Meanwhile, one of the judges on the Canadian reality show has been charged with assault and forcible confinement.

Police Const. Tony Vella said Tuesday that Simon Lee, a conductor and musical supervisor, was arrested on Sunday night in a Toronto hotel. Vella said the arrest was made after a man in his 20s complained he was assaulted in a room and prevented from leaving. Lee, who was absent for the final two episodes of the show, could not be immediately reached for comment.

Can we post without spoilers yet?

A judge on CBC Television’s reality show How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? was arrested over the weekend, after a man he had allegedly forcibly kept in his Yorkville hotel room climbed out the window and crashed down onto a restaurant patio amid Sunday’s midmorning brunch rush.

Simon Lee, 46, was part of a four-member panel charged with finding an actress for the role of Maria for an upcoming stage performance of The Sound of Music. He was absent from the last two episodes, including last night's series finale announcing the reality show winner.

Police confirmed today that Mr. Lee was charged with assault and forcible confinement, after a man claimed the musical director hit him and blocked the exit of his hotel room in the trendy Hazelton Hotel.

According to a woman eating brunch at the adjacent One Restaurant, a “horrifying yelling and screaming” match between two men could be heard from one of the hotel rooms, late Sunday morning. A computer bag was dropped to the road and a man climbed out the window, over the balcony ledge and scaled down to the restaurant patio.

“The guy starts climbing over the balcony, and he’s yelling and screaming at the other fellow. He crawled over the balcony and then proceeds to scale down the wall to the next level balcony,” one brunch goer, who did not want her name to be used, told the National Post. “He’s obviously looking for something to jump onto, and he sees one of the tables in the restaurant. So he jumps on to one of the tables.”

The woman said the man stormed off, leaving the brunchers stunned, before returning without a shirt about 10 minutes later and yelling at the restaurant patrons that he had forgotten something. Police who had been called to the scene spoke to the man in the back of a cruiser, she said. Police later took a well-dressed older man with glasses into custody.

When asked about the man scaling the side of the hotel, a Hazelton spokesperson said she could confirm “an incident” occurred at around 10:30 a.m. Sunday, and police were subsequently notified.

Mr. Lee, a world renowned conductor and musical supervisor, was personally selected to the show’s judging panel by creator Andrew Lloyd Webber. He had previously worked as conductor for the Academy Award-nominated film The Phantom of the Opera and Jesus Christ Superstar, as well as the Tokyo Philharmonic and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

Jeff Keay, CBC’s head of media relations, confirmed that Mr. Lee missed the final two shows due to the incident, but would not comment further on the arrest.

“It is our understanding that he was charged in relation to an alleged domestic dispute. Given that it’s a personal matter and before the courts, it would be inappropriate for us to comment on that any further,” he said.

“Andrew Lloyd Webber was in town, and had been for the previous show. Simon was sort of acting as his representative, so when we realized he wasn’t going to be available for the last two shows ... we knew the show was going to proceed as planned so there wasn’t going to be any effect on the progress of the show, the outcome or the results.”...

...Mr. Lee appeared in court yesterday and was granted bail. He will be back in court on Aug. 27.

He's got to be older than 46!

^
I was wondering why he wasn't there! and not even a mention!

it all makes sense.

he is as big as a toothpick, how could he assault and forcibly confine someone?

A bit more information:

Maria judge charged with assault

Laura Stone
STAFF REPORTER

A judge on the CBC TV series How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? has been charged with assault and forcible confinement after an incident in a Toronto hotel.

Simon Lee, 46, was arrested following an altercation early Sunday involving a 24-year-old man in a Yorkville hotel room.

Toronto police Const. Tony Vella said police arrested Lee after they were called by a third person, who was not in the room when the attack is alleged to have occurred.

Lee was absent from Sunday and Monday night’s broadcasts of How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, a reality TV show created to choose the female lead for an upcoming stage revival of The Sound of Music.

CBC spokesperson Jeff Keay said the network had not been in touch with Lee directly since his arrest.

“It’s our understanding he was charged in relation to an alleged domestic dispute,” Keay said.

“It would be in appropriate for us to comment on that, except to say that it didn’t affect the progress of the program nor the outcome of the show.”

Lee appeared in court at College Park yesterday and was released on $10,000 bail. Some reports said he attended a party after the show’s final episode on Monday.

On the show’s website, Lee is described as a “a world-renowned conductor and musical supervisor who has worked across many genres including concerts, film, recording artists and theatre.”

Keay described Lee's role in the series as “sort of representing (Sound of Music producer) Andrew Lloyd Webber.” He said Lloyd Webber was involved in the judges’ decisions in the last three shows, and that the audience, not judges, voted for the winner.

Elicia MacKenzie was crowned the winner of the show, and is set to play Maria von Trapp in the Toronto production, which begins previews on Oct. 3 at the Princess of Wales Theatre.

Lee is scheduled to appear in court again on Aug. 27.


With files from Richard Ouzounian

did they keep this out of the news until after the show?

In reply to piper333 question about what the dig at JB was. Gavin introduced a clip by saying that the girls weren't the only ones being judged. It showed ALW and Simon Lee talking about JB, they were dishing about how excruciating it was when JB went 'Fantastic! Fantastic!! Fantastic!!! John seemed to take it in good humour and said that 'He was on the panel so they could 'Get over it! Get over it!! Get over it !!!

In the light of subsequent events I think ALW will have to rethink what is or isn't embarrassing behaviour on the part of a judge.

I don't think they could even if they wanted to.

I can't hold back any longer - I think Janna was robbed!

I can't believe she didn't win! What a shame she wasn't able to sing Defying Gravity so that it would count towards the vote.

From his comments I'd say ALW clearly wanted Elicia, but would have been happy with Janna.

Well done to Elicia, but Janna was my Maria.

that's what i was thinking. other countries would


calm down my pet! lol

I know, I know.
Janna did sing defying gravity on the final though. (on the Sunday night)

I thought she sang it on the results show?

(75% btw - I'll leave it on overnight! )

I'm too shocked to watch it...

She was robbed! Seriously... I'm still in shock!

Though I'm quite pleased with Elicia. I guess this is the first time a person who's been in the sing off has gone on to win (but I suppose she could have had 3rd lowest votes and under normal circumstances wouldn't have been in the sing off!)

I keep thinking that this time, "Helena" (dark haired dark horse) beat "Connie" (lanky, short-haired front-runner). While I think the Janna/Connie comparisons are somewhat exaggerated (they superficially resemble each other but their voices are totally different), Janna was still a huge favorite to win, and she was my favorite as well. I'm sort of all right with it, I guess, because even though I was rooting for Janna, I think Elicia is good too and I think she'll make a fine Maria. I won't be making any special trips to Toronto, but I will be reading the reviews and I wish Elicia the best.

lol- well JB has to stop doing that really, it is annoying. but i agree with you on the Simon Lee thing. arrested! arrested! arrested!


I think Elicia won as well due to her looks. She is pretty and there have been Marias on broadway with longer darker hair. I don't know if they will choose to wig Elicia or not.

oh. well, people remember and i think it was her looks maybe. canadians are fickle for a pretty face.

i can't believe it is 75%. why does it take all day? mine are done in 2 hours max, even if they don't work. LOL.

My husband said the same think about Elicia being pretty and girlish, but he said he'd pay £50 to Janna but not Elicia.

I run three computers off my broadband connection for my business and I have to continue to work while it is uploading - also it was partly during peak time here in the UK. Hopefully you have the files now.

The final isn't up yet, but I'll keep checking.

Oh I was not complaining, just wondering Buddy. didn't know if it was due to the hard work you are doing for me

/me bakes you a pie
(or better yet, buys you a gourmet frozen one and pops it in the cooker)

LOL! Loves pies...

ha

a big thank you to you and vodkavixen for all of your efforts to get me seeing LB.

hey, broadway.com has excellent footage of all things theatre

do a google on broadway.com legally blonde for example and you can see tons of vids from prep and show.

Wow, I've just watched the final on YouTube and am very pleased with the result - it's the first time my favourite on any reality show has ever won!

As most have said, I would have been happy for any of Jayme, Janna or Elicia to have won. I think that the quality of the finalists was a lot higher than the final three in IDA, and that they all seemed better suited to the role.

I've thoroughly enjoyed following this programme and thought that the version of HDYSAPLM with all of the finalists was such a fantastic performance! As was Anything You Can Do...! I've found the group numbers more entertaining than those from IDA.

I'd be thrilled if after her run in Canada, Elicia was contracted to perform as Maria in the West End.

if that happens i'll eat my hat

do you have a link for Anything you Can Do??

Sure, here you go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5OJSxB5iZE

It's from MissAVUK's account.

oh, thanks.

i thought it might have been a version with JB as he has done that song before. (with Ruthie Henshall)

It's here if you want it piper

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bGwG11S_RM

i've seen that one a lot, thanks