Sound of Music 2013

[lotiloti]

Posted: 4/12/14 at 6:38am

For those in the UK, who haven't seen it. The Carrie Underwood 'SOM Live', is on CH5 on Sun 20th Apr at 4:20 pm.

[busylizzie238]

Posted: 4/12/14 at 6:49am

Thanks! I'd been hoping that it would air in the UK

[rockyhorrorfan]

Posted: 4/21/14 at 11:51am

Well I can safely say it was absolutely awful.

[bob8rich]

Posted: 4/21/14 at 12:42pm

I thought this was something of a curate's egg:

1. Carrie was great vocally but - I'm afraid there's no kind way to say this lol - she cannot act! It was the perfect argument for NOT casting a lead musical theatre role to a pop or country star who does not have the grounding in acting needed to give a credible performance. More wood than in a forestry.

2. Having said that, I thought the guy playing Von Trapp was pretty wooden too!

3.The guy playing Rolf looked so old that he could have been accused of being a paedophile! (when he sang "I am 17 going on 18" I fell off my arm-chair lol) Are there no young (or young-looking) actor-singers on Broadway who could have been cast in that role???

3. Laura Benanti was absolutely wonderful as Elsa - so much so that she made me ask myself "why on earth would he choose Maria over HER?" lol

4. Audra MacDonald's Climb Every Mountain was breath-takingly awesome!

5. Loved that they kept the songs "How Can Love Survive" and "No Way To Stop It" (left out from the movie) but wish they'd also reverted to "An Ordinary Couple" from the original Broadway score - I've always much preferred that to "Something Good", which I don't think sits very well in the dialogue in the scene in the show as well as it does in the (re-written) scene in the movie - though I know that most stage versions since the movie have included it.

6. It had its moments and I'm glad I got a chance to see it on Channel 5 - but overall it felt so "flat".

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 4/21/14 at 12:55pm

Agree with Bob - it was very flat.

Carrie Underwood was simply terrible, for me vocally as well as acting-wise (no access to head voice meant a very overpowering sound entirely unsuitable for Maria!) but it was a treat to see Laura Benanti and Audra McDonald. For me that was about it, as well as being able to hear How Can Love Survive? and No Way to Stop It (two of my favourite R&H songs incidentally!)

[Princeton Returns]

Posted: 4/22/14 at 4:50am

I thought it was awful, and showed how flat and dull live theatre can be when its recorded. Capturing a live performance takes skill (LND and Shrek show how to do it well). Everything about the direction and camera angles was poor. Costumes were poor too, almost like a Disneyland version of Austria.

Carrie was ok vocally but cant act. I didnt mind Stephen Moyer as the Captain because at least he was acting for TV, unlike some of the others who were still acting for stage. Christian Borle was awful and was like some sort of over the top characature. Laura Benanti was ok, but nothing to write home about. The kids couldnt act either, Rolph was decent but clearly too old for the role.

[RunFreedomRun]

Posted: 4/22/14 at 6:03am

Agreed on how terrible it was. I thoroughly enjoyed Christian Borle's performance as Max, but Carrie's lovely vocals are totally overlooked by her bad bad acting.

And Audra is just wow, at everything she does!

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 4/22/14 at 6:29am

Why did Christian Borle look like Rooster from Annie?

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 4/22/14 at 6:43am

Reading the Broadway board and it's the opposite, they cannot sing its praises enough.

However what makes a theatrical event great and that is seeing it in a theatre. Seeing something on a big screen or a small screen never really cuts it for me. However I was meant to sky+ this but forgot to, so ended up missing this, which sounds now a good thing! except I really wanted to see Christian Borle and Audra McDonald.

[Princeton Returns]

Posted: 4/22/14 at 7:29am

Thats a surprise as my American theatre fans thought it was awful too. I assumed BWW Broadway board would be negative too

[ggersten]

Posted: 4/22/14 at 8:02am

As I recall BWWBroadway was pretty negative about Ms. Underwood, although she had her defenders. Most praise was for Audra and Laura. (Perhaps if Ms. Underwood's first name were Cara with an "a" at the end, she would have done better?) There was praise for some of the elements of the production - as it was a live production - Ms. Benanti got most of the praise, followed by Mr. Borle. Some sympathy for the actor who had one scene at the end with the Captain and blew his lines, nevertheless.

However, due to the size of the sets and how the camera was going to move, there was no live audience. That undercuts the actors' abilities to feed off audience energy. And the actors were singing live - but to recorded music - which creates other problems. So, it was a television event - and not a live theatrical experience. But, it was a ratings smash and so NBC is going with Peter Pan this coming November/December apparently with a male as Peter Pan. No hard gossip just rank speculation (Justin Bieber? One of the 1D boys?)

Oddly, the actor playing Rolf while he looked 40 was apparently in his early 20s.


The Live Blog on BWW for SOM Updated On: 4/22/14 at 08:02 AM

[rockyhorrorfan]

Posted: 4/22/14 at 11:22am

A lot of the West End performers I follow on Twitter didn't think much of it (especially Michael Xavier and Michael Matus who were in the brilliant Open Air Theatre production). Rebecca Lock's tweets actually made the experience more entertaining than the actual show on tv.

[vassey]

Posted: 4/22/14 at 11:37am

Yes it was flat, and the acting woeful, but technically it was a marvel (did anyone see a headmic/earpiece or a camera? - nope!), and its a fantastic way to get people to see the original script. Act Two of the stage show is darker than the film I think, what with 'No Way to Stop It' showing how easy it was for the Nazis to win support, and the overriding menace of the Germans. I do think even the Lloyd Webber production was better than this though.... (that had Nazis cocking their guns at the audience, brilliant!)