A little background, for those who don’t watch NBC enough to have been subjected to its barrage of advertising for this: last night, they broadcast a live performance of The Sound of Music, based on the Broadway show rather than the movie, and starring Carrie Underwood.
I love Rogers and Hammerstein musicals, and The Sound of Music (henceforth TSTM) is comfort food for me. It’s one of the two musicals I’ve known since infancy, the other being Fiddler on the Roof. In addition, I have a relatively high tolerance for syrup in my musicals and no particular dislike for Carrie Underwood, so I watched it. Or rather, I watched most of it; it was on 8-11 and the amount of rowing I do demands 8 hours of sleep each night, so I turned it off and went to bed after the wedding scene. Couldn’t we have had it earlier, NBC? Or not on a weeknight? Think of the children! I’d have loved this at 4 or 6 or 8, and wouldn’t have been allowed to stay up for it then.
Cast:
Underwood was OK, really. Her Maria was one-dimensional, without quite managing either the joy of Julie Andrews or the individuality I’m sure Mary Martin must have given the role. As everyone expected, she’s a better singer than an actor. But her singing was appropriate for the part; she didn’t twang like the country(ish) singer she is and she didn’t belt it like a diva, even though she has the pipes to do it.
Captain von Trapp wasn’t believable as either a martinet or as a lover. He blows a mean bosun’s whistle, and wears a tux well, but otherwise, meh. Max Detweiler was worse: he never really managed to come off as either charming or sardonic, both of which are central to that role. And Rolf looked way older than 17, and slightly sleazy, though on the other hand maybe that last is appropriate for the character. After all, he does betray his girlfriend’s family to the Nazis, mostly.
Elsa looked perfect for the part, and conveyed her jealousy of Maria from the beginning without ever saying anything out of line, or even anything mean.
The children were excellent, total professionals, and Kurt, especially, seemed to be taking his cue from the chest-out actor in the movie-version.
The crowning glory of the casting was Audra MacDonald as the Reverend Mother; she was every bit as good as you’d expect. My only complaint was that she didn’t seem quite old enough for the role. She did manage to be completely unglamorous, which, when you look like MacDonald does, is quite a feat.
Costuming:
Not impressed. The single worst point was Rolf’s shorts: isn’t a seventeen-year-old old enough for long pants? Or maybe they were supposed to be lederhosen, but they looked more like Bermuda shorts. The dowdy dress Maria wore from the convent, the “ugliest ever” according to Brigitta, was a perfectly reasonable shirtdress. Elsa’s clothing was period-perfect, but didn’t give me the impression of a millionaire who would have worn the best Vienna or even Paris had to offer.
I saw a comment about the wigs Underwood wore for the role: probably true, given how fast the costume changes were. But please, costume designer, if you have a character wearing Bavarian braids round her head in one scene, don’t show her with shoulder-length hair a minute later unless there’s a haircutting scene!
It also seemed odd that Maria, as governess, was given a traditional dress for the party that appeared to be made of satin – and since she was, it seemed even odder when the Captain, commanding her to fill in as extra woman at his dinner party table, told her to change to a dress she’d worn at home the other evening.
I did like the sets, though.
Changes between show and movie versions: I’ve never seen the show, though I do know the songs that were unique to it from the soundtrack. So I was surprised when My Favorite Things was sung early on by Maria and the Reverend Mother, and instead Maria sang Lonely Goatherd to the children in the thunderstom scene. I think the movie’s version actually makes more sense. It also seems a bit silly that Maria teaches the children to sing in the first seconds after she meets them, before even leaving the entry hall, but I suppose that falls within musical-comedy suspension-of-disbelief, along with the children falling effortlessly into complicated dance routines. I’m glad they kept No Way to Stop It, along with the dinner party’s arguments about the upcoming Anschluss and with the Captain’s breaking off his engagement with Elsa due to incompatible politics rather than to falling in love with Maria. It put the whole thing in perspective and provided a little balance to the sweetness of the rest. (On the other hand, it made it much less believable when he ended up liplocked with Maria ten seconds later.)
I’d watch it again on TV, if only to see the last hour of the show, and because I do love the music. The soundtrack will be worth buying if for some reason you had the others and wanted a new version. (Though given that the other versions feature Mary Martin and Julie Andrews, I’m not sure why you would.) But I don’t think I’d go out of my way to buy a DVD, if they ever put it on sale.