By Laura Weaver
Let's start at the very beginning - a very good place to start. When NBC announced they were doing a live, televised version of The Sound of Music, there was a collective gasp of horror. They made it very clear, however, that this was a redo of the stage musical, NOT the film. The stage musical came before the film, they wisely pointed out. There was a further gasp of horror when it was announced that Carrie Underwood had been cast as everyone's favourite nun. Would this become a favourite thing of the fans, or something else?
Let's start at the very beginning - a very good place to start. When NBC announced they were doing a live, televised version of The Sound of Music, there was a collective gasp of horror. They made it very clear, however, that this was a redo of the stage musical, NOT the film. The stage musical came before the film, they wisely pointed out. There was a further gasp of horror when it was announced that Carrie Underwood had been cast as everyone's favourite nun. Would this become a favourite thing of the fans, or something else?
We are all pretty familiar with the story of The Sound of Music. A young, mischievous nun, Maria, is sent by the Mother Abbess of the convent to become a governess to seven children. The children's widowed father, naval Captain Georg Von Trapp, is a stern, cold man, turned this way due to the death of his wife. He has rid the household of any fun, happiness and music (yes, you can see where it's going from here). The reunited, happy family becomes a singing group, with help from Maria, but are forced to flee their home country of Austria when the Nazis take over.
Many were pretty horrified when Carrie Underwood was announced as Maria. This is a well known role, not only in the film world, but in the theatre world too. It would be a hard thing to follow in the footsteps of Dame Julie Andrews, who was nominated for an Oscar for her role. Unfortunately, while Carrie sang her particular songs well, her acting was a rather large let down. There was no emotion, nor significance, throughout any of Carrie's spoken performance. Perhaps it was nerves, but her spoken/acting performance was absolutely lifeless and that is what brought the entire performance down. However, Carrie tried and that is all anyone could ask. Despite his best efforts, Stephen Moyer (the Captain) could not bring any sort of emotion out from Carrie and there was a nasty lack of chemistry.
What made it worse was that Carrie was pitted against several of Broadway's most famous performers, including Audra McDonald (The Mother Abbess), Christian Borle (Max Detweiler) and Laura Benanti (Elsa). All three, as well as Stephen Moyer, significantly, and quite severely, outshone Carrie. While Carrie held her own with her singing, Audra's magnificent voice was a welcomed ray of light, especially during "Climb Ev'ry Mountain". Many have speculated Audra's performance could lead to an Emmy nomination for the five-time Tony winner. The seven children were also particular standouts, especially Ariane Rinehart (Liesl).
The sets, as well as the costumes, left little to desire, but served their purposes. One of the most unfortunate factors about this performance was that the producers tried to merge the film and the musical, which did not, and could not work. One either remakes the film, or the musical, not both. It just did not work, and confused many people.
Will this be on my list of my favourite things? Not at the moment. The cast and crew did put in a tremendous effort, and for that they must be congratulated and acknowledged. However, there are somethings better left alone, and this just happens to be one of them.
Will this be on my list of my favourite things? Not at the moment. The cast and crew did put in a tremendous effort, and for that they must be congratulated and acknowledged. However, there are somethings better left alone, and this just happens to be one of them.
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