Connie will play Maria six times a week - Lloyd Webber

Published Monday 18 September 2006 at 11:30 by Alistair Smith

Andrew Lloyd Webber has vowed that Connie Fisher, winner of reality TV show How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, will perform six times a week in The Sound of Music.

After winning the BBC series, which attracted 8.3 million viewers for its final airing on Saturday, Mountview Theatre School graduate Fisher claimed: “I want to perform every night of the week.”

However, Lloyd Webber insisted: “I will consider her natural desire to sing in every performance and fully understand it. However, we have to bear her age in mind and have a duty to protect her voice.”

Prior to her victory, some commentators had claimed that an understudy might be used for a sizeable proportion of the weekly schedule, which consists of six evening performances as well as two matinees.

“I am irritated by some of the nonsense that has been written about this,” Lloyd Webber continued. “Connie is only 23 years old and in the West End musical world it absolutely normal for a younger leading lady to sing only six out of eight possible performances a week. This was the case when Sarah Brightman starred in The Phantom of the Opera at the age of 22. It was the same for Elaine Paige in Evita and is true of Elena Roger, who is starring in the new production of Evita.

“In no production of The Phantom of the Opera, in any city in the world, does anyone playing Christine perform in more than six shows a week,” he added. “We have a duty to consider what is best for Connie’s career in the longer run. We certainly do not want her ending up like Julie Andrews, who strained her voice when young and who can no longer sing.”

Both Lloyd Webber and co-producer David Ian said they were are delighted with the viewers’ choice. Almost 2 million viewers voted, according to the BBC. The Sound of Music opens at The London Palladium in November.

• Connie Fisher is interviewed in our musical theatre training guide, published in The Stage on Thursday, September 21