Student lives the dream in quest to be singing nun

A FORMER Rose of Tralee contestant yesterday revealed taking part in a television show in a bid to star as novice nun Maria in The Sound of Music on the West End was like a dream come true.

Student Aoife Mulholland, 28, from Salthill, Co Galway, is facing stiff competition in the BBC One show How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? which sees award-winning composer Andrew Lloyd Webber hunt for a new star.

But Aoife revealed she was delighted to be in the last nine after more than 7,000 people auditioned to take part in the show.

“It is like a dream,” she said. “We get up in the morning we are out by half eight, we have singing lessons, dancing lessons, acting lessons all day. I couldn’t ask for more, plus we get all this exposure on TV. Whatever happens I’ve had a brilliant time already.”

Aoife said her stint as the Galway Rose in the Rose of Tralee festival in 2003 has prepared her well.

The 28-year-old has been taking part in amateur musicals in Co Galway, and she revealed the first one she starred in was The Sound of Music.

Only last September, Aoife decided to quit her job and move to London to take up studying for an MA in Acting and Musical Theatre at the Central School of Speech and Drama.

“I said if I don’t do it now, I will regret it for the rest of my life,” she said.

At auditions in Lloyd Webber’s country pile, Aoife said: “We performed in his little theatre in an old church. He has put on all his shows there first, like Phantom of the Opera, Starlight Express. It was such an honour to perform on a stage where all those shows have gone before.”

Viewers are getting the chance to vote for their favourites in the show which airs on BBC One on Saturday nights.