The Sound of Music Live! (2013)

First, kudos for creating a live television presentation.Please please please... more. I and I know many would flock to this kind of live performance. Next, too easy to do the comparison thing. But unavoidable... so must qualify this by declaring the obvious intimacy of film versus the live TV/stage adaptation. And there it is... intimacy of film. One is hard pressed to not draw those comparisons in spite of this. So let's... first Ms Underwood. Most excellent to give this a go. She is also not an actress. It was obvious. There is no substitute for having worked on stage, as an actress. There was a distinct lack of depth to the character. And the vocal performance that is markedly different from people with great voices as Ms Underwood has, and seasoned stage actors and actresses as for instance Ms MacDonald has. Ms Underwood hit her marks. And her voice is superb. But the performance lacked that *it* thing. If she would commit to doing more stage work, her depth would grow. As it was, it was a thin performance. All the other performances were serviceable, and some good. Or as in Ms Audra McDonald, she was superb. Ms McDonald of course is a trained stage actress, and it screams so. The production quality not the least of which was the musical production was top shelf. And choreography. Well done here. There was one huge mistake that overtook the entire production however. It must be pointed out. The lack of a live audience was a huge misstep. The 1965 version had the huge advantage of the intimacy of film. In choosing to do a live TV version, what would have bridged that difference would have been to honor what live stage productions have... and that is a living breathing audience. The energy, the ambiance, everything would have been greatly influenced by this. Not having it in my opinion crippled the experience. If there is a future attempt at a live TV production of anything.... do not make this same mistake. You must must must have the energy that a live audience brings to a production. This would have without question made a significant difference in this current production. Am not sure why there was a choice NOT to have a live audience.... Still, that this happened at all is big. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeze take on another one, and another one. As the ratings would show, this art, this craft, is alive and quite well. I give mega props for taking this on and hopefully the learning experience will go into future productions...

I tried to like this production because I am all for live musicals on TV again. However, it just seemed clumsy and amateurish and not at all convincing. Though I am not a country music fan, I quite like Carrie Underwood. The year she won American Idol is one of the few years I actually watched and got involved. She is a lovely, engaging young woman, with an impressive voice. However, she was all wrong for Maria, just as Julie Andrews would be all wrong trying to sing country music. If she had auditioned for this part as an unknown, I doubt very seriously that she would have made it past the first cut. Those who say she sang it well don't understand the difference between "belting" and "singing" in a traditional, musical theater/operetta style. And I agree with a lot of other reviewers that having Broadway veterans in the show only pointed up the painful difference between being stage-savvy and being a novice. I do hope the networks will try again, but please use singers/actors who have proved their mettle first.

Carrie Underwood does a very credible job as Maria, and the kids are all pretty good. Stephen Moyer is also pretty good as the captain.Keeping in mind this was a live production and will be released on DVD/Bluray, I think all the cast members are to be commended. All in all, this version is well worth your time (and money, if you buy a disk.)The story was true to the movie, and the sets were very nicely built and displayed. This was quite a production- hard to believe the studio would take a risk like this, but it really paid off. We will have a Bluray as soon as they are available.The only down side to the TSOM 2013 is the complete lack of class shown by some of the 1965 version cast members. Their tweets and comments about Underwood after the live telecast were out of line and unnecessary, and demonstrated a marked lack of class. That is surprising coming from people of their age, and for me, they taint my happy memories of each. As a result, I will archive the 1965 version and watch Carrie Underwood instead- TSOM 2013 will be the version seen by my children. It is a worthy successor.

As a child, I was treated to my mother's record of the 1965 Sound of Music and spent a few family movie nights watching a VHS copy. Since I was not alive to see the original run of Sound of Music on Broadway, this 1965 record is the original version of the music and characters to me. Julie Andrews' enjoyable portrayal of Maria, Christopher Plummer as the respectable Captain Von Trapp, and the fun loving cast of children and Uncle Max is unmatched. Classic songs that I once broke into as a child, hiking up the foothills of North Carolina, have been destroyed in this "attempt." As darling and talented as Ms. Underwood is, her voice sounds very throaty and unpleasant in this rendition. Similarly, the entertaining and endearing group of nuns in the original turn into an ear piercing gang of screamers. After their first few songs, I had to mute them or prepare to start bleeding from the ears.All in all, this 2013 attempt is very disappointing. The magic of the original was not even remotely recaptured. Like the flu, you cannot wait for it to be over. Avoid.