Scarlett Johansson for Sound of Music???

Screen actress Scarlett Johansson is being pursued to make her musical debut in the planned West End revival of The Sound of Music (See The Goss, 8 Nov 2004). According to US industry bible Variety, the young star of Lost in Translation, Girl with a Pearl Earring and other films is the first choice of Andrew Lloyd Webber, who is co-producing the Rodgers and Hammerstein revival with Clear Channel. Back in September 2002, Lloyd Webber publicly announced his plans to present the Broadway classic, tipping it to open at the Victoria Palace in May 2003, when West End diva Maria Friedman was one of the frontrunners for the role of the nun-turned-nanny immortalised on screen by Julie Andrews (See News, 25 Sep 2002). But at the start of 2003, those plans seemed to be quietly postponed and then shelved. Apparently, after doing the maths on the 1500-seat theatre, producers reckoned the show simply couldn't make enough at the box office. Trevor Nunn, who in his days as National Theatre artistic director staged revivals of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! and South Pacific, is in the frame to direct The Sound of Music, which is now expected to hit London sometime in spring 2006.

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