How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?

I have never been a fan of the “make me a star” shows. I’m not talking about Big Brother or anything of that ilk. I mean things like The X Factor, Search For A Star, American Idol (although – Kelly Clarkson, Hubba!), Fame Academy and bullshit like that. I didn’t watch the BBC dancing thing or the ice dancing tripe that they did. Yadda Yadda Yadda bullshit.

Flicking through the channels just after dinner – you know, the time where you think “I should go do the dishes. Oh, just five minutes in front of the box” – I found BBC one. Yep, nothing unusual there, it’s right at 101 on the Sky digibox.

I don’t know what stopped me flicking away again. Perhaps it was the mention of The Sound Of Music. Perhaps it was the mention of Andrew Lloyd-Webber (ALW from here on in). Whatever. It caught my attention. The show that was just starting is called “How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?“

Essentially, the premise is that ALW is putting on The Sound Of Music at the Palladium in London and he is trying to find a new, young singer and dancer to play the part of Maria von Trapp, played by Julie Andrews in the film.

They started with regional auditions to find 200 “girls” (their word, not mine) to go through to final selection of 50 to attend “Maria School”. Eventually 10 girls will go on stage to face (I hate this bit!) “the public vote” to decide who gets to play Maria on stage.

There was some fantastic young women auditioning, and as you would expect, the usual tripe who audition, seemingly, just for the comedic value.

If you missed this first episode then “Siobhan from Stafford” will mean nothing at all to you. She’s 21, looks like Keira Knightley and sings with the raw power that Ms Andrews had in the film. She, in my oh so humble opinion should be Maria. Don’t argue. I’m right.

The “panel” eventually selected 51 girls to go to “Maria School”. Nope, that’s not a mistype. One of the girls asked for a second audition after she’d been rejected and got in.

What annoyed me was the way that ALW interfered with the selection process and phoned 4 more girls that the panel had rejected and asked them to go to “school”. I know that he’s the major finance behind the project, but David Ian has put £4 million into the project. David is the producer for the stage show and the lead panel judge. By ALW interfering and selecting those extra 4 girls he’s done two things:

 
This may turn out not to be the case. Perhaps he just wanted to see if they could hack it with the rest. However, if ALW can’t trust David enough to control the selection then why the hell didn’t ALW sit on the panel himself? Oh yeah, he’s got Phantom in Las Vegas and Evita opening in London.

The other “Judges” are John Barrowman, Captain Jack in Dr Who (and I think he competed in the ice dance thing on BBC) and Zoe Tyler, vocal coach, singer and performer. I think she’s gonna have her work cut out at “Maria School.

Next episode is on 5 August, BBC 1 at 6.50pm and the website is http://www.bbc.co.uk/maria/index.shtml

The stage show opens at London’s Palladium Theatre on 14 November. If Siobhan from Stafford is Maria, I’m there!