After an unexpectedly successful result at WorldVision 67, MRX Television felt compelled to invite Owen Roberts back to see if he could improve on his result. And for cost-cutting reasons, they decided to use the song that finished second in the WV67 national final, which, it was rumoured, the producers actually preferred to their eventual WV67 entry. Roberts, however, struggled with the staging for this song as it was unknown as to how camp it should be. The traditional Mister Xian trope is for a quite camp production with lots of dancing. Worryingly, this song perhaps lends itself to such a production. Owen Roberts, therefore, decided to delegate the staging to professional choreographer, Marlene Phillipson, who is Mister X's go-to choreographer. She choreographed a ballroom and latin number since the song, in her view, lends itself to two separate dance styles of the Quickstep and the Samba.
Owen Roberts stands alone on the middle of the main body of the stage, wearing the same outfit shown in the above photograph, and as the music comes on, the song has a summer feel to it, with lots of yellow and light blue lighting gently flashing. The camera direction for the first verse is flat, with one shot, gradually easing in, front on, for the entire verse.
I can't think about it
Being treated like shit
And nothing I said did
Fix that huge bridge we burnt
The camera cuts to a wide, panning angle from above, as moving onto the stage from the left and the right come several dancers, dressed in flowery Hawaiian shirts which, to some extent, can be described as "totally tasteless"; lots of colour, lots of patterns, and no style. They are wearing cream-coloured trousers. They find a dance partner and effectively start doing American-style ballroom quickstep dancing, that is to say out of ballroom hold, by passing their partners over to their other hand in time with the music. On the third line of the verse, the camera cuts to one of the dancers, before cutting back to the front-on shot of Owen on the final line of the second verse, except slightly wider, so we can see the dancers finally engaging in hold at the end of the final line.
What's life to me now
'Cause I don't know how
I can move on now
Like a revolving door
The camera cuts to a behind-Owen angle which rises slowly as the dancers move across the stage in hold, with some going from left to right and some going from right to left, effectively swapping positions on the stage. Then, on the second line of the verse, the camera changes to a static shot at a 45-degree angle from stage left in front of Owen, then it cuts to a 45-degree angle from the stage right in front of Owen on the third line of the verse. The lights stop flashing on the final line of the verse as the camera cuts to that front-on shot of Owen and crash zooms on his face.
Don't you leave me here, I'm all alone
Standing here out in the rain on my own
Now you'll hear me sing again once more
I'm telling you, you don't really know
The lights crash in and flash in their same colours but at a quicker rate, as the dancers move into samba rhythm and do vueltas down the "runway" (or, as it's known in Mister X, the catwalk) on each side, leaving a gap in the middle. The dancers pause on the fourth beat of each bar. The camera shot is at the end of the catwalk with Owen in the background, but the dancers are the main focus as the camera slowly rotates on the spot from focusing on one side of the catwalk to the other. On the fourth line of the chorus, the camera cuts back to that front-on shot of Owen, which the director loves very much because we enjoy looking at his wonderful sexy face. The four lines, insofar as camerawork is concerned, are repeated for the second four lines of the chorus.
I can't slam a revolving door
It's on and off the floor
Babes, make your mind up, please,
Baby, please stop hurting me
When you tell me yes and no
I feel confused, you know
So make your mind up, please,
Baby, please stop hurting me
The dancers, having now reached the end of the catwalk, all jump off the stage and are out of camera shot. In so doing, they run back to being behind the scenes backstage. All the lights go off, with the exception of one spotlight on Owen at the front of the stage. The camera cuts to a static front-on shot of Owen.
And there you are, I have said it
You always knew what I needed
So you knew how to play me
And now you're reaping the rewards
And then the camera changes to a dynamic panning shot of the front of the stage from above, as the dancers re-emerge from the side and start dancing quickstep moves out of hold around Owen in a circle. The camera therefore creates a near-optical illusion with the magical singing man enchanting a circle of dancers around him. The lights come back on and flash at the speed they did in the first verse.
You don't know what I'm feeling
I've changed, can't you see me?
So just tell me, baby,
Do you still love me?
This time, in ballroom hold, the dancers pair up and do quickstep runs down the catwalk. The camera cuts to a perpendicular angle of the third couple going down the line, panning down the catwalk and keeping them at the centre of shot.
Don't you leave me here, I'm all alone
Standing here out in the rain on my own
Now you'll hear me sing again once more
I'm telling you, you don't really know
For this chorus, the dancers switch back to samba, but doing all kinds of samba steps such as samba rolls and shadow botafogos, shaking their bottoms like there's no tomorrow. The camera cuts to a low-down angle at the front of the catwalk, showing the dancers in all their glory for three lines of the second chorus, then on the fourth line cutting back to Owen to remind us he's still there and singing, with a slow zoom in during the line. Then for the fifth to seventh lines, the camera cuts back to the dancers, then back to Owen for the eighth and final line of the chorus.
I can't slam a revolving door
It's on and off the floor
Babes, make your mind up, please,
Baby, please stop hurting me
When you tell me yes and no
I feel confused, you know
So make your mind up, please,
Baby, please stop hurting me
The samba continues as the camera cuts to a super wide shot and the lights continue to flash, before cutting back to Owen for the final line of this pre-bridge section.
Please stop hurting me
Please stop hurting me
So make your mind up, please,
Baby, please stop hurting me
The dancers all go into slow motion, as the lights stop flashing and the camera cuts to the dancers slowly, as Owen turns around and a black sheet covers up his body from the neck down.
How long can this hurt go on
Before we agree that it's all done
One way or another, say
Yes or no, no, no
It can't go on like this
In and out of this shit
So, tell me, my baby
Woah...
Owen spins around to reveal to the camera and the audience to reveal a brand new outfit and starts samba-ing down the catwalk himself, having switched to a headset microphone during the slow section.
The camera follows Owen down the catwalk as the lights start flashing in their "chorus" mode again.
I can't slam a revolving door
It's on and off the floor
Babes, make your mind up, please,
Baby, please stop hurting me
When you tell me yes and no
I feel confused, you know
So make your mind up, please,
Baby, please stop hurting me
The dancers all then converge on Owen down the far end of the catwalk and start dancing around him in a circle, except in a three-dimensional circle, so the ones at the front are crouched down and the ones behind Owen are standing upright. Owen himself stops dancing and the camera takes a wide, front-on shot, allowing the audience to see the circle. It then takes a pan from left to right on the wide shot, then another close-up, then a pan from right to left, then finishing on a close-up of Owen.
'Cause love is a soldier
'Cause love is a soldier
'Cause love is a soldier
Baby, please stop hurting me
'Cause love is a soldier
'Cause love is a soldier
'Cause love is a soldier
Baby, please stop hurting me
Everything stops and a sea of confetti falls on Owen and the dancers at the front of the catwalk. Owen puts his right hand to his ear in a telephone symbol, mouthing "please vote" down the camera. He then waves to the audience before stopping to say "thank you", and then the postcard for the next act begins. Will it be a second victory for Mister X? Only time and votes will tell.
