Andrew Lloyd Webber is currently searching for Nancy for his new production of Oliver! And on Sunday the voting public decided that of the 11 Nancy wannabees, the only two black contestants (Cleo and Keisha) should face the humiliating ‘sing-off’ to stay in the competition (made more humiliating by having to sing a Lloyd Webber tune).
A friend of mine that was also watching agreed with the vote, saying: “The public’s right - Nancy’s not black.” And for a nano-second my brain raced back to the original film version of Oliver!, in which I’m convinced Nancy was a strawberry blonde, and I agreed too. Until of course I realised I was a victim of my own pre-conceptions; there’s no reason at all why Nancy can’t be black.
