As far as threads go this was one that could have been seen a mile off. The news has come out over twitter world that Joe McElderry has been dropped by Syco Records. He is just another male that has faced the scrapheap once Simon has made his money.

What does the future hold for Joe? Well he’s a kid and he has a lot a life in him yet, whether he signs to another record label will have to be seen, but the bigger question is whether people are going to wake up and realise that X Factor does not work if your a guy.

Joe has had some hard struggles since he won the show one of the biggest being him coming out. This Christmas he was part of the world famous Christmas Lights show in Regents Street where he also sang the title song from the winter smash hit, Chronicles of Narnia. I have to say live he does have a pretty amazing voice and the crowd went crazy for him.

Almost ALL of the male winners of X-Factor either went before they started or had one release in them then where packed off by Simon. For him it seems the commitment of $5million over 5 years for the US winner of X-Factor is the same thing that he needs to have had over in the UK. It’s obvious that he has never really had much care for the UK version of the show and all he has been gearing up for is his American version which, if successful, will be the biggest cash-cow he has created.

The tragedy of the red carpet is the competition. With so many people and so little time, one comes away feeling they have little to show for it. Reporters wrestle to get the last question. Photographers demand pose, posture and pout. So I stood. And I gawped. But in the midst of this furor, elegance endured. This is the contradiction. The press performed the drama. The actors were simply caught in this storm.

The first to talk to The New Current was Gary Lineker:

You are at the Olivier’s, are you excited?

Good spot! Yes, very much. My first time. So its nice to get an invite here. To be among some very talented people. It’s great.

How does the drama of football compare to the drama of the stage?

Well, there’s nothing more dramatic than football. Theatre do there very best, but they are pretending, ha!

Which theatre have you particularly enjoyed this year?

I saw Hamlet in New York with David Tennant. I have seen a few Hamlets this year, but he was great. I see quite a lot of theatre these days. My wife is very much into it, so I go with her.

I can’t let you go without mentioning Walker’s Crisps. With Comic Relief this Friday, which special addition flavor do you want to win?

I must be neutral. I couldn’t possibly say. But, between you and me, the chili con-carnie is great.

Positioned along the carpet were the scouts. Tomorrow they will divide the cool from the fools. I am of course, talking clothes. This is perhaps the purpose of the red carpet. My opinion on fashion carries as much weight as a heliumed-hampster, but I will say something. While dresses, ties, tuxedoes and thighs were clasping the eyes of many, mine gawked elsewhere. From Benedict Cumberbatch’s sparkling shoes to Tamsin Greig’s jumpsuit actually. Though she joked of how she had “found it in a toy box”, it proved a sensation with photographers. With great amicability, she presented us with the suppleness a playsuit allows.

Another who caught the eyes of many was Rupert Everett. Dapper as ever, we briefly caught up with him to discuss his year in theatre:

Of course you did Pygmalion last year? It was fantastic.

You saw it? Thank you. Yes, I did.

So are you planning to return to the stage soon?

Yes. We are taking Pygmalion to London, in the West End soon. Should be good.

Great! Have you any plans beyond that?

No, not for the time being. Not for a while, no.

As is the way with award ceremonies, there were awards to be given out. Roger Allum’s serene excitement – which in itself is odd – on the red carpet, was later repaid. His performance of Henry IV (Parts I & II) was rewarded with best actor. Meanwhile, Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s Love Never Dies, for all its seven nominations, left empty handed. Sierra Boggess, who has the lead in the musical, had earlier described it to us as “one of Andrew’s best – if not the best, score he has ever written”. Pennies drop in unpredictable ways I guess.

People may criticise the glamour of awards. They may haughtily cry out that it retracts from the raw art of theatre! With the BBC broadcasting live, the Olivier’s were glamorous. But was all the pomp so far removed from what they were celebrating? To be undermined? I think not. Tracie Bennett spoke of “how at this level, one is not in it for the competition. That is the road to purgatory. Things like tonight are to celebrate everyone’s work”. I agree. With the cuts looming, tonight’s Olivier’s was graceful finger to the government. As British film has made clear, so too did the theatre, that they are unrivalled industries. Their venerable position is a throat choker. So we spoke to Danielle Hope of this:

Britain, especially the West End, is considered the best theatre in the world. How do you feel about the cuts on the arts, and how will this affect the English theatre industry? It is always bad when the arts are cut. But it is something we all have to deal with. We all need to keep working hard, and together. We all need to try and help each other to do what we do in theatre.

Theatre is blessed, for it is adaptable. At the core of it are the people. Productions may lose funding. Theatres may experience seismic reshuffle. But if there continues to be the level of actors that tonight has shown, the theatre will be safe. To often the theatre is shadowed by film. Tonight’s red carpet took issue with this. It showed how this should not be the case.

By Patrick Wheatley

The New Current is proud to announce that we have EXCLUSIVE Red Carpet Coverage of this years Olivier Awards. TNC was the only national student media group at the pre-event this year and though Patrick had to fight with the BBC for interview space he still managed to talk with Rupert Everett, Patrick Stewart, and a few other greats of theatre-land.

The full interview and coverage of this years Olivier Awards will be live in a few hours.

More controversy surrounds this years X-Factor as Aiden Grimshaw was placed in the bottom 2 with FOUR TIME bottom Katie who, once again, was spared being booted despite being placed in the bottom 2 again.

We will have more on this later…

What do you think, should Katie have gone?

It has been another dire weekend on the E Factor front and the news that Trayc Cohen has been booted has given been hitting the forums like hot cakes. What is surprising is that Katie was bottom 2 again and they booted Trayc, seems a little odd and calls of a fix are never far behind when you look once again at the factor.

It’s clear that Katie gets in the papers and though her voice is no where near the strongest in the competition she has proven to have staying power and could be a serious threat to the others in the competition. It’s like being up against someone in BB who is always up for nomination and the public never pick them, it makes the other contestants a little wary in voting for them…this could be the case here. What was Simon and Louis up to?

What they are saying about Katie:

Scream2faster, Manchester : That was the most contrived and staged performance ive ever seen from Katie the Weasel lol x

Dale, Darby : I dnt mind kate… Dnt get why the country hated her…. Perhaps blaming her for what happened to gamu

Jay Hunter, Northampton : What a f**kin fix – this program needs to be taken off the air!!

Lifelongfriend, Lancaster : cheryl actually said come back to me and i’ll send it to deadlock, but dermot was the one saying that it would go on majority without Cheryl, shit cos when a mentor has both her acts in the bottom 2 they’re normally not asked until last, like when simon had two groups in the bottom 2, but of course this will be forgotten and it will be all cheryl’s fault – i’m no cheryl fan, but they could have come back to her no problem

OPINION – There clearly is a reason why the judges, or more Simon, wants to keep Katie in the competition. It is clear for the past three weeks that she has not got what it takes to get the public on side, which is essential for this show, after 3 consecutive bottom places she should have gone.

Wagner

What is he still doing in the show and how have good singers been for the chop and he has not? It seems a little odd, much like the whole show, that he has managed to survive for so long when he is, at best, a lounge singer. Some of the comments have been less than favourable to Wagner:

Ben, Manchester : I am staggered Wagner survives and TreyC doesn’t…is this a fix??

Richard, Manchester : think so not watching it anymore f**king joke x

Connie Huq Backlash

It appears that one time Blue Peter presenter is not liked by the ever faithful Xtra Factor views and a Facebook campaign has been set up to get rid of here, Facebook.

The people who set up the Facebook group say:

The most annoying TV presenter on the box has made a brilliant entertaining show unwatchable! She has killed The Xtra Factor!
BRING BACK HOLLY!!!!!!

Why has Connie decided to do Xtra Factor? See seemed way too intelligent to sell her self for this and watching her on screen you can not help but feel a little uneasy at the way she prats about. The show is as fake as it gets but Connie doesn’t seem to even believe in the show the slightest and as a presenter she manages to get across this very reality that the viewers are trying to block out their heads.

Are the viewers racist? One of the comments we have found in the forums suggests so and some of them have a lot of anger to the:

‘Paul’, 36, Leeds said: she smells of curry

Knobster, 21, US said: Yeah she’s totally rubbish, has an opinion on nothing. She’s nearly as awful and Holly-should-be-thrown-under-a-bus-Willoughby

Why is everyone hating her? She does seem like the wrong fit for the show and I think even she knows it but could there be racial undertones to the backlash?