So, the BBC has recently launched the latest in its line of three musical talent contests, and I admit that I’m watching. First there was the 2006 show How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, which searched for an unknown girl to play Maria in a new West End production of The Sound of Music. Then there was the 2007 show Any Dream Will Do, which searched for an unknown boy to play Joseph in a new West End production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Now there’s I’d Do Anything, which searches for both a girl to play Nancy and a boy to play Oliver Twist in a new stage production of Lionel Bart’s Dickens-based musical Oliver! Thankfully, the producers have decided that it’s just too cruel to put the small boys auditioning for Oliver through the usual American Idol–style humiliation of panel criticism and a public vote — so that decision will be made privately, although the audience will be let in on footage of the boys preparing and performing.

But the girls — who have now been narrowed down to twelve finalists aged between 17 and 28 — are judged to be old enough to cope. Consequently, there’s been all the usual gratuitous upping of their angst, as the panel (which includes Andrew Lloyd Webber) make them stand and wait for the initial decisions, and hint that they’ve been dropped just to see them squirm.

Why do I keep on watching, given how obnoxious that behavior is? Well, for one thing, I love musical theater. And for another, there are worse ways to spend your Saturday evenings than in watching 12 talented women singing their hearts out.

Back in the days of the first contest, How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, the show was considerably enlivened by the gorgeousness, as well as the talent, of one of the competitors, Siobhan Dillon: … continue reading