You're the one that I don't want

by BAZ BAMIGBOYE

Last updated at 10:10 02 February 2007


Andrew Lloyd Webber and producer David Ian will bury the hatchet just long enough for them to appear together next weekend on American television.

Both men were judges on the BBC's How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? last year. But they've fallen out over new star-search shows for Grease on both sides of the Atlantic.

Long before Maria was conceived and broadcast on BBC1, Ian was seeking the rights to do a TV casting show based around Grease to find a new Danny and Sandy -the roles made famous by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.

Eventually Ian secured the rights and the resulting show, You're The One That I Want, has been a hit in the States, with its run being increased from nine to 15 weeks.

After the massive popular success of Maria, Lloyd Webber also wanted to be a part of the Grease project. He was rebuffed, and will have to make do with a one-off appearance as a judge on February 11 alongside Ian, who appears every week.

on Taft, a lawyer who controls the worldwide rights to Grease, said: 'Andrew very much wanted to be on the show. Believe me, he was not chased to do the show.'

Indeed, the rights to do the American TV show on the network NBC were granted with the proviso that Lloyd Webber was not a weekly participant as he was with the Maria show in the UK.

Taft told me that after American Idol became a huge hit on Fox TV in the U.S., various producers -including Ian - sought permission to do a variation of the show with Grease, but he always turned them down. He changed his mind in favour of Ian nearly a year ago.

Meanwhile, ITV is hard at work on its own star-search show for Grease that will begin later in the spring. Ian will be among the judging panel on that programme, too, and the musical will open at the Piccadilly Theatre in the autumn.

Any Dream Will Do, Lloyd Webber's new star-search show for Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, will be on the BBC in the summer.

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