Any Dream Will Do - Twelve Finalists Become Eleven

There was a touch of Deja vu this evening when Andrew Lloyd Webber returned to Saturday evenings on BBC1 in search of a new star to grace the West End stage.

In a similar format to the immensely popular "How do you Solve a Problem like Maria" search for a new Maria Von Trapp, the latest search is for Joseph and the programme is "Any Dream will do". The Maria programme found Connie Fisher, who continues to amaze and wow "The Sound of Music" audiences at the London Palladium. This time a new Joseph will be found to appear in a forthcoming West End production of "Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat".

Graham Norton was on hand to manage the proceedings and offer his timely asides and facial smirks and expressions, which nicely fill in any continuity gaps. But in a change from the previous series, this time the twelve finalists sang and performed a range of songs, which enabled them to demonstrate more than simply a vocal performance.

The chosen songs were a pleasing and entertaining mix and most of the twelve finalists did themselves justice. Rob the Builder started the show with a fabulous, rousing version of "Summer of 69" closely followed by recent Phantom of the Opera understudy Lee, who gave "Mack the Knife" a very credible rendition.

Lewis fared less well with "Faith" and his performance disappointed several of the judges too who commented he had more to give then was evident. His friend Ben may have been the judges last choice for the finals but this version of "Johnny B Good" soon had them firmly on his side although at times he was incoherent and struggled with diction.

25 year old Craig Crosby sang "Try a little Tenderness". Craig was nervous for his performance and it showed. His vocals were OK but the rest of his movements and performance pedestrian at times. Johndeep cut out the running around giving instead earnest solid vocals on "If there's any justice".

Seamus Cullen may be the oldest in the contest at 35 but the judges universally praised his solid vocals on "I still haven't found what I'm looking for" and there was something lacking in his performance. Can he act and perform as well as sing? Time will tell on that one. The youngest in the contest is Antony Hanson who at 17 years of age has had to defer his "A" levels in order to participate. He may not have had the best vocals on the night, but his version of " I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" certainly delivered the extra something that some of the others lacked.

Chris Crosby sang "This love" competently but again his performance paled in comparison to others. 28-year-old Daniel however certainly gave his audience something when he sang, "You give me Something". A fabulous credible performance and he looks very at home on the stage.

Chris Barton, he of the bleached teeth, performed "Walking in Memphis" well within his comfort zone and showed what a positive performer he is although the stair rail wobbled a little too much when he leant against it!

And finally Keith Jack, former Tesco's trolley boy, and no doubt easy on the eye for younger female viewers, sang " Crazy Little Thing called Love". His vocals sounded reasonably solid although he appeared to struggle with the pace and diction at times, but his performance needed more polish.

In the finale. Chris Crosby and Ben had received the fewest number of votes and in the sing off of "Bridge Over Troubled Water", Ben eclipsed his rival, with a gritty determined performance.

With no Helena Blackman around this year, Andrew Lloyd Webber chose to save Ben.

Roll on next week! Great entertainment and the additions to the judging panel of Bill Kenwright and Denise Van Outen joining stalwarts John Barrowman and Zoë are an enormous improvement on the absent David Ian.

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