IN 2006, the theatres in London, were awaiting a new musicial to happen. Andrew Llyord Webber asked the public to search for a Maria, Joseph, Nacey, Dorothy and
Jesus. During the searches, BBC and ITV searched high & low to find new acts for these musicials. Eventally, Danielle Hope, Connie Fisher, Lee Mead, Jodie Prenger and Ben Forster were crowned your successful winners and
went onto hit success & musicials in London’s West End theatres.
Solving Maria- 2006hIn 2006, Llyord Webber asked the BBC to front a new
reality programme to search for Maria. The choosing of Maria was down to the public. This was the very first time that the Great British Public were allowed to choose
Maria. The show was presented live on BBC1 each
Saturday night by Graham Norton until on 16th September 2006 at 9:50pm, Connie Fisher was declared
winner!.
After winning Maria, Connie went onto perfoming 500 amazing and fantastic perfomances of the Sound of Music in
the London Pallidium. After 2 years of playing the role, Connie left the Sound of music due to her voice. After being to
doctors, Connie released a album containing some of her songs from the show and some new material
after playing Maria in the Sound of Music.
Any Dream Will Do- 2007In 2007, after the success of Maria, Andrew Llyord Webber
asked the public again to choose a leading man for Joseph. This was a personal challenge for Andrew as Joseph is
one of his most successful musicials of all time. After searching through the auditions, 12 were chosen for the live shows until in May 2007, Lee Mead won the
show and became your Joseph.
After winning Any Dream Will Do, Lee Mead went onto success playing the role of Joseph at the London
Pallidium. Lee played a brilliant Joseph and had 5 stars from his perfomances from the show.
During his run of Joseph, Lee wrote and recorded 2 albums before marrying Denise Van Outen. In 2009, Lee Mead finished his run as Joseph and he has appeared in
Casualty on BBC One.
I’d Do Anything- 2009After the great success of Maria and Joseph, Andrew Llyord Webber and Cameron
Mackintosh team up to find a Nacey and 2 Olivers.
Throughout the compettion, the girls had to battle through 12 weeks to become the chosen nacey. In June 2009, Jodie Prenger won the search
for Nacey.
Over The Rainbow?In 2011, after the amazing searches of Maria, joseph &
Nacey. The BBC asked Andrew again to find a Dorothy to play a part in the West End’s new revival of
The Wizard of Oz.After many auditions and searches, 16 went through to the live shows until Danielle Hope won the show and became the public Dorothy and played her part in the
Wizard of Oz in the London Pallidium.
SuperstarIn 2012, after Andrew’s fantastic musicals with the British Public, he asked the public to find a leading man to play Jesus. This show was presented live on ITV1
with live auditions and shows for the public to choose their winner.
In the end, after 5 amazing live shows, Ben Forster was crowned winner and went on to thrill people at the live stadium tour of Superstar with Mel C, Andrew
Llyord Webber and Jason Donvan.