Bayne and McFadden Win Casting Contest to Star in Grease in the West End

Susan McFadden and Danny Bayne

Danny Bayne and Susan McFadden have won the final of ITV’s reality casting contest show Grease is the Word, and will take up the lead roles of Danny and Sandy in the London production of Grease at the West End’ s Piccadilly Theatre from 25 July.

The programme aired on 9 June, and marked the second time that evening that a major West End musical had been cast by TV talent show, with Lee Mead having won the lead in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat on Any Dream Will Do, the BBC's direct rival to Grease is the Word, as reported here.

McFadden, 24, is from Dublin and is the sister of ex-Westlife star Brian McFadden, who was seen cheering her on in the audience of the Grease is the Word finale. Aspiring performer Bayne, 19, is from Kent, and to date has been a student at London's Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts. The pair triumphed over their last remaining rivals, Michelle Antrobus and Anthony Kavanagh. Once the result of the public vote was in, they joined each other on stage for a duet of “We Go Together” from Grease; the first time they had performed it together before an audience. Olivia Newton-John, who played Sandy in the 1978 film version of Grease, sent a good-luck message to the winners via a satellite link-up.

McFadden said of her win, “The first thing I’m going to do is drink a big bottle of champagne. I have worked so hard to get here tonight.” Bayne admitted that, “I never thought I was going to win tonight, and I can’t wait.”