She missed out on Maria by a whisker, but Helena Blackman is enjoying a star role in South Pacific

HELENA Blackman dubbed herself Miracle Maria' thanks to her long pursuit of BBC1's chance to star in The Sound Of Music in the West End, which ended with a runnerup spot. The Guildford School of Acting trained performer picked herself up and landed the starring role of Nellie Forbush in a regional tour of South Pacific.

Meanwhile, the How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? winner, Connie Fisher, has suffered illness problems and completed a troubled 18 months in February by cancelling 18 concerts, including a visit to Newcastle's City Hall on June 2.

Helena, who was struggling with a bug when we chatted, was fairly pragmatic about the rigours of eight shows a week life as she prepared to play Darlington Civic Theatre for a week from May 12.

"I'm better off," she says about Connie's tough test on stage, "thank goodness it wasn't me. I think you make the best of the situation you're in and it's unfortunate for her. You've got to be able to deal with all that and, if it was me, it would be a completely different situation again. I'm much happier doing what I'm doing now and I think I'm reasonably bright and savvy and down to earth. It would take a lot for anything serious to go wrong, but I know when to keep my head down and get on with the job.

"It must be very different when you're in the spotlight and you want your space and you can't have it. I hope I would have managed eight shows a week as Maria."

Helena warms to my suggestion of her runner-up performance earning the understudy role in The Sound Of Music and comments: "If they were going to offer me the understudy, brilliant four shows a week is fabulous for me. I'd have been happy to be the alternate.

The difference between professionals and amateurs is the way you deal with your voice when you're sick. You get better quicker if you're a professional.

I'd still rather take a week off and disappoint 5,000 people than ruin my career."

Regarding the latest Andrew Lloyd Webber hunt on BBC1 for Nancy in Oliver! she feels the format has got more of a formula now than when ten Marias battled for one role.

"It's not ideal to select people this way, but I do believe in talent shows. I believe we should make stars out of our musical performers. I don't mind them looking for a Nancy because I'll never be a Nancy. I'd be very concerned if they tried to find Eliza Doolittle. I'd be gutted because I can't audition for that again in this way."

ON her role in South Pacific she says: "I went to see the film when I was about ten and decided not to watch it again. I knew Mary Martin had played the role on Broadway and Mitzi Gaynor was in the film and I'm much younger so you can't really draw that many comparisons.

"I think, in this production, they've gone for the comedy element much more so that's been really fun to do,"

says Helena, who had a vocal coach to Weekendradio ensure that her US accent was up to scratch. "I wasn't tempted to stay in character at all because Nellie is higherpitched than me so that was too dangerous vocally," she explains about an accent belonging to ex-US president Bill Clinton's home state of Arkansas.

She feels that her portrayal of the character has changed during the tour, which finishes in July, and adds: "It's such a big part that there's always that chance to experiment and thankfully I've been allowed to do that."

This is her first experience of working with Dave Willetts, who plays her older man' love interest, Emile de Becque, in the wartime scenario of Rodgers & Hammerstein's musical, and she jokes about her co-star being "young at heart, even though there is about 30 years between us. He likes talking to all the young ones and, hopefully, that's what comes across to the audience.

"This is a very different journey to any roles I've attempted before and a very big acting role compared to a lot of theatre today."

Helena's main challenge is the "singalong" element of the well-known hits from the show.

"Sometimes the audience start joining in, which can be a bit worrying because my version on stage may differ slightly as I'm trying to make those words come alive," she says.

And next? "I feel like a break from singing and to do a play, something very straight or do some television. Nellie is such an amazing role that going back to sing a couple of lines isn't going to do."