Apparently Carrie Underwood was NOT the first choice to play Maria- Page 2

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/9/13 at 2:58pm

Kristin Chenoweth wanted so badly to play Liesl. When she auditioned, she sang Taylor The Latte Boy

Oh Rolf, the Nazi boy
bring me letters, bring me goys
Oh Rolf, the Nazi boy
I love him, I love him, I love him

[luvbrdway]

Posted: 12/9/13 at 3:25pm

New series on Bravo coming. Real Housewives of Salzburg.

[promisespromises2]

Posted: 12/9/13 at 3:28pm

BroadwayWorld is on a ROLL today. Is everyone snowed in or something?

Posted: 12/9/13 at 3:50pm

Actually, Julie Andrews was going to reprise her role as maria but got upset that Christopher Plummer was egregiously overlooked.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/9/13 at 3:59pm

"Actually, Julie Andrews was going to reprise her role as maria"

And now that 50 years have passed, she can sing the songs in Mary Martin's keys.

[Huey's Pop]

Posted: 12/9/13 at 5:59pm

Apparently Frank Wildhorn was involved with the project to rewrite all the songs. Several times.

Posted: 12/9/13 at 6:03pm

Fran Drescher was going to play Maria but during her screen test, the sound guy stuck an icepick in his ears.

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 12/9/13 at 7:09pm

QUESTION: "How do you solve a problem like Maria?"
ANSWER: Don't cast Carrie Underwood.

P.S.- LOVE this thread! Bravo!

Updated On: 12/9/13 at 07:09 PM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/10/13 at 10:20am

Nathan Lane wanted the role of Rolf, but when they saw him in the leather hotpants, and thought of him rolling down that hill, they just said no.

Posted: 12/10/13 at 1:58pm

It's a shame, too- Nathan was going to wear one of his own pairs of hot pants.

[madbrian]

Posted: 12/10/13 at 2:00pm

Let's be honest, when Nathan saw who was cast as Rolf, he quickly changed his plans and auditioned for Liesl.

Posted: 12/10/13 at 2:07pm

I wish Orfeh had played Leisl. Maybe in a few years.

[ZiggyCringe]

Posted: 12/15/13 at 5:30am

I disagree with all the Carrie Underwood hate, I watched it again tonight, and thought she sang it very well. And when she was singing, her acting was good. When she was speaking lines, it was a different story. But I have a theory. It's the accent.

If you are doing "Brigadoon," everyone has a Scottish accent. If you are doing "Oklahoma," everyone has a hayseed accent However, if you are doing "A Little Night Music," you do not have a Swedish accent, you have what I will call, for lack of a better name, a "Broadway Accent." It's slightly British and very over-enunciated. There are a couple of musicals that require this phony accent, and "Sound of Music" is one of them. The others, off the top of my head, are "Kismet" and "She Loves Me."

Everyone except Underwood had a "Broadway Accent," which worked to her detriment.

[darquegk]

Posted: 12/15/13 at 10:58am

What you're describing is known as the Continental accent, or the Mid-Atlantic accent.

[Stage Door Sally]

Posted: 12/15/13 at 12:37pm

Not getting all the Rolf hate. He was perfect, especially when he sang the line "I am seventy going on eighty."

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 12/15/13 at 1:27pm

I believe the "accent" you're referring to is Standard English, which does sound a bit British. It's what you use in a show that's set in a foreign country but being presented to an English-speaking audience. It's ridiculous to do "She Loves Me" with Hungarian accents or "The Three Sisters" with Russian accents. As for Carrie, my bigger problem (accent aside) is that she was utterly contemporary and just didn't go period for me. She gave it the old heave-ho but was stuck in 2013. The theater pros had a sense of the period and the style that, understandably, Carrie didn't know from and, evidently, Ashford couldn't get out of her. And, IMHO, she belted more of the score than was called for when a little more mix might have been in order. But I'll give her props for taking on the challenge.

Posted: 12/15/13 at 2:43pm

Many of us are also used to Maria having Julie Andrews' British accent. For that reason it was a bit jarring to me, since Underwood's accent was very American.