Comedian Alan Carr is reportedly set to join a top new ITV musical theatre competition after missing out to former Strictly Come Dancing star Bruno Tonioli for a panellist job on Britain’s Got Talent.
The comedian, 46, is reportedly in talks to join Mamma Mia! I Have a Dream. The show will be similar to talent contests Any Dream Will Do, I’d Do Anything and How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria, where contestants compete for a West End role.
The show will search for two people to fill the roles of Sophie and Sky — played by Amanda Seyfried and Dominic Cooper in the films — for Mamma Mia! at the Novello Theatre in London.
A TV insider told The Sun: “Alan felt fed up that he missed out on the BGT judging role to Bruno Tonioli, but getting the Abba show would go a long way towards compensating him.
“It just remains to be seen if Alan and ITV can hammer out a deal because he is very in demand at the moment.”
The comedian’s representatives have been approached for comment.
Tonioli has joined Amanda Holden, Simon Cowell and Alesha Dixon on the panel of the talent contest. He replaces comedian David Walliams.
Tonioli told The Sun when it was announced he had joined the show in January: “This is the biggest show on British TV, now that I’m here. I mean it.
“Simon is going to hate that I’ve said that but oh well.
“I have nothing bad to say about Strictly, it changed my life.
“(But) this is completely different and it’s a completely different sort of judging. The range of this show, you see things that you have no idea are coming.”
Last year comedian Walliams apologised for making “disrespectful comments” about auditioning contestants during breaks in filming the popular show in January 2020.
Mamma Mia! I Have A Dream is set to launch nationwide later in 2023 and will include an eight-part series airing on ITV.
It follows the success of ABBA Voyage.
The concert features “ABBA-tar” younger versions of the Swedish band Bjorn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Faltskog, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad performing songs from their back catalogue with a live 10-piece band. It is based at a purpose-built venue in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in east London.
The “Abba-tars” were created through months of motion-capture and performance techniques with the four band members and an 850-strong team from Industrial Light and Magic, the company founded by George Lucas, in its first foray into music.
