IT HAS now been confirmed that the reality TV competition to cast Dorothy and Toto in Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new production of The Wizard of Oz will commence on BBC One on Friday, March 26, 2010.

Entitled Over the Rainbow, it follows in the footsteps of How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, Any Dream Will Do and I’d Do Anything, and will reunite Lloyd Webber with host Graham Norton.

However, there will be a new panel of judges – actors Sheila Hancock (The Anniversary, The Arab-Israeli Cookbook, Vassa and Cabaret) and John Partridge (The Fix, Tommy, Grease, Starlight Express, Miss Saigon and The Drowsy Chaperone) and classical chart-topping singer Charlotte Church.

Initially, pre-recorded programmes will cover the competition process since open auditions began in Glasgow, Cardiff, Belfast, Manchester and London in January. These will be followed with the live programmes and weekly public votes.

Speaking about the project earlier, Lloyd Webber said: “Our previous musical talent searches have provided an incredible shot in the arm for musical theatre in Britain and I can’t wait to work with the BBC again in the hunt for Dorothy – an iconic role of course made famous by a young Judy Garland in the film in 1939, but, as a cat man myself, however, I approach casting Toto with considerable trepidation.”

The Wizard of Oz is, of course, the story of Dorothy’s epic adventures through the Land of Oz to meet the Wizard. Along the way, she meets the Scarecrow who needs a brain, the Tin Man who wants a heart, a cowardly Lion who desperately needs some courage, and the Wicked Witch of the West.

In 1903, L. Frank Baum adapted his 1900 novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, for stage. And in 1939, it was filmed by Hollywood and starred a young Judy Garland as Dorothy. It also included the timeless classic Over the Rainbow. And in summer 2008, a musical version starring Adam Cooper, Gary Wilmot, Roy Hudd and Siân Brooke, was performed at the Royal Festival Hall.

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