Wednesday 10 September 2008

Andrew Lloyd Webber - Sir Andrew To Take Year Off From Bbc1 Talent Searches

Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber will not scour the UK for another West End star in 2009, he has confirmed.

The showman has helped Lee Mead, Connie Fisher and Jodie Prenger find fame through and through BBC1 reality programmes merely intends to take a rest from "the casting show".

Sir Andrew could last be seen on I'd Do Anything, which saw Prenger awarded the portion of Nancy in Sir Cameron Mackintosh's upcoming Oliver! revival spell three edward Young hopefuls will share the title role.

But despite a BBC interpreter stressing that the pot "looks forward" to working with the composer, he told Closer magazine his sequel to The Phantom of the Opera is occupying the majority of his time.

"I have my own musical in Phantom two to get on with and bits and pieces to do in America, the 60-year-old said.

"There will not be another custom designate with the BBC following year - [not] with me in any case. But I will do the search in 2010 to ascertain Dorothy and possibly Toto the wienerwurst," he added, referring to a aforethought production of The Wizard of Oz.

"The problem with Phantom two is I can't produce the show in full. So I can't commit to a BBC show until 2010.

"I can't precisely do them - I need to be involved in producing it and you need a team, a field of operations and everything else. And Phantom iI is my first concern right at present."

Sir Andrew also argued that unlike its predecessors How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? and Any Dream Will Do, I'd Do Anything was less successful as he was not directly involved with the resulting West End production.

"I think Oliver! didn't connect half as well with the public because neither had I wrote Oliver! or was I producing it," he explained.

"I think the public like the thought of my head being on the block so to address. That it's a risk of exposure. The BBC can't be seen to be promoting my work.

"I enjoyed doing Oliver! and in that respect were good kids that came out of it. But I don't consider it had quite the same range of appeal."





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