I'd Do Anything Winner to do Six Oliver! Performances a Week.

Cameron Mackintosh is reportedly playing it safe with his new West End starlet this time. After the sticky situation Webber found himself in with Connie Fisher, Mackintosh has decided to ease Jodie Prenger into the West End by scheduling her in for six out of the eight Oliver! shows a week.

In a clear statement on the official Oliver! website the production team says, "Sickness and holiday permitting, we have decided that Jodie Prenger is scheduled to perform on Monday and Tuesday evenings, Wednesday matinees, Friday evenings and both performances on Saturday. Until the show opens in December we cannot make a final decision on any additional performances."

Oliver! fans with Wednesday or Thursday tickets shouldn't worry too much just yet however as the schedule is still subject to change. A spokeswoman from Cameron Mackintosh Ltd reportedly said that its still possible that Prenger will perform all eight shows. The reduced schedule, she said, "is only a precaution as we enter the rehearsal period" This cautious approach is unsurprising because in 2006 the winner of How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? began performances with a schedule very similar to Jodie's but she quickly took on a full eight show week. Her relative inexperience combined with demanding workload rapidly took its toll on winner Connie Fisher and she was forced to take a fortnight's break from performing due to vocal strain.

Should the production team choose to maintain Jodie's six show week it serves only to highlight the impeccably high standards of West End casts. With experience, hopefully Jodie will be scheduled in for the full eight shows but, in the mean time, let's just see how her amazing talent blossoms.

Published by: Jonathan Dudley