• Maria |
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• 07 September 2006

Ask the Experts: David Ian

West End producer David Ian answers your questions.

We asked you to send in your questions for the producer of The Sound of Music - and you didn't disappoint.

Here, he answers a selection.

Ellie asks: What three qualities are you personally looking for in Maria?

David: A fantastic performer, in terms of being able to sing, dance and act. The kind of star quality that sets someone out from the crowd, that makes somebody stand out from the chorus, and the vulnerability and loveableness that can make a Captain, his seven children, all the nuns and 2,200 people at the London Palladium fall in love with her.

David asks: To what extent does your own experience as an actor on the receiving end of direction and criticism impact on the way you approach the Marias each week?
David: It impacts hugely in so far as in a normal audition situation you just have somebody say to you þthanks very much, I'll let you know'.

In this situation we get the opportunity to tell the performer what we think to their face. I remember very well that I appreciated honest - if sometimes brutally honest – criticism. It helps me to think, when I was an actor I would have welcomed such criticism to my face and I would have liked to hear the truth whether it was good or bad. So, it helps me to deliver the truth.

Stephannie asks: Do you judge on the Saturday night show just on their performance that night or is there anything else you take into consideration?
David: No, it's a package. We learn something from their performance every Saturday, but it's also the overall package that we're learning about as we go on. I remember that when we did the assault course and I saw some of their fitness and determination. I remember back when Andrew held the acting class and what we saw of their acting ability.

It's everything we've learnt about them as a package through the course of the process combined with what they've done that night.

Rachel asks: What are the best and worst things about doing the show?
David: I think the best thing is seeing performers develop each week having put them through Maria School and with the training with Zoe, and them getting better and better.

The worst thing undoubtedly is that you're on an emotional journey with these performers. I've now formed an emotional bond with them. Being on television for eight weeks, you get to know them and you get to meet, on occasions, some of their families. Only one out of that five is going to have a happy ending.

Stephen asks: Have you agreed with Andrew's choice of who should go home?
David: Absolutely, every time.

Laura asks: If you could cast any þname' as your leading lady or man in any musical who would that be?
David: I'm a huge fan of the actor Dustin Hoffman, so if I could cast him in a musical that he was suitable for that would be wonderful.

And I think in terms of lady, I know that Catherine Zeta Jones has got the most marvellous voice. She once did musicals, she was famously in 42nd Street and I'd love to cast her in another one. I'd be pleased to cast her in any show. I'd have one written especially for her!

David asks: You started out in theatre as an actor, what made you decide to become a producer instead?
David: Actors by and large have to wait for a phone call from their agent for an opportunity to go and audition and it's down to others, invariably, whether they're right or wrong for a part. What I like about being a producer is that you can think of an idea and then go about making it happen. I think the answer is a producer can make things happen, an actor has to wait for a producer to ask them - and I'm a very impatient person.

Andrew asks: What was your career high point as an actor?
David: Acting at the London Palladium. I was Frederick in The Pirates of Penzance, which was a nice big lead role in my favourite theatre in London. This will be the third show I've produced there and for an actor to perform at the London Palladium is a career high.

Andrea asks: Is there any chance of seeing you perform on stage again or have you definitely hung up your costumes in favour of production.
David: (laughs) For the moment yes. Until I get a production so wrong that I have to go back to it, I'm happy to be a producer - and I'm enjoying my time on the programme every week.

Interviewer asks: Is there a role that would tempt you back to acting?

David: I'm not sure there is. I'll keep a close eye on whether our Captain Von Trapp is any good. I sometimes have a look at that Billy Flynn in Chicago and think 'I could do that'. Maybe somebody will ask me after this.

Danny asks Do you have any other projects on the go?
David: I've got a tour of the UK of The Producers to go out in the United Kingdom and I'm working on a musical based on the songs of Bob Marley and several other ideas are around at the moment. So, I'm a busy boy.

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