CBC’s How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? ended on a high note this week, averaging over 700,000 viewers for its last two episodes, which saw Vancouver’s Elicia MacKenzie win the lead for the fall remount of The Sound of Music.

Sunday night’s performance episode peaked at over a million viewers, while 715,000 viewers tuned in Monday to see MacKenzie named the winner (all numbers 2+).

The reality series debuted in June to about half a million viewers, although detailed numbers for its full run were not available at press time.

The ratings were ‘excellent’ for a Monday night, says CBC spokes Jeff Keay, who adds that the pubcaster is very pleased with the show. Maria aired opposite CTV’s similarly themed reality High School Musical: Get in the Picture on both nights.

The seven-week series, based on the BBC show co-developed by musical theatre icon Andrew Lloyd Webber, saw more than 48 hopefuls try out for the role of Maria von Trapp. It was hosted by This Hour Has 22 Minutes‘ Gavin Crawford (pictured) and produced by Toronto’s Temple Street Productions (Canada’s Next Top Model).

The upcoming Sound of Music production begins its run at Toronto’s Princess of Wales Theatre on Oct. 3.

From Playback Daily