How do you solve a problem like Maria?

BY ELYSE AMEND

elyse.amend@transcontinental.ca

When you ask 19-year-old Erin Berger what she would like to be, the words “flibbertijibbet,” “will o’ the wisp,” and even “a clown” might be part of her answer.

No, the Vanier College music student is not interested in joining the circus, but she is very excited about heading to Toronto next month to audition for the role of Maria, the eccentric, lovable lead in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic, The Sound of Music. Berger is one of 200 young actresses from across Canada who made it through preliminary auditions to take part in a new CBC reality television show named after the musical’s second song that’s sure to get stuck in your head, How do you solve a problem like Maria?

“I was totally shocked when it happened. I mean, I really wanted to go to Toronto, but there were so many people, I figured, what are the odds,” Berger said.

The Dollard des Ormeaux resident will head off to Toronto for the auditions on March 17 and 18, after which the group of 200 will be whittled down to 50. Those Maria-wannabes will then be sent off to ‘Maria School,’ where the 20 best are selected to move on to the next round. The final 10 will then be chosen. The winner, selected in part by viewers, will play Maria in Andrew Lloyd Webber, David Ian and David Mirvish’s production of the Sound of Music at Toronto’s Princess of Wales Theatre in fall 2008. The entire process will be televised on CBC this summer.

“It’s a dream role, but a short term goal would be to make it to the top 50. But, I’d love to play Maria,” Berger said, adding it was Julie Andrews’ performance in the 1965 film adaptation of the musical that got her turned on to music and singing when she was 12 years old.

A few years later, a student play at Lindsay Place High School inspired her even more.

“I went to go see Dames at Sea, and I thought, wow, this is really moving. I actually cried at the end, because I thought, all these people are doing this and this is what I want to do,” she said. “In Grade 10, I joined the school play, and that’s when I started to get really serious about this.”

Berger’s love for music and performing even led her to change her academic path after starting in social sciences at Vanier. After two semesters, she transferred into the music program and is now thinking about pursuing music in university after she graduates from college this semester. “I would be in the social sciences reading room at school and, from the window, I’d hear this girl singing opera and I just thought, wow, this girl is really good. And I couldn’t deny that this is what I wanted to do,” she said of her academic switch. Outside of school, she spends much of her free time with the West Island Student Theatre Association (WISTA), a group of young musical theatre enthusiasts who practice together and regularly put on shows.

Her father, Craig Berger, says he is glad to see his daughter following her ambitions.

“This is something she wants. We’re supportive, because you need to follow your dreams sometimes,” he said. “We know it’s a tough business to be in, but you need to have dreams and you need to follow your dreams.”

As for the reality TV aspect of the process, Berger says she isn’t too worried about having cameras follow her around.

“Walking into the room (for the audition), it was a little nerve-racking with all the cameras and stuff,” she said. “But then, I just thought, I can get really nervous about this or turn it into a positive thing. So, I just treated the cameras as the audience.”