Swedish Ladies of the Lake sail into town

Published Tuesday 15 January 2008 at 18:45 by Lalayn Baluch

An army lieutenant, a cruise ship entertainer and a singing waitress are among the five finalists of Swedish reality TV show West End Star, who are battling it out for a role in the London production of Spamalot as The Lady of the Lake.

After attending auditions with almost 1,000 other hopefuls across Sweden, the contestants arrived in the capital last week to begin rehearsals for the hit musical and will return home each week to face the public vote. The series finale will be broadcast on February 2, with the winner taking over the female lead in Spamalot nine days later.

The shortlisted performers are Sandra Camenisch, a 35-year-old mother of three, Linda Holmgren, a 27-year-old cruise ship entertainer, Viktoria Krantz, a 31-year-old show jumper and a second lieutenant in the Swedish army, Divina Sarkany, a 34-year-old actor and Nina Soderquist, a 35-year-old singing waitress.

Current Lady of the Lake Hannah Waddingham told The Stage that she had no problems with her successor being discovered through a reality television show “as long as she is brilliant”. She added: “All I want is that she steps up to the mark, because they [the cast] deserve to have someone really good. I’m sure she will take the mantle up strongly, but the cast we have at the moment is extraordinary.”

Earlier this week Waddingham travelled to New York to take over as Lady of the Lake in the Broadway production of the Monty Python show. As part of a role swap, American star Marin Mazzie will play the lead role at London’s Palace Theatre until the Swedish reality contest winner is named.

Mazzie warned contestants that the role was a “big sing” and added: “You really have to be careful to get enough vocal rest. Especially doing five shows in a row, which is really tough.”