The Stage

Sound of discontent

Published Tuesday 17 January 2006 at 10:55

The announcement that Andrew Lloyd Webber will be producing a televised search for the new Maria in The Sound of Music disappoints me somewhat (News, January 12, page 2).

Although he assures the search will be open to performers in the profession, I still sympathise with those aspiring actresses who have scraped money and time to gain admission to the top drama schools. Surely those actresses have gone to drama schools to train their voices in preparation for the vigorous schedule that an eight-show a week performance would demand. Can an amateur performer come up to scratch with this? I doubt it.

Lord Lloyd-Webber, who represents the arts, should be ashamed by this decision. He is a patron of the arts, who sponsors many bursaries for drama schools. I hope that he finds an actress whose has come from a good drama school and she outshines everyone else. The standard of aspiring and professional actresses in this country is very high. Why should he jump on the bandwagon of the reality talent shows?

Talented, trained, out of work actress

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