How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? - Episode 14

Well, this is it. Tonight the problem will be solved.

The top ten contestants return for the opening production number – How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria (what else?). Seeing Donna again reminds me of the dressing down she got from Elaine and how much fun it would have been if they had let us be flies on the wall for some of the behind the scenes drama.

Speaking of Elaine, Gavin asks her if she thought, back at Maria School, that Janna and Elicia would be in the final. She responds with a succinct synopsis of what we have seen over the past seven weeks.

“Right from the beginning Janna stood out in my mind as one who was going to go to the very top. She had the poise, she had the training, she had… Everytime she sang, every time she acted it was magnificent. Janna is a Maria.

“And then Elicia; I watched you before our very eyes explode into this incredible talent as you learned to trust yourself. I remember the tears. You are the dark horse that has come up the middle and, my dear, you also deserve to be Maria.”

The inevitable montages follow, spiced with snippets of the women addressing the camera. As Elicia talks about the first audition we get a clip with Simon Lee in it and I realize he’s not here for the final, either. Not a word has been said so far. Will they mention him in the wrap-up?

Elicia and Janna both do an encore performance of one of their “showstoppers,” as Gavin calls them. Elicia has picked Cabaret, which was the breakout performance that seemed to finally position her in the judges' mind as a possible rival to what were then the two front runners, Janna and Jayme. She does it with slightly different choreography and an incredibly higher degree of confidence, this time. But I must say – she hit the bottom of the money note. As the person who commented on last nights show says, “with all her show-stopping belting, [she] just doesn't seem like she'll be able to hold up consistently under that kind of pace.”

Janna does Defying Gravity. As happened the first time I heard her do this number, when she slides up to the soprano register coming out of the intro, I get a chill. And she nails the end.

Last night I said if I were voting solely on the basis of the performances in that episode, Elicia would be Maria. Tonight I say Janna. But tonight, it’s meaningless – the votes are in.

We cut to commercial. We come back to final words from ALW:

“Janna, you are the consummate professional. Of all the girls in the competition, you remind me most of Connie Fisher, who won in London and went on to win the London Critics’ Prize. A fantastic girl. And you: I can only say that you were superb.

“Elicia… it is a wonderful journey you have made. It’s extraordinary, this, as both the panelists have already said; this extraordinary discovery from the beginning of the program. It’s almost from zero to hero.”

The moment of truth: dark horse Elicia noses out Janna at the finish line.

She closes the show with the song they have saved for her alone: The Sound of Music. She is great, but I feel let down. I thought Janna owned the dream more than any of the others by a wide margin. Way back in episode 1 I wrote, “If she [Janna] doesn’t get the role, there will be stalking.” The comment was and is a joke. But Janna, you will need to mourn. Be comforted by the fact that some of us are mourning with you.

Oh - and the name Simon Lee was never spoken once. What is up with that?

And finally - this production has set the bar for talent competitions. Screw the amateurs. I like watching the pros.