How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? (Canadian TV series)

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? was a Canadian reality competition television series that aired on CBC Television. It premiered on June 15, 2008 at 8pm EDT, and concluded on July 28, 2008. The show is based on the series of the same name which aired on BBC One in the United Kingdom in 2006. The Canadian version was cancelled after one season.

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?
How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? (CBC)
Created byAndrew Lloyd Webber
StarringGavin Crawford (Host)>
Simon Lee (Judge)
Elaine Overholt (Judge)
John Barrowman (Judge)
Country of originCanada
Original language(s)English
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes6
Production
Producer(s)Temple Street Productions
Release
Original networkCBC Television
Original releaseJune 15 
July 28, 2008

The premise of the contest was to find a Musical theatre performer to play the role of Maria von Trapp in the 2008 Andrew Lloyd Webber and David Mirvish revival of The Sound of Music at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto. Initial auditions were held in seven Canadian cities. The show was hosted by Gavin Crawford and featured Simon Lee, Elaine Overholt, and John Barrowman as the judges for the show.

The first episode of the show featured the top 50 auditioners at the show's Maria School being cut to 20. The second episode had the Marias performing in front of Lloyd Webber in London, and then the 20 were cut to 10 with his input. Beginning June 22, the Marias performed live in Toronto every Sunday night with a live orchestra. The voting results aired on the following night.

Finalists

Ten contestants made it through the audition rounds and performed during the live shows.

Finalist Age* From Apron Color Status
Alison Jutzi 29 Guelph, Ontario Burgundy Eliminated 1st in Week 1
Allie Hughes 22 Toronto, Ontario Dark Blue Eliminated 2nd in Week 2
Katie Kerr 19 Windsor, Ontario Baby Pink Eliminated 3rd in Week 3
Kyla Tingley 24 Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Hot Pink Eliminated 4th in Week 3
Donna Lajeunesse 22 Bowmanville, Ontario Orange Eliminated 5th in Week 4
Tamara Fifield 21 Truro, Nova Scotia Sky Blue Eliminated 6th in Week 4
Marisa McIntyre 25 Waterloo, Ontario Dark Green Eliminated 7th in Week 5
Jayme Armstrong[1][2] 24 Richmond, Ontario Red Third place
Janna Polzin 24 Woodstock, Ontario Lime Green Second place
Elicia MacKenzie 23 Surrey, British Columbia Purple Winner

* at the start of the contest

Results summary

Place Contestant Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Final
1 Elicia Safe Safe Safe Bottom 3 Safe Winner
2 Janna Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Runner-up
3 Jayme Safe Bottom 2 Safe Safe Bottom 2 Third Place
4 Marisa Bottom 2 Safe Safe Safe Eliminated Eliminated
5 Tamara Safe Safe Bottom 3 Eliminated Eliminated
6 Donna Safe Safe Safe Eliminated Eliminated
7 Kyla Safe Safe Eliminated Eliminated
8 Katie Safe Safe Eliminated Eliminated
9 Allie Safe Eliminated Eliminated
10 Alison Eliminated Eliminated

Live shows

The live shows saw the finalists eliminated one by one following both individual and group performances. Once eliminated, the leaving contestant ended the program by leading a performance of "So Long, Farewell" from The Sound of Music with the remaining contestants.

Week 1 (June 22, 2008)

Following the first week of the competition, Alison was the first Maria to be eliminated from the competition. The show performances were:

  • Group performances:
    • "How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?" (from the musical The Sound of Music)
    • "I Have Confidence" (from the musical The Sound of Music)
Contestants' performances on the first live show
Contestant Order Song Result
Allie Hughes 1 "It's Oh So Quiet" Safe
Kyla Tingley 2 "Torn" Safe
Elicia MacKenzie 3 "Color My World" Safe
Donna Lajeunesse 4 "I Am Changing" Safe
Tamara Fifield 5 "Over the Rainbow" Safe
Jayme Armstrong 6 "Son of a Preacher Man" Safe
Marisa MacIntyre 7 "Jolene" Bottom 2
Katie Kerr 8 "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" Safe
Janna Polzin 9 "My Baby Just Cares for Me" Safe
Alison Jutzi 10 "I'm Every Woman" Eliminated

Week 2 (June 29, 2008)

As the mission for this week, the potential Marias had to prove how fit they are by taking part in a thorough workout.

For their individual performances, the contestants sang songs by Canadian artists to celebrate Canada Day.

The show performances were:

Contestants' performances on the second live show
Contestant Order Song Result
Donna Lajeunesse 1 "Something to Talk About" Safe
Jayme Armstrong 2 "Constant Craving" Bottom 2
Marisa MacIntyre 3 "Seven Day Fool" Safe
Elicia MacKenzie 4 "Black Velvet" Safe
Tamara Fifield 5 "Complicated" Safe
Allie Hughes 6 "I Will Remember You" Eliminated
Janna Polzin 7 "Turn Off the Light" Safe
Katie Kerr 8 "Insensitive" Safe
Kyla Tingley 9 "Dance Me to the End of Love" Safe
  • Sing-off:

Week 3 (July 6, 2008)

For their individual performances, the contestants sang songs from the musicals.

The show performances were:

Contestants' performances on the third live show
Contestant Order Song Result
Katie Kerr 1 "Easy to Be Proud" Eliminated
Elicia MacKenzie 2 "Cabaret" Safe
Marisa MacIntyre 3 "If I Were a Bell" Safe
Janna Polzin 4 "Defying Gravity" Safe
Tamara Fifield 5 "You Must Love Me" Bottom 3
Jayme Armstrong 6 "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" Safe
Kyla Tingley 7 "All That Jazz" Eliminated
Donna Lajeunesse 8 "Out of My Dreams" Safe
  • Sing-off:
    • Katie Kerr, Tamara Fifield and Kyla Tingley were in the sing-off, and performed "Superstar" from the musical Jesus Christ Superstar.
    • Simon Lee chose to save Tamara and bid farewell to Katie and Kyla.

Week 4 (July 13, 2008)

As the mission for this week, the contestants act with the children to help separate between the potential Marias.

The show performances were:

Contestants' performances on the fourth live show
Contestant Order Song Result
Elicia MacKenzie 1 "Shout" Bottom 3
Donna Lajeunesse 2 "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" Eliminated
Janna Polzin 3 "California Dreamin'" Safe
Jayme Armstrong 4 "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" Safe
Tamara Fifield 5 "You Don't Own Me" Eliminated
Marisa MacIntyre 6 "Downtown" Safe
  • Sing-off:
    • Elicia MacKenzie, Donna Lajeunesse and Tamara Fifield were in the sing-off, and performed "Tell Me on a Sunday" from the musical Tell Me on a Sunday.
    • Simon Lee chose to save Elicia and bid farewell to Donna and Tamara.

Week 5 (July 20, 2008)

This week, just like the British version, the mission was a chemistry test with John Barrowman, which involved his giving the Marias a surprise kiss.

The show performances were:

  • Group performances:
    • "I Have Confidence" (from the musical The Sound of Music)
    • "It's a Grand Night for Singing" (from the musical State Fair)
    • "Sway" (The Pussycat Dolls)
Contestants' performances on the fifth live show
Contestant Order Song Result
Janna Polzin 1 "Anyone Who Had a Heart" Safe
Elicia MacKenzie 2 "You Needed Me" Safe
Jayme Armstrong 3 "I Say a Little Prayer" Bottom 2
Marisa MacIntyre 4 "River Deep Mountain High" Eliminated
  • Sing-off:

Week 6 (July 27, 2008)

For their individual performances, the contestants sang songs by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The show performances were:

Contestants' performances on the sixth live show
Contestant Order Andrew Lloyd Webber song Order Song of the Season Result
Jayme Armstrong 1 "I Don't Know How to Love Him" N/A N/A (already eliminated) Eliminated
Janna Polzin 2 "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" 4 "Defying Gravity" Runner-up
Elicia MacKenzie 3 "Memory" 5 "Cabaret" Winner
  • After being announced as the season winner, Elicia concluded the season with a performance of "The Sound of Music".

After the show

Elicia MacKenzie won the most votes, as announced prematurely on the Canadian Press wire at 7:30pm, July 28, half an hour before the show aired in the Toronto area.

On August 14, 2008 it was announced that runner-up, Janna Polzin, had been cast as an "alternate Maria" for the Toronto stage production. Janna played Maria twice a week (Wednesday evenings and Saturday matinees), while Elicia will perform the role six times weekly (Tuesday evenings, Wednesday matinees, Thursday through Saturday evenings and Sunday matinees).[3]

Some viewers of the show have claimed that the panel and Lloyd Webber favored Polzin over the other performers in the competition. However, Elicia MacKenzie ended up beating Polzin in the final.

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.