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Connie Fisher

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Template:Infobox musical artist 2 Connie Fisher (born June 17,1983) is an actress and singer, who won the BBC One talent contest, How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?

Fisher was delighted to be named Maria: "I feel on top of the world, thanks very much. I won't let you down. Every night will be an opening night. Thanks for making my dreams come true."[1] On 15 November 2006, she opened to excellent reviews in the part of Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music in the West End, London on a six-month contract, which was extended until February 23 2008, when Connie will make her final appearance as Maria Von Trapp.[2].

Biography

Fisher was born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, and is daughter of a British Army Royal Corps of Signals Major. Fisher lived in Dorset until the age of six, when she moved to a village near Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, South Wales. She attended Hayscastle Junior School, and then went on to Sir Thomas Picton School where she received the nickname 'paperboy'. She is a fluent Welsh speaker and during the final weeks of How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? she recorded several interview pieces for Radio Cymru.[3]

During her teenage years she was a member of Haverfordwest Operatic Society where she performed in The Pirates of Penzance and played Nellie Forbush in South Pacific. She was also a member of The Torch Youth Theatre where she performed in George Buchner's play Woyzek. She successfully became a member of National Youth Music Theatre (1999-2002), where she played Lady of the Lake in the UK Tour of Pendragon, and played the lead role, Morgan Le Fay, when the production toured Japan in 2001. From an early age Fisher was a member of Côr Newyddion Da (English translation - "Good News Choir"), which introduced her to the Eisteddfodic field and encouraged her to perform as a soloist. She competed annually in the Urdd Gobaith Cymru, National and International Eisteddfods.[4] In 2002 Fisher won the Wilbert Lloyd Roberts Scholarship in the National Eisteddfod "Songs from the Shows" competition[5] and the Milford and West Wales Mercury talent competition.[6]

Fisher gained a full scholarship to the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, graduating in 2005 with a First Class BA Hons degree in Musical Theatre, as well as the Gyearbuor Asante prize for the highest score. At Mountview she performed in Annie Get Your Gun, A…my name is Alice, Jerry’s Girls and Julie Jordan in Carousel. Fisher has made television appearances on Jane McDonald's Star for a Night when she was sixteen; Owen Money’s Just Up Your Street, and BBC Children in Need.[7] Connie has also recorded a Welsh song called Curiad Calon (Heartbeat) which was released on the compilation album Cân i Gymru (A Song for Wales). She also released a charity single for the Noah's Ark Appeal entitled 'Eyes of a Child'.

Fisher's first professional theatre appearance was at Milford Haven Torch Theatre, Christmas 2005, where she played Princess Samina in Aladdin. She then took the £1,000 cash prize and the Gower Trophy in the final of the 2006 Welsh Musical Theatre Young Singer of the Year Competition, held at Swansea Grand Theatre.

Before gaining the role of Maria, she worked in media telesales, whilst auditioning for several West End parts – often getting down to the final two but never getting the part. Fisher cites Julie Andrews and Ruthie Henshall as her musical theatre role models. She claims to be a bit of a tomboy, and says that as an only child, she is very independent.[8]

Fisher has been with British Army soldier boyfriend Neal Williams (born 1979), who served in Iraq in the 31st signal regiment, for several years. On the weekend of the 19 November, 2006 the News of the World alleged that Fisher and sound number 2 Leigh Davies from the Sound of Music had been having a relationship. Fisher has repeatedly denied these allegations. [9] [10]

In early March 2007, she was ordered by her doctor to take two weeks' rest from The Sound of Music, after straining her vocal cords singing through a cold.[11] On her return to the show, it was announced that Fisher would be reducing her workload to six shows a week,[12] with Maria being played in the Monday evening and Wednesday matinee shows by Aoife Mulholland, one of the runners-up in How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?.

On July 1, 2007, Fisher performed alongside artists including Sarah Brightman, Josh Groban, Donny Osmond and Andrea Bocelli in Lloyd Webber's segment of the Concert for Diana at London's Wembley Stadium in front of 63,000 people.

She appeared at Bryn Terfel’s Faenol Festival during the August Bank Holiday weekend, 2007.[1]

In October of 2007, she won the 2007 lastminute.com People's Choice Theatre Award for Favourite Theatre Actress.[13]

After her contract as Maria comes to an end on 23rd February 2008, it is rumoured that she will play the lead in a Lloyd-Webber revival of Funny Girl.[14]

On Christmas Eve 2007 Fisher was seen performing with Lee Mead and some of the other 'Maria' and 'Joseph' finalists in a BBC special 'festive' reunion show called 'When Joseph met Maria!' - celebrating both the hit Andrew Lloyd Webber BBC shows - it was recorded earlier on Dec 2nd 2007. The BBC show, HDYSAPLM, featuring Fisher, recently won a prestigious international Emmy Award in New York (2007) for best non-scripted entertainment. [15]

It has also been announced that she will star in her first TV drama. Caught In A Trap will air on ITV1 in 2008 where Connie will play a young woman with an Elvis Presley obsession. Also, in 2008, Fisher is expected to release her second album and was also due to embark on an Andrew Lloyd Webber-sponsored solo concert tour of several cities in the UK, however the tour was cancelled on 13 February 2008 for undisclosed reasons.

Also on February 13, 2008, it was announced that the planned Simply Bernstein concert celebrating the work of composter Leonard Bernstein, which Fisher was part of, had been cancelled. The event was due to run for five performances from 4 to 6 April 2008 at Cadogan Hall.[16]

Newspaper articles relating to the cancelled tours of early 2008 cite poor ticket sales as the real reason for Fisher pulling out of the events. "It is to be believed that her managment team were over ambitious in booking large venues and now plan to scale down and reschedule the tour later in the year at smaller venues after the release of her second album [which has as of yet no release date]". [17] [18] [19] [20]

Discography

Favourite Things

On 9 October 2006, Fisher released her debut album, Favourite Things which featured the following tracklisting:

  1. 'Maybe This Time'
  2. 'Natural Woman'
  3. 'Dance The Dance'
  4. 'Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend'
  5. 'No Matter What'
  6. 'Shout'
  7. 'All The Love I Have'
  8. 'All That Jazz (With Helena Blackman and Siobhan Dillon)
  9. 'Another Suitcase In Another Hall'
  10. 'As Long As He Needs Me'
  11. 'The Sound Of Music Suite - Entr'Acte'
  12. 'The Sound Of Music Suite - My Favourite Things'
  13. 'The Sound Of Music Suite - Something Good'

The Sound Of Music - London Palladium Cast Album

On 11 December 2006, the soundtrack to the new production of The Sound of Music, featuring Connie Fisher, Lesley Garrett and the cast of the production, was released with the following tracklisting:

  1. Preludium
  2. The Sound Of Music
  3. Maria
  4. My Favourite Things
  5. I Have Confidence
  6. Do-Re-Mi
  7. Sixteen Going On Seventeen
  8. My favourite things (Reprise)
  9. How Can Love Survive?
  10. The Sound Of Music (Reprise)
  11. The Lonely Goatherd
  12. The Grand Waltz
  13. Ländler
  14. So Long, Farewell
  15. Climb Ev'ry Mountain
  16. Entr'acte
  17. No Way To Stop It
  18. Something Good
  19. The Wedding Processional
  20. Sixteen Going On Seventeen (Reprise)
  21. Edelweiss
  22. Climb Ev'ry Mountain (Reprise)

The album was produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Nigel Wright for Really Useful Records.

References

  1. ^ "Found: One Maria!". Maria. BBC. 2006-09-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ "Press views: The Sound of Music". BBC News. 2006-11-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ "Profile of Connie". Maria. pembrokeshiretv.com. 2006-09-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ "Profile of Connie". Maria. Dunvant Male Choir. 2006-09-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ "Wilbert Lloyd Roberts Scholarship in the National Eisteddfod". Winners 2005. steddfota.org. 2006-09-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ "Wilbert Lloyd Roberts Scholarship in the National Eisteddfod". Talent competition. Milford and West Wales Mercury. 2006-09-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ "Profile of Connie". Maria. thisistheatre.com. 2006-09-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ "Profile of Connie". Maria. BBC. 2006-09-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ "Doh, Lay Me!". Maria. The Sun. 2006-11-20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ ((cite web | url = http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/theatre/article-23428402-details/The+year+I+nearly+lost+my+voice+-+for+good/article.do | publisher = The Evening Standard | date = 2007-12-18 ))
  11. ^ "Connie Ordered to Rest". Maria. Andrew Lloyd Webber. 2007-03-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ "Mulholland is Maria number two". London Theatre Guide. Society of London Theatre. 2007-03-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ "The People's Choice: winners revealed". Maria. lastminute.com. 2007-10-11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ Martin, Francesca (2007-03-27). "Funny Girl plan for Connie Fisher". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ BBC NEWS | Entertainment | British shows scoop Emmy awards
  16. ^ "Photos: Connie Fisher Does Bernstein After Music". Simply Bernstein. www.whatsonstage.com. 2008-01-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=517650&in_page_id=1773
  18. ^ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/how-do-you-solvea-problem-like-connie-783020.html
  19. ^ http://express.lineone.net/posts/view/35427/How-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-Connie-
  20. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/02/19/dp1901.xml
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