Born to be a Superstar!
British singer wins title role in Lloyd Webber’s arena tour
Thirty-one-year-old Ben Forster of sunderland will play Jesus Christ on stage after winning ITV’s Superstar reality show.
He will play the role in an arena tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Jesus Christ Superstar after getting the most public votes in the live final.
Mr Forster, a stage-school graduate who has already appeared in the West End, pipped Rory Taylor, 24, to claim the role, with former male model Roger Wright, 41, coming third.
The tearful winner, who won the public vote after a passionate rendition of Queen’s Who Wants To Live Forever, said he was looking forward to starting work this week.
“I can’t believe it, I wasn’t expecting this to happen in my lifetime,” he said.
“So thank you so much to everyone who voted, I will absolutely do you proud.”
Sir Andrew’s and Tim Rice’s musical goes on tour in September, featuring comic Tim Minchin as Judas Iscariot, DJ Chris Moyles as King Herod and Melanie C as Mary Magdalene.
Both Sir Andrew and Spice Girl Mel C were on the show’s judging panel alongside comic Dawn French and singer and deejay Jason Donovan.
Mel C, who had previously described Ben as her favourite, described his rendition of the Queen song as “utterly astounding”.
He had sung his heart out after missing his cue at the start of the song.
Sir Andrew said it was “mesmeric”, while Mr Donovan said he was a “superstar”.