Any Dream Will Do, was a 2007 talent show-themed television series produced by the BBC in the United Kingdom. It searched for a new, unknown lead to play Joseph in a West End revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
The show was hosted by Graham Norton, who announced Lee Mead as the winner of the final public telephone vote on 9 June 2007.
It was the second West-End talent show to be produced by the BBC/Andrew Lloyd Webber, after How Do You Solve a Problem like Maria?. Further talent shows in the series have aired, with I'd Do Anything running in 2008 and Over the Rainbow which ran in April/May 2010.
Lloyd Webber, Zoë Tyler & John Barrowman returned as panelists and Graham Norton returned to host the show.
A similar format has been used as well in The Netherlands in 2008, with the show Op zoek naar Joseph (Looking for Joseph) taking an unknown singer and placing the winner in the lead role for the 2009 performances in The Netherlands. On 26 October 2008, Freek Bartels was announced the winner of the show.
Format Commissioned after the success of the similar BBC series How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?, the series followed the same format to find a new, unknown lead for a revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The series was named after the song from the musical, "Any Dream Will Do".
Expert panel
David Ian did not appear on this show and was replaced by Bill Kenwright.
An expert panel provided advice to the contestants throughout the series, and provided comments during the live shows. As they appeared on screen from right to left, the panel was made up of: Zoë Tyler, vocal coach to the contestants (vocal coach, singer and performer) Bill Kenwright (theatre producer and co-producer of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Adelphi Theatre) Denise Van Outen (musical theatre actress and television presenter) who later went on to date and marry winner Lee Mead. John Barrowman (musical theatre and television actor) Andrew Lloyd Webber, head judge and composer of Joseph. Presenter Graham Norton referred to him differently each week, mostly using variations of "Lord" phrases. When he was announced as part of the expert panel, the chandeliers behind him flashed and a few bars from The Phantom of the Opera rang out. Usually, Lloyd Webber showed mock embarrassment or surprise, while Barrowman and Van Outen feigned either fright or worship of him.
Auditions The first week of the show documented the initial auditions where 100 hopefuls, from thousands, were called back to London. This was further whittled down by the panel of judges to 50 contestants who would enter Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Joseph School". However, two additional entrants were selected over this 50 contestant limit after they went to Lloyd Webber's personal studio for a second audition.
In the second week, the 52 individuals selected attended "Joseph School" where the coaches worked on singing, acting and choreography with the contestants. Former Joseph actor Jason Donovan, amongst others, visited to lend his advice and support for them. On the second day, one contestant left the competition, 23 were eliminated and only 28 remained. On the third day, another eight men were eliminated, leaving only 20 contestants in the competition. These men were taken to Lloyd Webber's castle in Ireland, where they performed live in front of a packed house of locals and industry professionals including Louis Walsh. The best 12 were then taken through to the live studio finals.
Finalists
Twelve potential Josephs were chosen, each wearing a unique coloured coat. At the end of every live show, the Joseph who was eliminated had his coat stripped off whilst singing a song of farewell (a combination of "Poor, Poor Joseph" and "Close Every Door to Me").
Finalist Age From Coat Colour StatusChris Crosby 18NottinghamBurgundy Eliminated 1st in Week 1Johndeep More 23BirminghamLime green Eliminated 2nd in Week 2Antony Hansen 17Abingdon, OxonPastel blue Eliminated 3rd in Week 3Seamus Cullen 35LondonGreen Eliminated 4th in Week 3Chris Barton 20OrmskirkLilac Eliminated 5th in Week 4Robert "Rob" McVeigh 23RotherhamTurquoise Eliminated 6th in Week 5Daniel Boys 28LondonPurple Eliminated 7th in Week 6Craig Chalmers 25EdinburghDark blue Eliminated 8th in Week 7Ben Ellis 18ScarboroughOrange Eliminated 9th in Week 8Lewis Bradley 17MiddlesbroughLight blue Eliminated 10th in Week 9Keith Jack 19MidlothianYellow Runner-upLee Mead 25Southend-on-SeaRed Winner
Results summary Colour key –Contestant was in the bottom two and who was saved after the sing off –Contestant was eliminated after the sing off –Contestant who received the most public votes
+Weekly results per contestant Contestant Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Final Part 1 Part 2 Part 1 Part 2 Lee Mead 2nd 1st 1st 1st 3rd 2nd 1st 1st 1st 1st Winner(week 9) Keith Jack 5th 3rd 3rd 2nd 1st 1st 3rd 2nd 2nd 2nd Runner-up(week 9) Lewis Bradley 4th 4th 4th 4th 5th 6th 5th 3rd 3rd 3rd Eliminated(week 9) Ben Ellis 11th 9th 7th 8th 6th 4th 2nd 5th 4th Eliminated(week 8) Craig Chalmers 10th 7th 10th 6th 7th 3rd 4th 4th Eliminated(week 7) Daniel Boys 1st 2nd 2nd 3rd 2nd 5th 6th Eliminated(week 6) Rob McVeigh 7th 5th 5th 5th 4th 7th Eliminated(week 5) Chris Barton 3rd 11th 6th 7th 8th Eliminated(week 4) Seamus Cullen 6th 8th 8th 9th Eliminated(week 3) Antony Hansen 8th 6th 9th Eliminated(week 3) Johndeep More 9th 10th Eliminated(week 2) Chris Crosby 12th Eliminated(week 1)
Live shows The 12 finalists, (or "Josephs"), were announced on 7 April 2007, with the live studio finals starting a week later. Each week the "Josephs" were set various singing and performing tasks. They were introduced with clips summarising their past week before performing a solo song and hearing comments from the panel. Each week they also performed two group songs, one from Joseph at the start of each show, and one after the solo performances. All the performances were live in front of a studio audience, with a live band headed by Nigel Wright and backing singers.
Every week, a Joseph was eliminated from the competition. The public got a chance to vote for their favourite Joseph by calling in after all the finalists' solo performances. The two Josephs with the fewest votes in a given week performed a sing-off in front of Lloyd Webber, who then decided which contestant to keep, based upon how well he felt that contender would fill the Joseph role. The eliminated Joseph then performed "Poor, Poor Joseph/Close Every Door" together with the remaining Josephs, as his grand exit song, symbolically handing back his dreamcoat.
Week 1 (14 April 2007) Theme-No1s Group performances: "Any Dream Will Do" "Luck Be a Lady" (from Guys and Dolls)
+ Contestants' performances on the first live show Contestant Performance Pair Order Song Result Rob McVeigh Pair 1 1 "Summer of '69" Safe Lee Mead 2 "Mack the Knife" Safe Lewis Bradley Pair 2 3 "Faith" Safe Ben Ellis 4 "Johnny B. Goode" Bottom two Craig Chalmers Pair 3 5 "Try a Little Tenderness" Safe Johndeep More 6 "If There's Any Justice" Safe Seamus Cullen Pair 4 7 "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" Safe Antony Hansen 8 "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" Safe Chris Crosby Pair 5 9 "This Love" Bottom two Daniel Boys 10 "You Give Me Something" Safe Chris Barton Pair 6 11 "Walking in Memphis" Safe Keith Jack 12 "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" Safe
Panel's verdict on who was not Joseph John Barrowman: Craig Chalmers Denise Van Outen: Craig Chalmers Bill Kenwright: Chris Crosby Zoe Tyler: Antony Hansen
Sing-off:
+ Act Sing Off Song Results Ben Ellis "Bridge over Troubled Water" Saved by Lloyd Webber Chris Crosby Eliminated
Week 2 (21 April 2007) Theme: Pop Classics Group performances: "Jacob & Sons/Joseph's Coat" "Pinball Wizard" (The Who) Mission: Coming on stage at a McFly concert
+ Contestants' performances on the second live show Contestant Performance Pair Order Song Result Daniel Boys Pair 1 1 "Since U Been Gone" Safe Craig Chalmers 2 "Home" Safe Keith Jack Pair 2 3 "Who Am I" Safe Seamus Cullen 4 "Being Alive" Safe Ben Ellis Solo Performance 5 "All by Myself" Safe Johndeep More Pair 3 6 "Something's Coming" Bottom two Chris Barton 7 "I'll Be There" Bottom two Rob McVeigh Pair 4 8 "Piano Man" Safe Antony Hansen 9 "Light My Fire" Safe Lewis Bradley Pair 5 10 "Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word" Safe Lee Mead 11 "Bad Day" Safe
Panel's verdict on who was not Joseph John Barrowman: Johndeep More Denise Van Outen: Ben Ellis Bill Kenwright: Johndeep More Zoe Tyler: Ben Ellis
Sing-off:
+ Act Sing Off Song Results Johndeep Moore "Let It Be". Eliminated Chris Barton Saved by Lloyd Webber
Week 3 (28 April 2007)
In a double elimination, two Josephs were voted off the series. Theme-Mixed Music Group performances: "Go, Go, Go Joseph" "One Vision" (Queen) Mission: Singing "Pharaoh's Dream Explained" from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat to their mothers in a loin cloth.
+ Contestants' performances on the third live show Contestant Performance Pair Order Song Results Part 1 Results Part 2 Seamus Cullen Pair 1 1 "Start Me Up" Safe Bottom two Lewis Bradley 2 "I Saw Her Standing There" Safe Safe Rob McVeigh Pair 2 3 "Oh, Pretty Woman" Safe Safe Antony Hansen 4 "Patience" Bottom two Chris Barton Pair 3 5 "Tell Her About It" Safe Safe Ben Ellis 6 "Life Is a Rollercoaster" Safe Bottom two Daniel Boys Pair 4 7 "The Lady Is a Tramp" Safe Safe Lee Mead 8 "I Don't Want to Talk About It" Safe Safe Keith Jack Pair 5 9 "Crocodile Rock" Safe Safe Craig Chalmers 10 "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" Bottom two Safe
Panel's verdict on who was Joseph John Barrowman: Daniel Boys Denise Van Outen: Daniel Boys Bill Kenwright: Lee Mead Zoe Tyler: Keith Jack
Sing-off 1:
+ Act Sing Off Song Results Antony Hansen "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" Eliminated Craig Chalmers Saved by Lloyd Webber
Panel's verdict on who was not Joseph John Barrowman: Rob McVeigh Denise Van Outen: Chris Barton Bill Kenwright: Rob McVeigh Zoe Tyler: Craig Chalmers
Sing-off 2:
+ Act Sing Off Song Results Seamus Cullen "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" Eliminated Ben Ellis Saved by Lloyd Webber
Notes: Upon being asked whether he was surprised that he was being sent home, Seamus said: "The words 'conspiracy theory' are going through my head" (Although he later implied he may have been joking). Then, during his farewell song, he changed the line "I have been promised a land of my own" to "I have been promised a of my own."
Week 4 (5 May 2007) Theme-Decades Group performances: "Song of the King" "Dead Ringer For Love" (Meat Loaf) Mission: Climbing the barricade and singing "Do You Hear The People Sing" from the musical Les Misérables
+ Contestants' performances on the fourth live show Contestant Performance Pair Order Song Decade Results Ben Ellis Pair 1 1 "Addicted to Love" 1980s Safe Craig Chalmers 2 "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" 1970s Bottom two Lee Mead Pair 2 3 "All Right Now" 1970s Safe Keith Jack 4 "Love Is All Around" 1960s Safe Lewis Bradley Pair 3 5 "Dancing in the Moonlight" 2000s Safe Rob McVeigh 6 "Back for Good" 1990s Safe Chris Barton Pair 4 7 "All Night Long" 1980s Bottom two Daniel Boys 8 "All About You" 2000s Safe
Panel's verdict on who was not Joseph John Barrowman: Lewis Bradley Denise Van Outen: Rob McVeigh Bill Kenwright: Chris Barton Or Rob McVeigh Zoe Tyler: Lee Mead
Sing-off:
+ Act Sing Off Song Results Craig Chalmers "The Long and Winding Road" Saved by Lloyd Webber Chris Barton Eliminated
Notes: Prior to the farewell song, Graham Norton asked Chris who he thought was going to win the competition; Chris chose Lewis.
Week 5 (12 May 2007)
Group performances: "One More Angel in Heaven" "You Really Got Me" (The Kinks) Mission: Practising being aggressive with John Barrowman