Canada has finally answered the question of "How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?" by voting for Elicia MacKenzie to take on the coveted role of Maria Von Trapp in the forthcoming Canadian production of The Sound of Music.

After months of auditions, intense training at Maria school and a nail-biting finale the viewing public chose the 23-year-old from Vancouver.

"To see Elicia, the dark horse coming from absolutely nowhere and taking the competition in this way is one of the most thrilling things I have experienced in my five series of major reality television programs," said Andrew Lloyd Webber.

"I think Janna is a wonderful artist but there is something about Elicia that has grown and grown throughout this series and I am convinced that she can take the role of Maria further than it has ever been taken," he continued. "It is a credit to the supreme professionals who have worked in Canada with all the girls that a result so totally unexpected and so right has prevailed. This is a great night for reality TV and for musical theatre and I know it will have provided a platform for the finalists to have major careers in the theatre."

"I am honoured to have been associated with the program. The remarkable production values that CBC and Temple Street have brought to this format have more than matched the Emmy award-winning original."

This is the second time Andrew Lloyd Webber has helped answer the question of "How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?" He pioneered television casting for musical theatre with the original hit BBC series of How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? which went on to win an International Emmy. He repeated his success with "Any Dream Will Do" which cast the lead role in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and has cast the musical Oliver! for the BBC this year through the television series "I'd Do Anything".

The Sound of Music will open at The Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto later this year. Visit the official Canadian website for more information on the forthcoming stage show.

July 2008