Its interesting, in the UK we have already been through all of this with the casting for the new west-end version of The Sound of Music, where BBC 1 (one of if the most watched UK channel) produced a program called "How do you solve a problem like Maria?" to cast the Maria. I'm not sure how much press it got over in the US (if any at all) but it was fairly big over here and prone to some damning criticism and complains from parts of the theatre industry! The judging panel was fairly impressive being chaired by composer and producer Andrew Lloyd Webber assisted by theatre producer David Ian (also a judge on 'The one that I want') and John Barrowman. Ian and Lloyd-Webber co-produced the show.
Our Equity laid down a few ground rules which the show agreed to and these basically said that none of the contestants could be humiliated etc. in the Pop Idol style of Simon Cowell so as not to harm the possible future careers of the entrants. Funnily enough however all of the contestants who ended up being finalists (last seven or something) actually were already actresses or had some sort of formal training from a drama school! The girl who won, Connie Fisher, had trained in Musical Theatre at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts where she gained a first class BA in Musical Theatre and the girl who came second, Helena Blackman, had trained for two years at Guildhall School of Music and Drama and had worked as a performer for Disney!
A good friend of mine is working on the Sound of Music at the moment and its a fantastic show. Connie is great, she has a great voice, she can dance well and she can also act! I also was ASMing on a show with Helena Blackman just before Christmas and she is equally good and a really nice person! A way had been devised however to ensure the final finalists were of high quality and to allow the public to make the final choice via telephone voting... Each week the two with the lowest votes would be put in front of Lloyd-Webber who could then decide which one to keep! Therefore until the very final show (where ALW had made sure there were two good contestants who would both do fine for the show) all the power wasn't handed over to the voting public at home!
The show received massive advance ticket-sale bookings and is sold-out for months! Its also, been reported, that its got a lot more people going to the theatre (musical theater) and given theatre some more prime-time press in the UK which is never a bad thing! So despite all the criticism and the fact that the actual program was reality-rubbish I think it was a good concept and I'm pleased that in the end a professional/ trained actress was awarded the role, just going to prove the worth of training!
I'm not so sure however about the quick succession of new similar programs. Later this year David Ian and Andrew Lloyd-Webber will go head to head launching to different shows that will be aired at the same time of TV to try and cast the principals in Grease (Your the One that I Want - UK) and a revival of Joseph and His Amazing Technicolored Dream-Coat (Any Dream will Do). The difference being this time that in Your the One that I want they are searching for both the principals and in Any Dream Will Do they are searching for most of the cast including, last time I heard, ensemble!! This could be to the severe determent of the final shows produced because often, I think, skillful performers can carry a bad apple (for example if the Danny they cast was poor) however a whole company cast by the public... Time will only tell how the sequels go-down, on television and on the stage!
Sam x