My 2 cents... on The Sound of Music

             

    NBC’s live broadcast of the Sound of Music was a special one night only event, and I could not be more grateful.  It’s as if your local high school production got caught on film, for all of America to see. What could and should have made the world excited about and fall in love again with this classic musical just reminded us of a fact we already knew: 

Only actors are good actors.  

But before I tear it apart, there needs to be some credit given, where credit is due.

            
 I predicted correctly that the main reason to watch would be to see Audra McDonald’s performance as Mother Abbess.  The Mother Abbess in the film is extremely stoic and melancholy, and Ms. McDonald brought a humanity and warmness that allowed the audience to understand the special connection she had with Maria.  Her performance of ‘Climb Every Mountain’ will probably earn her an Emmy Award )
this next year, and will be one you want to watch a few times.  Audra and Carrie were not the only ones in tears when that song was over. It makes sense why that was considered the standout song when the play premiered.  (WATCH HERE)

                Ms. Benanti’s performance of the Baroness also was extremely satisfying, as she took a usually two dimensional character and gave her a third.  Showing the more political and likeable colors of her character helped humanize her, as opposed to the child-hating villian we are so familiar with.  It helps that she has a Tony-winning voice to boot as well.

                I was surprised to realize just how different the movie and the play were.  The play being much more political, so much so that it seems politics may have been the major reason for the Captain’s broken engagement.  That added dimension though only makes the Maria-Captain love only less believable.  The re-included songs that the Baroness sing are recognizably Roger and Hammerstein’s and are quite enjoyable thanks to Ms. Benanti and Mr. Boyle.  The production otherwise had smart and beautiful sets, a nice pace and tempo, and made me want to see more productions done live on TV.  I would advise, in the future, that they might do pieces without iconic films attached.  Because the film is so cherished, and more importantly, ingrained in the public’s mind, this production had a heavy load to bear.  And nobody felt it more than Ms. Underwood.

                It perhaps is a piece of show business cruelty to stand a singer with no acting experience, next to Oscar winner Julie Andrews, especially when it is in a career-defining role, like Maria.  Going into the production, we knew that Carrie would have a difficult time winning over fans, as anyone in the role would.  That being said, I understand why they chose her on a promotional level, but on a talent level, I am baffled.  Now Ms. Underwood actually sang much better than I expected, but her acting was exactly what I expected. 

I doubt you would be able to find an artist on the radio today who could have sung this score better than Carrie did.  I was impressed that she was able to drop the country-style embellishments that have made her a millionaire, and that she included some Julie Andrews inspired vocals at the end of Do-Re-Mi.  It’s obvious that Carrie is a very gifted vocalist, even if her musical theater singing comes off as stiff.  Although the gravity in her voice was usually too heavy and focused, she did soar in ‘The Lonely Goatherd’… that was until she was flat on the very last notes of the song.  Whoops.  It goes to show that a standard singer has a difficult time pulling off musical theater. 

Her acting was painfully robotic, and amateurishly unnatural.  It was as if she was the musical guest on SNL and got thrown, the last minute, into a skit.  And really, in a way, that’s what this production was.  With such an acting failure as this, it’s impossible to save a show who so heavily relies on it’s main character.  This would also lead to give Ms. Andrews even more credit as to why the film is so good.  And to think she didn’t win the Oscar that year… now THAT is a true piece of Hollywood horror.

In my previous post I suggested that Sierra Boggess should have played Maria.  Most of you probably had no clue who she was… let me show you one reason WHY I think she would have been PERFECT!

See?  Yup. You need a Maria who can carry the tune and stand toe to toe vocally with Julie Andrews.  You need someone who sings so powerfully that you think, ‘I actually liked her version of that song’.  I guess this post could really serve as my audition to be NBC’s casting director for future musicals.  Haha... but seriously.

In the end, I was extremely disappointed, but not one bit surprised.  I knew Carrie’s acting would be a huge liability, and I knew Audra would be the reason you at least watched the first 90 minutes.  For my love of Broadway and the sake of musical theater, I sure do hope more studios produce events like this.  I hope that if they do, they try to find good actors and vocalist to fill the roles.  Unfortunately this production probably has made the prospect of future ones, even less likely. Now, I think it’s all time we throw in our DVD’s and watch the original movie, especially the scene after the boating accident, tif only to remember these three important things.

1.       Acting matters.

2.       Julie Andrews is a stunning performer.

3.       The movie is perfect. 

Don't RUIN The Sound of Music!

Most people know my favorite movie is ‘The Sound of Music’.  It is the perfect film.  It has a perfect score, the perfect songs, perfect performances, and the perfect star, the goddess, Julie Andrews. It has action, romance, adventure, Nazi’s, a cemetery search, and a midnight escape, everything you could ever want in a movie.  Nothing will touch or even come close to the perfectness of that movie, ever.

                That being said there is some grumbling about the ‘Sound of Music Live!’ that airs tomorrow night on NBC.  What exactly is it?  Is it a remake of the movie? A play of the movie? I’ve heard all these questions, and even less astute ones.  Let me clear the air for those who are less obsessed with this topic.  Tomorrow night’s performance is a live, filmed performance, of the Broadway play, ‘The Sound of Music’.  It stars Carrie Underwood, 5 time Tony Award Winner Audra McDonald, Christian Borle (of NBC’s Smash and Broadway’s ‘Legally Blonde’), and Laura Benanti, Tony Winner of the Patti LuPone revival of Gypsy. 

                People’s reactions when I mention this production include the following,

‘Oh you can’t beat the movie why would they even try?’

‘Why would you cast Carrie Underwood? She can’t beat Julie Andrews. She’ll ruin it’

‘Why are they turning it into a country musical?’

                All of these are naïve and uninformed questions.  I am writing this to help these people understand the answers to these questions.  I am also writing this so that THOSE people DON’T ruin tomorrow’s experience with uninformed comments like the previous. 

                First off, they are not remaking the movie.  They are doing a live performance of the Broadway play.  The play is different.  For instance, the music isn’t the exactly the same.  The Broadway has some songs not in the movie, and is missing for instance, ‘I Have Confidence’, which was written specifically for the movie.  Don’t get me wrong 90% of the musical is like the movie, but there are a few things that will be different tomorrow. 

A live performance of a musical is very rare. You might say, ‘Well I saw Cinderella with Whitney Houston and Brandy in the 90’s’.  Well, that was taped and made into a TV Movie.  A live taping means it’s like SNL - it’s happening real- time.  A musical has not been taped live on TV since Roger and Hammerstein’s ‘Cinderella’ in 1957, which ironically was written for and starred the young Julie Andrews.

People balk at the casting of Carrie Underwood, and being a Broadway purist, I was one of the loudest.  I’m still nervous about her performance.  You have to ask yourself why they would cast her.  We already know she can sing well and do it live on TV, hence why she won American Idol.  She also is a huge name.  If a studio is going to bother putting this much money into a one night show, they need people to watch, and they NEED to bring in a recognized name to bring viewership.  Carrie will bring in a much broader audience than say, Sierra Boggess (who really should be playing Maria, in my opinion). 

The casting of Carrie is what we call a reduction of risk.  It makes the performance more likely to succeed and bring in viewers, it also makes it easier for people to buy into the idea.  The arts have a difficult time getting funding on TV, just ask the poor people running PBS fundraisers.  Luckily she can sing, and although she sounds slightly too focused, she really does sing well on the album, which you can listen to on Spotify already.

The cast surrounding Carrie is phenomenal. Although a little bit too much of a stretch for color-blind casting, Audra McDonald will likely redefine the role of Mother Abbess.  She alone is reason enough to watch the entire show.  She’s won 5 Tony awards for a reason.  Christian Borle, who is a Braodway star and ex-husband of super-star Sutton Foster is a good actor with a great voice.  Laura Benanti is gorgeous with an equally beautiful voice.  They will provide possibly more depth and grace to Max and the Baroness than even the movie. Even the performance  of ’16 going on 17’ at Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade was encouraging, and hopefully a foreshadowing of things to come. 

Things to remember when you watch tomorrow night:

This is not the movie, it is a taped version of the play.  Remember it will be different.  Expect it.  The medium is different.  You can’t do nearly as much on a stage as you can flying a camera around Austria, like they did in the movie.  Carrie is fundamentally a singer, and this is her first piece of major acting.  Carrie will be surrounded by extremely talented people, some of the best in the business.

Questions to ask yourself when evaluating it tomorrow night:

Regarding the material and medium…

1.       Do I like the script of the movie or the play better?

2.       Do I feel like I know the characters or story better or worse in this version?

3.       Do I like the taping of a musical live on a stage?

4.       Do I enjoy the inclusion of songs cut from the movie?

5.       Was the taping of the musical an effective capture of the performance?

6.       Do I like the movie better simply because I’m more familiar with it?

            Regarding the performance?

7.       Do I feel like the acting was good?  Who was the best? Who was weak?

8.       How was the singing?  Any standout performances? Any blemishes?

9.       Did the performance seem fluid?

10.   Anything go wrong live?

11.   Would you want to see other things done this way? Like what?

I am excited to see what happens tomorrow night, and to see this talented cast.  I am very excited that a studio is willing to put money up for something like this, and I would LOVE to see more things like this.  I am glad that there are a large handful of legitimate musical actors who can carry the show. I am anxious and excited to engage in thoughtful discussion after it airs, with people who intelligently can discuss the performance.  It is time for people of the Office’s ‘Finer Things Club’ to unite and relish this artistic and cultural delight!