Daily Mail’s Bamigboye Shuts His Von Trapp???

Daily Mail columnist Baz Bamigboye has never made any secret of his disdain for How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, the BBC casting programme which he’s called “woeful” and “degrading” amongst other descriptions, nor his suspicions about its impact on The Sound of Music, which opens at the London Palladium next week. Never mind what Andrew Lloyd Webber might think about the Daily Mail coverage, many readers reached their limit last week after another swipe in an article about a new project for former Maria alternate Emma Williams who, in Bamigboye’s words, was “ruthlessly forced out of The Sound of Music” (See News, 22 Sep 2006). The piece prompted comments on the Whatsonstage.com Discussion Forum and, apparently, complaints to the Daily Mail as well. In today’s paper, Bamigboye seems to have decided to bite the bullet on the issue, writing: “I caught The Sound of Music on Wednesday. The People’s Maria, one Connie Fisher, who won that TV show you all know I hate, was performing and I must say she sang beautifully. Seriously. I have to add that ‘seriously’ because some of you have written in, imagining that I mean all kinds of nasty things with the most innocent of words. The audience on Wednesday loved their Maria…. I now solemnly swear to keep my big Von Trapp shut about this show – at least until I hear anything of interest to share with you.”

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