How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? - Episode 13

The final 3 episode opens with Janna, Jayme and Elicia rather appropriately doing Anything You Can Do. After the nicely done comic piece, host Gavin Crawford makes two surprising announcements. First, musical director Simon Lee is absent due to personal reasons. Given his central role in the series, and the way he has impressed with his professionalism and courtesy in a tough job, one can’t help but offer a quick prayer Simon's okay. The second announcement is that Canada will have no say in whom the final two will be – or rather, Canada has already selected one of the final two and Andrew Lloyd Weber himself will choose the other.

Because last week's top vote getter is guaranteed a spot in the finals, that slot has already been determined and will be announced during tonight’s show. The remaining two Marias will perform an elimination duet. ALW will then make his choice for the second finalist, at which time the lines for voting will open. The two remaining contestants will then sing one last time and the results will be announced in Monday night’s final.

We cut to Stratford veteran director Donna Feore analyzing the women’s acting abilities. She feels Janna needs to act in broader, less intimate strokes for the big Princess of Wales theatre. She complains that Jayme doesn’t listen and process direction as well as she is going to need to for the show. As for Elicia, her comments finally make it clear to me what it is the judges have seen in her that has excited them so much: it’s the excitement of the blank page. Though Elicia is but a year younger than Jayme and Janna, the judges perceive her to be less experienced, rawer and thus easier for them to mold in their own image.

Time for the individual performances; Jayme starts, doing I Don’t How to Love Him. Beautiful tune, beautifully done. The only complaint I have is she had her brow knitted throughout the performance. A flash of the joy the singer must feel on some level to be so in love would have been nice. Janna sings Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina (not one of my favorite songs). Competent, but more than mere competence is needed tonight. Elicia does Memories. The melody is far and away the most theatrical of the three songs and she makes the most of it. If the voting were based solely on these performances, I’d say Elicia would win.

ALW cautions the viewer that none of the three numbers were Maria songs, which I think is very fair of him. We get a clip of the women performing on the stage of the Princess of Wales, empty save for ALW. One can only imagine the rush they must have felt.

All three do My Favorite Things. Another note and inflection perfect performance. We go to the two judges, Barrowman and Overfelt. This is what I wrote during the commercial that followed: “At this point in the competition it seems that neither one wants to take the results out of the hands of the voters. They praise all three without reservation or favour.” In re-watching the sequence, however, it seemed to me both judges are the most excited by Elicia.

Back from commercial, Gavin names the women and says, “Last week one of you managed to get the most votes.” Actually, Gavin, it is impossible that one of them wouldn’t, isn’t it? In any case, the contestant who received the most votes last week and so earns a spot in the final two is 24 year old Woodstock, Ontario, native Janna Polzin.

Of the two remaining contestants, ALW saves Elicia.

Did I miss the promised elimination duet? No – they just decided not to do it, I guess. Despite the format explanation given by Gavin at the top of the show and posted on the HDYSAPLM website (“Last week's top vote getter is guaranteed a spot in the Final Two; she will be revealed during Sunday's broadcast. The remaining two Marias will perform an elimination duet, following which Andrew Lloyd Webber will decide on one who will continue as the second finalist in the Final Two.”) there is no duet. ALW takes all of 30 seconds to announce he is saving Elicia.

The three finalists sing So Long, Farwell, with Jayme as the lead. How she does it without breaking into tears is beyond me. Jayme Armstrong, I tip my hat to you.

Following a montage of Elicia’s performances and a montage of Janna’s performances, the two finalists perform The Sound of Music as a duet. I have said this competition is Janna’s to lose, but right now it feels like it’s Elicia’s to win.