There is a lot going on in the world today that causes me a great deal of upset. And I find it harder day by day to keep silent about a great many of these issues. And I turn now to this blog to get something off my chest that I just can’t contain any longer. It’s time for an adult conversation about The Sound of Music, Live! which aired on NBC Thursday, December 5.

It was a much anticipated television event mostly for the fact that it starred Carrie Underwood, country music superstar and 2005 American Idol winner as the postulant-come-governess Maria Rainer, a role  immortalized by Julie Andrews in the 1965 film version of the stage musical. Ms. Underwood’s performance has received a less-than-spirited response from the critics and social media ignited before the performance had time to get its bearings. Well I’m here to offer an unbiased observation on what I saw and, to an extent, defend Ms. Underwood for taking on such a monumental task before a live television audience of millions with nearly no experience.

The Sound of Music has held a special place in my heart for many years. I’m one of the few theater-holics of my generation who still values the romantic, if not altogether accurate, tale of the real life Von Trapp family, and while I will always love the 1965 film, it is not without flaw, mainly the omission of the songs “How Can Love Survive” and “No Way To Stop It” which really help to energize the supporting characters Max Detweiler and the Baroness Elsa Schrader.  Conversely we can thank the movie for the gem of a number, “Confidence” and for replacing the uninspired duet “An Ordinary Couple” with the sweet love song “Something Good.” What I really enjoyed about NBC’s version, co-starring Stephen Moyer as Georg Von Trapp, Laura Benanti (a New Jersey native who understudied and eventually took over the role of Maria in the 1998 Broadway revival) as Elsa, multiple TONY Award winner Audra McDonald as Mother Abbess, and Broadway veteran Christian Borle as Max, was how it stayed true to the stage version.

When the project, directed by Rob Ashford and Beth McCarty-Miller, was first announced and it was revealed that Carrie Underwood would take on the role of Maria and attempt to reach the bar set so high by Julie Andrews there was speculation she would fall short. But when one actor has nestled their way into history by being so beloved in a particular part no one can ever quite measure up, and I don’t consider measuring up to be the task at hand for Ms. Underwood. For an actor, the only task at hand is to tell the story and give justice to the writing – something she did on a touch-and-go basis throughout the performance, and I feel it needs to be applauded that this novice (pun definitely intended) had the courage to take on the role and to do so in a live telecast. There are no do-overs here, unlike similar TV events (Yes, I’m talking to you The Music Man starring Matthew Broderick, where even with the opportunity to shoot and re-shoot scenes they still got it jarringly wrong). Fun fact: the most recent Broadway revivals of both The Sound of Music and The Music Man starred stage dynamo Rebecca Luker as their female ingénue.  I’m sure the first few takes of Julie Andrews piloting a troupe of marionettes or sitting on a pinecone at dinner weren’t cinematic glory. But she got to redo it until it was right. Ms. Underwood was not afforded that luxury.

And there were glimmers of a fine actress about Carrie. Of particular note were the moments where she was moved to tears as she enlightened the Captain on his misgivings as a father and when she received council from the Mother Abbess about self-discovery.  But when she was in her comfort zone- selling a song- she was luminous and the emotion that was lacking in some of the scene work flowed naturally. While we are on the topic of the vocals, I need to comment on the fact that many people have panned Carrie’s full voiced style when compared to Julie Andrews’ soprano rendition of the role, but the role was originally sung on Broadway by Mary Martin in a full Merman-esque belt voice, and I think Carrie did a wonderful job of finding her own spin on the vocals and honoring those who came before her in the role where it was appropriate. I was particularly pleased with her delivery of “The Lonely Goatherd.”

What was lacking in her performance was direction, and this was not something that was only evident in Ms. Underwood’s performance. The children of Captain Von Trapp (with the exception of Ariane Rinehart as Liesl and Joe West as Kurt, both of whom sparkled in their respective roles) seemed lost and sometimes swallowed by the material at hand, and the pacing of the entire piece was slow and labored. Equally irritating were completely unmotivated nods to past stage productions and the movie, like the Captain swatting Brigitta’s bottom with her book or the children making an entrance into a scene playing leapfrog, which were haphazardly thrown in because the audience expects to see it happen. When the dialogue establishes that the children are coming from one exterior location to another exterior location and they are staged to leapfrog over each other into the scene through the doors that lead to the interior of the Villa Von Trapp, it is negligent direction. That is a sophomoric mistake which is unacceptable in a $9 million production and unexpected from a directing talent the likes of Rob Ashford.

Audra McDonald’s singing of the Mother Abbess was so glorious it nearly blew the wimple out from under the veil of her habit. And while she won me over in the role, it was rough going for the first few minutes where she was a bit too modern in her delivery than a woman-of-the-cloth would have been in the 1930’s. Given her past performance record and a shelf full of awards, I’m willing to surrender that to the direction as well. Laura Benanti glowed in the role of Viennese millionaire Elsa Schrader with an effortless performance – even seamlessly covering a few flubs by her castmates that only someone who knows the script would have caught- right down to making it looked planned that an extra walked on the train of her gown! And she was countered by an adequate, though not quite as enthralling, performance of the weaseling Max Detweiler by Smash’s Christian Borle, and most viewers probably didn’t even realize that they were watching Christiane Noll as Sister Margaretta.  To me, this Broadway star in her own right, famous for creating the role of Emma Carew in the original Broadway production of Frank Wildhorn’s Jekyll & Hyde and most recently for taking on the leading role of Mother in the revival of Ragtime was the hidden jewel of the telecast. She effervesced as the nun with the disarming giggle who champions for Maria when the chips are down for her behind the walls of Nonnberg Abbey. Where I was truly lost in casting decisions was Michael Campayno in the role of Rolf Gruber, love interest to Liesl Von Trapp. He was pretty to look at with a decent voice and a lovely dancer but he was in no way believable as a 17 year old boy or someone of Austrian decent who ends up a member of the Nazi regime. It looked like he wandered out the role of Florentine playboy Fabrizio Naccarelli in The Light in the Piazza and stumbled into a pair of lederhosen.

Overall, the production value was good, with beautiful sets and costumes, though the lighting sometimes left the cast shrouded in shadow or oddly up-lit and there were a few camera issues. I enjoyed the choreography as well, particularly the dance break in “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” and the party guests’ terrace dance. I’m sticking to my guns and saying for the most part I enjoyed Carrie Underwood; I feel she was the right choice for the role but deserved better direction – especially when leading a cast with so much experience in her freshman outing as an actress. But what makes me happy is the ratings were sufficient enough that we will most likely see more productions like this on television, and when theater ticket prices have risen to a level where families can’t afford to see shows and arts programs are being cut in schools I’d be happy to see more productions of this nature brought right to our living rooms.



I give The Sound of Music, Live! 3.5 out of 5 Singing Nuns. And that’s enough for me to justify buying the DVD being released on December 17!