror of the Lloyd Webber \/ Graham Norton Juggernaut has finally struck\u00a0me this week.<\/p>\n

Following on from the success of \u2018How do you solve a problem like Maria ?<\/em><\/a>\u2019 in 2006, where young hopefuls competed on national television to take the role of Maria, the series \u2018Who will be the next worthy Dorothy ?\u2019 (or something similar) is currently in full flight (\u2018Over the Rainbow<\/em><\/a>\u2019 \u2013 see what they did there ?), with similar youngsters competing to be the next Dorothy in the forthcoming Lloyd Webber-backed Wizard of Oz<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Connie<\/a>
And the winner is ... ?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When The Sound of Music<\/em> opened, I\u2019m sure a lot of people flocked to the show,\u00a0 in order to see in the flesh the former call-centre girl, Connie Fisher<\/a>, who won the television contest and became Maria in the production. The television programme regularly attracted around six million viewers each week. There\u2019s a real fascination in seeing people live that you\u2019ve seen on television: the same phenomenon surrounded the RSC production of Hamlet<\/em> in 2008, in which David Tennant was playing the Dane<\/a>, fresh from saving the universe each week as Doctor Who.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You can see a pattern emerging here:\u00a0the series isn\u2019t about television entertainment, or the chance for one young wannabee to be\u00a0rescued from obscurity and cast into a glittering and well-deserved career. It\u2019s not even about giving the national population some input into the show (viewers can vote for their own favourite in the form of a \u2018wild card,\u2019 voting to rescue a contestant who has been knocked out by the panel of judges).\u00a0<\/p>\n

No: it\u2019s about cashing in on the tie-in between the hysteria surrounding the show and the lucrative ticket sales that will be generated by the theatre show following on from the television series. It\u2019s all faintly nauseating: Lloyd Webber sitting on a golden throne like some sort of benevolent deity, tearful young girls earnestly describing their commitment to the show: \u2018We eat, breathe and sleep Dorothy all the time now,\u2019\u00a0gushed one contestant recently. The Sound of Music<\/em> opened scarcely four weeks after Fisher won the series: hype needs to be translated into ticket sales quickly, or the momentum is lost.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And before anyone leaps up to reach through the screen and poke me in the eye, yelling \u2018It\u2019s just television: it\u2019s just entertainment!\u2019 I know it is: Saturday night television along the lines of X Factor<\/em>, Pop Idol<\/em> or Strictly Come Dancing<\/em> is at its heart just entertainment. But there\u2019s perhaps a cynical cashing-in by the \u2018Dorothy\u2019 series that leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In fairness, though, 14 pence from each telephone vote is going to a fund to support the arts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cynical hype-to-cash-generating merry-go-round, or top television entertainment: where do you stand on it all ?<\/p>\n