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Lloyd Webber reveals Hollyoaks, Sound of Music trick

01/02/2008

The actress playing the Hollyoaks character looking for her West End breakthrough is set to play the lead role in The Sound of Music, Andrew Lloyd Webber has revealed.

Viewers have watched Summer Shaw looking to make it in musicals since she arrived in the Channel 4 soap in October.

But the actress that plays her, 23-year-old Summer Strallen, was actually chosen to play Maria in The Sound of Music six months ago.

Summer's Hollyoaks story arc culminates with an audition before Lloyd Webber himself in a rare acting role.

The musical legend explained he was happy to blur the lines between fiction and reality.

"I've got to the age in life where I won't do anything at all that I don't think is funny," Lloyd Webber told BBC Radio One's Newsbeat programme.

"And I thought this was very amusing. And it's also going to annoy a lot of people, which I like as well."

Summer, who is the real-life niece of theatre star Bonnie Langford, is due to replace Connnie Fisher in The Sound of Music later this month.

Fisher originally won the part on BBC1's How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, but is leaving the show after two years to pursue other television projects.