‘Britain’s Got Talent’ premiere review: Arisxandra Libantino, Attraction Shadow Theater shine
We’ll be honest: going into the “Britain’s Got Talent” premiere on Saturday, we were genuinely worried. Like with the American version of the show, there is only so much genuine talent out there in the country, and there is not enough time between seasons for it to fully revitalize itself. This is exacerbated even more by the fact that most good singers will either go on “The X Factor” or “the Voice.”
Thankfully, there were at least a few great acts during this episode Saturday for us to remain consistently entertained. Of course, Simon Cowell was also quick to bash “The Voice” UK during the broadcast, waiting about nine minutes for it to happen. Isn’t the show better than this? We’re still annoyed about the fact that ITV and BBC are forcing us to pick one show or another.
The following list is not of all the contestant who appeared, but the ones who received enough screen time to actually be remembered moving forward.
2’s Country – Considering that this was the first audition of the season, you would hope that they would be good … right? Instead, this was probably the most boring and lifeless thing ever. Way to show that Britain’s talent pool is still out there many seasons in!
Patrick George – While we weren’t necessarily that sold on the gospel choir itself, we do give George some serious props for the creative way that he decided to introduce the act. He brought everyone out in sections, and acted at first almost like he was the one that was going to do all of the singing himself.
Paul Stark – We had high hopes fro this guy going in with his energy and his enthusiasm, and it instead ended up going like (spoiler alert!) Ned Stark at the end of “Game of Thrones” season 1. Ugh.
Jack Carroll – First of all, we wear the same glasses as him, so props for that! Also, comedy is probably the hardest thing to do on this show since so much of it is about rhythm and getting the time to build up your jokes. Jack was very, very funny, and while most of his jokes were mostly just about his cerebral palsy, we’d rather him have a base of good humor than being all over the place and not funny.
Sia Lord – What a weird interpretive dance this was. There may be talent here, and we’ll have to find out later on in the competition.
Martin Healey – Did we really just sit there and watch a guy dressed as a priest dance with a fake nun? This was just really awkward, and the judges of course condoned this behavior by putting him through.
Arisxandra Libantino – She’s already got a name with a creative spelling, and she also happens to have a pretty incredible voice. Her rendition of a Jennifer Hudson cover managed to make Simon Cowell happy that he showed up to work after feeling a little ill, and we have to consider her right now an early favorite to go all of the way in this competition … and may even have a career afterwards.
Keri Graham – The moment that this woman went on stage and started doing some weird dance with a chair, we thought it was going nowhere. Then, it turned out to be a ruse for some sort of raunchy chair routine that seemed perfect for burlesque theater. We don’t think there is any way that she will win or even perform at the royal variety, but “Britain’s Got Talent” always has an act like this advance. It did at least get Simon Cowell on stage long enough for David Walliams to violate him.
Marina Calabrese – Did we really need someone from Italy to come in to stereotype other countries dressed in various costumes? That’s all there is to stay there.
Attraction Shadow Theater – We have seen this sort of act before in America, but it’s new to the British competition and sure to give you a few teary eyes. It’s amazing what stories can be told with shadows, and this one was an emotional (and universal) tale of love and loss.
Alice Fredenham – After a long series of failures that were briefly featured, this 28-year old singer with stage fright helped to send the night in the right direction. Did she succeed? Sort of. There is talent here, but it was a little wild and could be honed down with some training. She got through to the next round, so now she will have time to get there.
Who was your favorite act from the premiere? Be sure to share your thoughts below, and you can also read some more news on the war between this show and “The Voice” over at the link here.
Photo: ITV