91Èȱ¬

Bronte Barbe's West End dream is over as she becomes the second contestant to be eliminated from 91Èȱ¬ One's Over The Rainbow.

After a public vote Bronte Barbe and Lauren Samuels were the least popular Dorothys and Andrew Lloyd Webber decided to save Lauren. So Bronte is the second Dorothy to leave the competition.

In yesterday's live show, all 10 Dorothy finalists performed solo renditions of pop songs to show viewers that they have the singing skill and sheer charisma to carry one of the most challenging roles in musical theatre.

After performing their songs and receiving feedback from Andrew Lloyd Webber and the expert panel of Sheila Hancock, Charlotte Church and John Partridge, the Dorothys faced a nervous wait for viewers to cast their votes.

On Bronte's performance, John said: "That song is about a revelation, and I felt you had that at the beginning of the song, which left you with nowhere really to go – there was no arc."

Charlotte disagreed with John, saying: "I saw it the whole way through, and felt that you got 'bigger' as the song progresses."

Sheila added: "You very nearly cracked it. We discussed that you were imagining Julie Andrews and I did think that you got the contrast between the verse and the chorus. I agree that it could have been more defined."

Andrew Lloyd Webber said: "You nearly delivered it, I think you half cracked it. I know you've got acting performance within you, I just hope you stay in the programme to see you deliver more".

Before announcing who was in the bottom two, Graham asked each panel member who "wasn't Dorothy". Sheila said: "It has to be Sophie for me." John said: "Jessica." Charlotte said: "Emilie."

Bronte and Lauren gained the least amount of public votes, and had to sing a rendition of What I Did For Love, from A Chorus Line. Then it was up to Andrew Lloyd Webber alone to choose which Dorothy should be saved for another week.

He said: "I truly am gutted with this – you were both in my top five. You are two fantastically talented girls. Both of you will go a long, long way in your careers – this is the first time, in all the shows I've done, that I just don't know. I just feel experience might count, and [for this reason] I'm going to save Lauren.

"I think, honestly, I've only made this decision based on [the] experience [Lauren has] – [to Bronte] you're a fantastically talented girl. You must keep in touch."

On hearing the announcement, Bronte said: "It has been the most amazing experience of my life. All those girls are so amazing, they deserve so much. I never wanted this experience to end but, at the end of the day, it is a competition and it's really the luck of the draw."

Safe for another week are Stephanie Davis, Lauren Samuels, Danielle Hope, Jessica Robinson, Dani Rayner, Steph Fearon, Emilie Fleming, Jenny Douglas and Sophie Evans.

The remaining hopefuls will go on to next week's show where they will again perform for the nation, who will decide who should be Dorothy in the new West End production of The Wizard Of Oz.

Notes to Editors

Dorothy solo performances:

Danielle Hope – Just A Little Girl, Amy Studt
Lauren Samuels – I'll Never Fall In Love Again, Dionne Warwick
Bronte Barbe – Suddenly I See, KT Tunstall
Jenny Douglas – Songbird, Eva Cassidy
Steph Fearon – It's Oh So Quiet, Bjork
Dani Rayner – 91Èȱ¬, Michael Buble
Sophie Evans – That Don't Impress Me Much, Shania Twain
Stephanie Davies – Smile, Nat King Cole
Jessica Robinson – The Voice Within, Christina Aguilera
Emilie Fleming – The Boy Does Nothing, Alesha Dixon

Results show:

Opening performance – It Really Was No Miracle/Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead, The Wizard Of Oz
Group performance – Musical Theatre & Pop "mash-up" – Money, Money from Cabaret and Material Girl, Madonna
Get Happy, Judy Garland
Sing-off performance – What I Did For Love from A Chorus Line
Goodbye Song – We Thank You Sweetly/Over The Rainbow

CS