A TV search for next Maria

LONDON — Julie Andrews wannabes lined up Friday to audition for a reality TV show with a new twist: The winner gets the lead role in a new Andrew Lloyd Webber stage production of “The Sound of Music.”

The hopefuls came in all shapes, sizes and ages, limbering up with impromptu choruses of “Edelweiss” before trying to convince the judges they would make the perfect young nun.

A BBC spokeswoman for the “How Do I Solve a Problem Like Maria?” show said more than 1,000 hopefuls had applied for the weekend of auditions. They will be whittled down to 10 finalists, with TV viewers voting for who should star in the London West End production due to open at the end of the year.