Norton & Lloyd Webber Search for Maria in UK Sound of Music

According to a BBC News article, Graham Norton will lead "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?," a reality show search to find a Maria for an upcoming West End revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music.

Also on the search team will be West End producer David Ian and none other than composer/producer/impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber, who will produce the revival at the London Palladium. Norton is the popular host of the reality talent show "Strictly Dance Fever." The three are hoping to cast an unknown in the role of the perky Austrian governess.

"It will be a real rollercoaster for everyone involved. I'm thrilled to be along for the ride...I'll be there to mop the brows and do some serious handholding as we try and find that star-in-the-making," said Norton.

Broadcast on BBC One, the show will feature hopefuls across the UK auditioning in front of a panel of theatre professionals. Auditions will begin in Belfast on April 22nd. The Maria-wannabes will then be narrowed down to 50, and then to 10, before a winner is chosen by public vote.

"Never before have young musical theatre performers had such an opportunity to show their talents on prime time television," stated Lloyd Webber, the composer of Evita (soon receiving a West End revival), Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, The Woman in White and many others.

Immortalized in a film version starring Julie Andrews, The Sound of Music won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 1960 (and star Mary Martin won a Tony for Best Actress in a Musical). With music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse, The Sound of Music was revived on Broadway in 1998.

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