462 posts
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Post by djdan14 on Jun 22, 2017 11:24:36 GMT
Well he is associated with Jacamo....
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Post by theatremadness on Jun 22, 2017 11:26:47 GMT
I can see it looks odd casting because of what he used to do but is casting a cricketer (who can sing according to the article) any different from casting Sam Bailey, Alexandra Burke, Beverley Knight, Kimberley Walsh, Philip Schofield, Graham Norton etc in leading roles in shows? Hmm, maybe, but I don't 100% buy that! The article doesn't actually say he *can* sing, it says that the director and composer agreed that his voice was "perfect for the role". Who knows what that means! Strong and stable, anyone?? (obviously a ridiculous comparison, but perfect for entertainment purposes!). Whilst I would put Flintoff in the same category as Philip Schofield (though he is in the entertainment profession) and Graham Norton (who actually wasn't great, so lessons should have been learnt, but still at least went to the Central School of Speech & Drama), at least the others you mentioned, whilst still not ideal, are at least known for their singing, which by association should at least come with a bit of acting. Sometimes even the famous 'singers' can't act and are crap, so I just don't understand how this cricketer with a slight personality is suddenly the perfect leading man they've been searching for all their lives.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2017 11:30:10 GMT
Yes. All the people you've described are either singers or full time performers/entertainers. This is especially true for the singers, who already tick half of the box for being able to sing. Huge difference. Fairy nuff. According to the article, Andrew Flintoff can sing so if he ends up being able to act as well he's already better equipped than Alexandra Burke, Beverley Knight and Graham Norton for starters.
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2,452 posts
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Post by theatremadness on Jun 22, 2017 11:37:31 GMT
Yes. All the people you've described are either singers or full time performers/entertainers. This is especially true for the singers, who already tick half of the box for being able to sing. Huge difference. Fairy nuff. According to the article, Andrew Flintoff can sing so if he ends up being able to act as well he's already better equipped than Alexandra Burke, Beverley Knight and Graham Norton for starters. And here I was thinking you'd be far more cynical than to believe an article from WoS that says Freddie Flintoff can sing (though it doesn't really...) Or are you excited about seeing Freddie Flintoff in the flesh? How many retraining orders can be given against one person?! I jest, of course!!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2017 11:46:51 GMT
And here I was thinking you'd be far more cynical than to believe an article from WoS that says Freddie Flintoff can sing (though it doesn't really...) Or are you excited about seeing Freddie Flintoff in the flesh? How many retraining orders can be given against one person?! I jest, of course!! Haha! Oh no! I think Freddie is safe. There's more than a touch of the chipmunk about him that I find a little off-putting.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2017 12:05:37 GMT
Very random and bizarre casting, yet slightly intrigued. I usually am one for celeb casting if they can do the job or at least kill it with the singing so you forget the fact they are not so great in the acting. But we don't know him as an actor or singer so, who knows what is going to occur!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2017 12:06:42 GMT
He's done his Elvis impersonation a few times on A League of Their Own amd its not bad. He can definitely carry a tune. But wether he can sing in a style other than Elvis remains to be seen.
Maybe they've written a character who is an Elvis fan!
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7,534 posts
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Post by alece10 on Jun 22, 2017 13:40:06 GMT
Well he can definitely sing and in tune. He has done it several times on tv.I have a feeling he won't be half bad
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2,452 posts
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Post by theatremadness on Jun 22, 2017 14:18:41 GMT
I might be defeating my own point here, but I almost don't even care if he ends up being good. I'm just really pissed that musical theatre casting has come to this. He ain't even fat!!
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18,837 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jun 22, 2017 14:26:21 GMT
What's the betting there will be a scene where his clothes come off, giving the drunken audience an opportunity to show themselves up further.
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18,837 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jun 22, 2017 14:30:31 GMT
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183 posts
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Post by sirdaniel on Jun 22, 2017 15:00:13 GMT
I detest all sports on all levels but I really do like Freddie Flintoff. However this is truely bizarre and I can't quite believe it's true....BUT I just can't wait to go and watch it.
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183 posts
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Post by sirdaniel on Jun 22, 2017 15:00:52 GMT
Also, just two hours or so after this was confirmed this morning, the BBC announced that he's starring in Kay Mellor's new drama too. What's he got on her?!
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806 posts
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Post by duncan on Jun 22, 2017 15:18:41 GMT
Gaynor Faye in his cellar.
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2,150 posts
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Post by richey on Jun 22, 2017 16:06:26 GMT
What's the betting there will be a scene where his clothes come off, giving the drunken audience an opportunity to show themselves up further. damn you've sussed my plans already
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jun 22, 2017 16:15:32 GMT
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7,534 posts
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Post by alece10 on Jun 22, 2017 18:39:59 GMT
I might be defeating my own point here, but I almost don't even care if he ends up being good. I'm just really pissed that musical theatre casting has come to this. He ain't even fat!! Well he does his own range of clothes at Jacamo which is for fatties like me so cam be an honourary fat person.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2017 18:41:54 GMT
Every fat friend has an honorary thin friend.
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1,330 posts
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Post by CG on the loose on Jun 23, 2017 11:29:58 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2017 11:52:35 GMT
Ooh Prenger Vs Sheen...handbags at dawn!!
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2,452 posts
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Post by theatremadness on Jun 23, 2017 12:27:54 GMT
As much as I am a fan of Jodie Prenger, she is missing the point entirely that he is not just 'starting somewhere' or is a 'new talent', he simply would not have been offered the part, or probably been even slightly considered, if he wasn't 'Freddie Flintoff'.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2017 12:33:19 GMT
Exactly. And the kind of talent shows she points to usually attract a cohort who are trained/in training or have done some time on the amatuer/fringes. Hell at the very least most X Factor wanabees have sung in the local pub. It's the fact that a man from the world of sport appears to be walking into a role that could have gone to an experienced actor.
All that aside, is Cricket fans a demographic that's going to lead to mass ticket sales?!
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1,330 posts
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Post by CG on the loose on Jun 23, 2017 12:37:55 GMT
I can't really imagine that many cricket fans would want to go and see Flintoff on stage anyway - cricket fans who are already theatre fans, sure, but otherwise? Surely they like him (if they do) for his cricket, and perhaps his personality, neither of which will (in theory) be in evidence as he plays a role in a musical.
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Post by TallPaul on Jun 23, 2017 12:45:53 GMT
Even makes today's Times, albeit page 17:
"The former England captain has been signed up to appear in Fat Friends after his singing bowled over the organisers." (It must have taken literally seconds to come up with that pun, and since when are musicals organised?)
"Nicholas Lloyd Webber, the musical's composer, said he was thrilled to have Freddie on board. 'He immediately really impressed us in our audition,' he said"...'Our starting XI is now nothing short of sensational.'"
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Post by duncan on Jun 23, 2017 13:13:29 GMT
I can't really imagine that many cricket fans would want to go and see Flintoff on stage anyway - cricket fans who are already theatre fans, sure, but otherwise? Surely they like him (if they do) for his cricket, and perhaps his personality, neither of which will (in theory) be in evidence as he plays a role in a musical.
I think its far more likely to be a success in the musical area than if they were dropping him in alongside Nigel Havers in the Art tour. I still think its wrong mind you.
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Post by johartuk on Jun 23, 2017 14:15:03 GMT
As much as I am a fan of Jodie Prenger, she is missing the point entirely that he is not just 'starting somewhere' or is a 'new talent', he simply would not have been offered the part, or probably been even slightly considered, if he wasn't 'Freddie Flintoff'. She's also missing the point that Daniel Boys didn't 'start out' in Any Dream Will Do - he was already a professional performer, with training and experience under his belt when he auditioned for ADWD. Given that Jodie also got her 'break' through a casting show (with at least two 'seasoned theatre pros' and 'experienced singer' Jodie amongst those who made the live I'd Do Anything shows), you'd think she'd realise that many of those who auditioned for, and made, the live stages of these shows, weren't novices. In fact one of the things that was stated numerous times on the casting shows was how hard it was for an unknown performer to make the leap from understudy to principal/lead role - and that's mainly because producers tend to cast 'names' to get bums on seats! The casting of Flintoff takes 'name casting'/'stunt casting' to a whole new level! What next? Ed Balls as the Phantom, with Ann Widdicombe as Christine? Jessica Ennis-Hill as Elphaba? Mo Farah as Lola in Kinky Boots? Lewis Hamilton in...er... Hamilton?
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Post by alece10 on Jun 23, 2017 14:21:01 GMT
As much as I am a fan of Jodie Prenger, she is missing the point entirely that he is not just 'starting somewhere' or is a 'new talent', he simply would not have been offered the part, or probably been even slightly considered, if he wasn't 'Freddie Flintoff'. She's also missing the point that Daniel Boys didn't 'start out' in Any Dream Will Do - he was already a professional performer, with training and experience under his belt when he auditioned for ADWD. Given that Jodie also got her 'break' through a casting show (with at least two 'seasoned theatre pros' and 'experienced singer' Jodie amongst those who made the live I'd Do Anything shows), you'd think she'd realise that many of those who auditioned for, and made, the live stages of these shows, weren't novices. In fact one of the things that was stated numerous times on the casting shows was how hard it was for an unknown performer to make the leap from understudy to principal/lead role - and that's mainly because producers tend to cast 'names' to get bums on seats! The casting of Flintoff takes 'name casting'/'stunt casting' to a whole new level! What next? Ed Balls as the Phantom, with Ann Widdicombe as Christine? Jessica Ennis-Hill as Elphaba? Mo Farah as Lola in Kinky Boots? Lewis Hamilton in...er... Hamilton? Yes but do we know if any of the celebrities you have mentioned can sing? We do know that Freddie Flintoff can sing and is pretty good at it. Well certainly as far as Elvis songs go.
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Post by theatremadness on Jun 23, 2017 14:36:28 GMT
She's also missing the point that Daniel Boys didn't 'start out' in Any Dream Will Do - he was already a professional performer, with training and experience under his belt when he auditioned for ADWD. Yes, absolutely! A point Daniel Boys even tried to make to Jodie himself on twitter, but to no avail. As for We do know that Freddie Flintoff can sing and is pretty good at it. Well, from the clip Burly posted earlier in this thread and from the Elvis clip I've seen, in my opinion, that is a gross, gross overstatement. What I would say is that "Freddie Flintoff can hold a tune and is pretty good at singing an Elvis song....for Freddie Flintoff". Not "Wow, what a voice that Freddie Flintoff has, better than any trained voice I've ever heard, let's get him as the lead in our brand new musical because he's so bloody brilliant definitely not because he's Freddie Flintoff". The level of expectation for Freddie Flintoff being a good singer is 0%, right? So when he sings, and is pretty mediocre to OK, certainly much worse than anyone who actually would claim to be a singer, it actually makes him seem far better than he really is, because the expectation is so low. This is the problem. He'll appear to be "good" because everyone expects him to be bad and he may slightly exceed those expectations, when in fact he's still actually pretty bad. Of course I'm not in any way suggesting that's what you were saying, alece10, I just think we have to be realistic about it. I'll say again, even if he turns out to be OK to good, that's still not good enough for me, because then it'll be a case of "Wow we weren't expecting that" and then the creative team can say "See, this is why we cast him!", when really they just got bloody lucky. Why, when you already have 'names' in a cast, could they not simply have just cast someone who would have reliably played the role with no question marks surrounding their ability. This will probably be the understudy. Putting Freddie Flintoff in a musical when you already have Jodie Prenger & Sam Bailey just seems like you're putting together a cast for a Panto to me, and totally screams that the creative team & producers have absolutely no faith what-so-ever in the quality of this new musical. Whilst I'm sure Fat Friends the Musical will be no piece of high-art, it really does make a laughing stock of the industry.
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Post by duncan on Jun 23, 2017 15:00:10 GMT
I can see the Flintoff casting working, I mean Chicago seemed to have some very odd casting decisions in its West End Run but by that time it was a known and popular show.
I can see Flintoff working in a show like Jackie - The Musical where a lot of the audience are there for a sing a long to the hits of the 70s/80s/90s.
I struggle to see Flintoff working in a show with an unknown score based on a TV show from 15 years ago that a lot of people have forgotten about. They are essentially selling the show on "Andrew Flintoff" rather than the music, lyrics, book, direction, design, name of the show, etc etc etc.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2017 15:25:53 GMT
It was a bit of leftfield casting with Andrew Flintoff. I'm a big cricket fan and he was a fantastic player plus he did lose a fair amount of weight in the early 2000's so I can see the logic of him in something like this. But he has never acted before not even in panto which fellow cricketer Sir Ian Botham did for a number of years.
I would not make too much issue with Sam and Jodie coming from TV talent/casting shows. Jodie has played a large number of roles over the last few years and has carried one person shows to good success and like Sam this is a natural for this type of show. Elaine C. Smith will bring humour to the show too.
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