theTHEATREaddict here with another TV related post:
I only had the chance to watch the first hour of NBC’s “Grease: You’re The One That I Want”. I was very much looking forward to this Broadway showcase but the hour I saw fell flatter than the worse community theatre production of Grease. The need to just rip off American Idol is the show’s largest failing. Was it me or did some of the theme music sound like American Idol strums? American Idol has found a way to make their auditions seem real and not staged. Yes they audition the people with little talent to make good television but what makes those people entertaining is there commitment and true attempt to try. I felt last night the “bad” people were nothing more than an immature cruel joke. The audition of the hard of hearing, unattractive, larger older woman was just plain nasty. If the producers were trying to set up their William Hung they failed miserably. People fell in love with him for his honesty and determination their stunt was just sad and lame. That goes for the two larger women they sent on to the dance call. Come on, this is a Broadway casting call for the role of Sandy not Tracy Turnblad. Everybody knows that, putting them on TV and then through to the dance call is cruel unless you are seriously considering them. This “Broadway” panel lost all credibility when they started doing that. I can understand telling those people maybe we’ll consider you for Rizzo, off camera, but we all know those people are being set up for massive disappointment. They won’t put them through for America to vote because if they do America will vote for them and this panel is not about to let that happen.
Billy Bush needs to have his co-star West End performer Denise Van Outen on more. Is it just me or is she not the perfect Sandy! Billy’s laughing off stage at auditions and trying to have someone re-audition was just so obnoxious. Again this very experienced panel deferred to a second rate tv host.
I also thought some of the people they put through wouldn’t have cut it in my high school productions. Are they just hoping none of these people can dance? This show has a lot of work to do if it is going to make it on TV and on Broadway. I am probably not the only one wondering aloud this morning as to what happens if this show is a ratings flop. Do they go on with the show and choose the Danny and Sandy they want or take someone from the group that was to go to a vote? I still wonder what happened to all those poor contestants on ABC’s the “One – Making A Music Star”. Is it worse to be kicked off a reality show or have it cancelled…hmmmm? I will stay tuned but I am hopeful things will get better fast. 
