(Warning: This post contains spoilers for “The Masked Singer” Season 8)
He may have been the first to get eliminated during Wednesday’s episode of “The Masked Singer,” but Maize still got quite the compliment from Andrew Lloyd Webber on his performance of “Heaven on Their Minds.”
“After his accolades, I could live and die on what he said for the rest of my life,” Maize, who turned out to be “And Just Like That…” actor Mario Cantone, told TheWrap.
Webber was highly impressed by the rendition of the opening number from “Jesus Christ Superstar,” admitting he had no idea Cantone could put on such a show. The composer joined the show as a guest judge for the Andrew Lloyd Webber theme night, which Cantone said only added to the pressure of performing on the “Masked Singer” stage as a done-up ear of corn.
“You want to get it right because he knows every word and note of those songs,” he said, adding that he wasn’t left completely to his own devices, given that his husband Jerry Dixon bestowed plenty of wisdom before the performance.
“I was in good hands before I left to go do it because we were working on the song [together],” Cantone said. “It was not a hard decision [to choose that song], especially when I first sang it at home, rehearsing and I was like, ‘Yeah, this is good.’”
It wasn’t just Cantone’s voice that wowed the judges, but also his stage presence. Strutting around as an ear of corn with a fabulous feather headpiece.
“I said I liked it because it looks like Mae West as an ear of corn,” he said of the costume. As for the choreography, he left that up to the professionals.
“The choreographers staged it and I just followed the best I could. I was much better in rehearsal. As far as the staging goes, at one point when we were filming, I got a little lost because you get lost in that costume,” he continued. “You can only see out of that small little window. So I was like, ‘Where am I?’ It’s a little weird, but that I did the best I could and I had a good time and I was very happy with the way I sang it. So it was a thrill.”
After Maize went home, it was a Battle Royale between Mermaid and Robot Girl, who ultimately was crowned the new Queen of “The Masked Singer.” When Mermaid’s mask came off and the singer was revealed to be Gloria Gaynor, Cantone said his elimination stung a little less.
“Just the fact that we both were eliminated, I was like, ‘Well, I’m in good company,” he said. “I thought, ‘Gloria Gaynor? Really?’ So she was robbed! As was I!”
“The Masked Singer” airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.
