Okay, so there is no "Silence of the Lambs - The Musical" but don't pretend it doesn't have legs.

I'd say that 50 per cent of the population like the thought of sitting through lots of song and dance routines. Maybe 40 per cent of the population find musicals about as fun as oh, I don't know, say a colonoscopy. And the remaining 10 per cent don't care, so long as the musical they sit through doesn't feature any Celine Dion tunes.

My girlfriend's childhood love of The Sound of Music has been ruined by a friend who frequently bursts into impromptu renditions of Edelweiss, I Am Sixteen Going On Seventeen and So Long, Farewell. The term Sound of Music Tourette's springs to mind.

The hottest musical at the moment is The Producers. Actually, if I'm going to be honest, the real musical of the moment appears to be Jerry Springer - The Opera. "Witness triumph, tragedy and trailer trash as high art meets low in the new genre-breaking opera," says the blurb. Since debuting at London's National Theatre in 2003 it has gone on to win a perplexing number of awards including the Olivier Best New Musical Award for 2004.

Back to The Producers. As far as musicals go, it's a goodie. It's about a failed producer who hatches a plan with his wallflower accountant to stage a surefire Broadway flop ("Spingtime For Hitler") and pocket the investors' cash.

Wouldn't you know it though, the musical is a monster hit and mayhem ensues. There's something for everyone in this musical: a tall Swedish blonde, fake pigeons, dancing nannas and Bert Newton in lederhosen. Plus it's genuinely very funny. Did I mention the fake birds? What's not to love?

Accordingly, today's blog entry was going to be about my favourite fake birds in movies and TV shows through the years. Sadly, my list ran out at Big Bird and Gonzo's chickens on The Muppet Show. Although I did learn that when filming the thriller, The Birds, Alfred Hitchcock tied live birds to Tippi Hedren's dress using fishing line. Just to create that real sense of her being pecked to death. Cool, huh?

Anyway, instead I'm going to wow you with some trivia from our favourite (and I use that term loosely) musicals from over the years.

Let's start with the 1965 movie version of The Sound of Music. Julie Andrews has confessed that when filming the opening song, The Sound of Music, for which she's a nun on the run, frolicking up a hill, she was repeatedly knocked off her feet by the force of the helicopter shooting the scene.

Did you know that Yul Brynner was the original choice to play Captain Von Trapp?

And when Charmain Carr (Leisl) did the first take of I Am Sixteen in the gazebo with Rolfe (the snitch), she slipped and fell through a pane of glass and hurt her ankle. Look closely and you'll see that she has a bandage around her leg, which the producers covered with make-up.

And finally, the real Maria von Trapp appears in the background (playing an elderly Austrian woman) when Julie Andrews sings I Have Confidence.

In the more recent smash-hit musical Chicago, both Nicole Kidman and Madonna were considered for the roles of Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly. These roles ended up winning awards for Renée Zellweger and Catherine Zeta Jones.

Speaking of Zeta Jones, the producers wanted her to have her natural long hair in the movie, but she insisted on sporting that short dark bob. Why? Her long hair would have fallen over her face during the dance sequences, giving people reason to doubt she did all the dancing herself.

Can't imagine anyone other than John Travolta and Olivia Newton John in Grease? The role of Danny was first offered to Henry Winkler (Fonzie), but he turned it down because he feared being typecast as a teenage hoodlum (or, more accurately, as a middle-aged man playing a teenage hoodlum).

Speaking of age, despite the fact that Grease was about a group of teenagers, the majority of the cast were in their 20s and 30s - not unlike Beverly Hills 90210. Olivia Newton John was 29 playing a 16-year-old. Stockard Channing (Rizzo) was 34!