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Andrew Lloyd Webber, the famed British musical theater composer who gave the world Cats and Phantom of the Opera —and will pay dearly for it in the hereafter—was all atwitter when Scarlett Johansson showed interest in playing the lead role of Maria in a London revival of The Sound of Music he was producing. It promised to be a spectacular production, full of Webberian flourishes like actual-size spinning mountaintops and real Nazis, but Johansson ultimately decided to pull out, sending the sour composer stomping off to The Times to complain about her "people" and "demands":

"Her people were not `pro' the idea. It became clear that it wasn't going to work because the demands were so ridiculous," Lloyd Webber was quoted as saying in The Times newspaper. [...]

"It is true that there were some discussions regarding Scarlett and the production of `The Sound of Music.' But Mr. Webber's statement regarding the demands is extremely exaggerated," [Publicist Marcel] Parisbeau said in a statement. "Her management team was simply asking for terms that an actress of her stature would ask for."

The role of Maria will now be played by an actress to be chosen from a new British Broadcasting Corp. reality TV show. The Aug. 15 finale of "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria" will award a six-month contract to one of 10 finalists.

While a passion for the theater is admirable, it can also easily prove to be a perilous proposition for even the most established of Hollywood stars. We therefore can't say we're particularly surprised to hear that Johnansson's career strategists were less than enthused at the prospect of having their client put everything on hold to sing about cream-colored ponies and crisp apple strudels eight times a week. The news that the casting would be tainted with the D-list stink of a reality competition could only have vindicated them that much more, guaranteeing that at one point, her team of publicists, agents, and managers shared a congratulatory conference call in which the phrase "dodged a nun-shaped bullet with this one" was invoked at least once.