Connie Fisher is not only the living the dream, but just like Maria in The Sound Of Music, she too has found love, against the odds. She talks to Katherine MacAlister about singing, cake and Trainman.

Connie Fisher is desperate to know where to find the best cake in Oxford.

And to be honest she looks like she could do with some. But then that’s hardly surprising because the tiny 27 year-old hasn’t stopped for a second since winning How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?

Not only has she pulled off the biggest musical role in the West End, but she’s also starred on TV, in theatre and found the time to get married, before returning to the stage for Oxford’s New Theatre Christmas production of The Sound Of Music. No wonder she’s hungry.

But then it’s been a white-knuckle, ride-by-the-seat-of-your-pants few years for the former telesales operator and she’s loved every minute of it. “Coming back to The Sound Of Music is like putting on an old cosy pair of slippers. I love playing Maria and I love being on tour,” she says. “The challenge now is keeping it fresh after four years.

“But I always remember that I was handed a golden ticket,” she beams. So why hadn’t she made it until then? “I was always the bridesmaid and never the bride. I always got down to the last two. But there is no better audition process than the one you get on TV.”

Speaking of brides, many of you will have seen Connie’s recent nuptials in Hello! magazine. But while her courtship ended with a fairytale wedding, the pair nearly didn’t meet at all.

She met Jeremy Reed, a city banker, on a platform at Bristol Templemeads, as Connie headed back to the West End. “We talked for seven minutes and we just clicked.

But then we parted when my train arrived and I didn’t give him my name or number because I didn’t want to look desperate,” Connie recalls. “And the only things he knew about me were that I was in a show, won a TV thing and that I was Welsh.

“There are so many people in this world that you have to seize your opportunities. Jeremy had managed to mention that he wasn’t married and I’d managed to mention that I was single in those few minutes,” she grins. “So when I got to work I told everyone I’d met this guy and we called him Trainman.

“But I knew in those seven minutes that he was the man I could have married, because you just know when you meet someone, and I do believe in fate.”

But three weeks went by without a word, and Trainman’s name became taboo in Connie’s theatre. “When he didn’t phone or come to the opening night I was so disappointed and no one was allowed to mention his name after that,” she recalls.

“And then one day Bryn Terfel phoned and said: ‘A friend of a friend of a friend met you on a platform and wants your number’ and I just screamed ‘it’s Trainman’! We went for a date two weeks later and got married this summer,” she beams.

So doesn’t Connie want to stay at home and play wife for a bit? “Yes there is a part of me that wants to be Connie Reed. At the moment I’m making the best of it while I can still play Maria.

“And anyway, Maria is such a lovely person that if I’m having a bad day, going on stage and singing makes me feel better. And we have a lot in common – we both love singing and children.”

Which does beg the question about starting a family. “You sound just like my mum, stop pressurising me,” Connie laughs. “But I think I’ll climb a few more mountains first and fulfil a few more ambitions. I definitely do plan to have some Von Trapps, just not quite yet.

“Now anyway, about that cake.....”

* The Sound Of Music runs at Oxford’s New Theatre from Dec 7-Jan 2 2011.

Call the box office on 0844 8471585.