<p>cartera, that’s brilliant!</p>
<p>I don’t know what some of you were listening to last night, but IMO Underwood’s singing was fantastic. She is amazing when she sings. Her acting – a big meh, obviously, but her singing is awesome.</p>
<p>Surrounding CU with Broadway veterans did her no favors. I also went in with low expectations. But was still surprised by her awfulness. The rest of the show was pretty good.</p>
<p>I am glad the show was a ratings smash. </p>
<p>There will be more shows like this now.</p>
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<p>But it did us a big favor. I wouldn’t have wanted to watch the show if all the acting was at the standard of Underwood’s; I’ve seen high school musicals before. But watching the pros at work was a big treat.</p>
<p>I agree. I think it made her performance look worse by comparison. That’s what I meant. </p>
<p>It was worth it to me to see Christian Borle. He can do no wrong.
And, Leisl was perfect.</p>
<p>@dstark-
Guaranteed, tv if anything is imitative, it is why we have scads of ‘reality shows’, crime dramas, sitcoms based on foul mouthed humor, etc, etc…if anything, I hope this might be incentive to put on productions with top talent and such, in some ways this was a re-learning process. In a gentle nod, it was kind of like an old skit from the long ago “Ernie Kovacs” show, about an opera being done live on a very new Italian tv station:)</p>
<p>I have the show saved on DVR as I thought the Christmas week would raise my tolerance level to watch this version. Not sure if I’ll still take time to watch it after reading some posts here. Maybe I would have been curious to watch it last night if Joaquin Phoenix was cast as Capt. Von Trapp and either Reese Witherspoon or Alicia Keyes was cast as Maria.</p>
<p>Musicprnt, lol.</p>
<p>I loved the Ernie Kovaks show.</p>
<p>We don’t always agree, Flossy, but I’m completely with you on CU’s acting. But what a treat to watch the Broadway vets at work. Max and Elsa’s duet about the tragedy of romance between millionaires sparkled like a little gem.</p>
<p>All I can say is that I truly was giving the performance the benefit of the doubt. I was bored at the beginning but stuck with it, but I’ve been to a ton of great shows in my lifetime so I’m a bit jaded. I really DID appreciate the fact that they were trying to give the “live” experience of a play to millions of people. (and I do remember “Cinderella” on TV from way back–I loved it.)
A lot of tweets afterwards said how they had NEVER seen a play live and appreciated getting the chance. On CC it’s easy to talk about HS musicals but a lot of people have never had the chance to have even that experience.</p>
<p>I can only speak for myself. I watched giving Carrie Underwood a fair shake. I wasn’t ready to “throw knives.” If she was fantastic in it, I would have said so, no problem! She is indeed a very good singer. But I didn’t think her voice was right for some of the songs, and was fine on some of them. But that part wasn’t so bad. Her acting was quite subpar though. It was very amateurish. And unfortunately for her, what made that stand out was she was performing with some superb actors and so the discrepancy showed up more. </p>
<p>That said, I enjoyed it and am glad that more staged musicals may be televised in the future.</p>
<p>
I think the point here is that often when we first experience a performance, that performance becomes “definitive” in our minds, and nothing after that can compare with the original.</p>
<p>It’s human nature I think.</p>
<p>While I implicitly value most of what I read here on CC, it has been an interesting day to not only follow comments here, but to follow all the comments that are making FB walls. I’ve really appreciated reading, not only what some of my well-seasoned MT mom friends think, but what those, who perhaps may not spend their resources on going to the theater, think. </p>
<p>notrichenough - you nailed it right; what we may or may not like about either the stage show, movie, or staged aired live on worldwide TV, depends a lot on how we first experienced this story, and how subsequent experiences compared to that first exposure. If this makes sense, I ‘believe’ everyone who has opined her, even when their opinions differed greatly because each opinion comes from a different context. I don’t necessarily hold the opinion of someone who might have been in the show or had their kid in the show, over someone who was just seeing it for the first time. I just think it’s interesting to hear all the different perspectives. But I do think it would behoove NBC to take some of these opinions into consideration if they ever plan to air another one-time live musical.</p>
<p>I was more uncomfortable watching Steven Moyer than Carrie Underwood and he is an established actor. Would an actor’s performance be negatively affected if playing opposite someone with less acting ability?</p>
<p>CU definitely has a strong resemblance to Reese Witherspoon.</p>
<p>Interesting. I suspect it could, but will have to ask my actor daughter. There were times I felt like he was trying to be the captain from the movie but that captain always made me uncomfortable, too. LOL.</p>
<p>There was no chemistry. Logic suggests it would take two people to create.</p>
<p>I really enjoyed the Sound of Music last night. I thought the costumes were a little plain and the sound was a little off at times but I really liked that they didn’t totally imitate the movie. The sets were nice. The movie version with Julie Andrews seemed to really drag during the scenes where they are hiding in the church. The play did that part quickly. It was fun to watch.</p>
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I would say yes. If not negatively affected, it could throw some parts off at times. For example, when Stephen and Carrie were dancing she was especially wooden. It didn’t seem as if she was acting. She was fully invested in playing the role and submerging her into the era in which she was acting in. Stephen was “playing the part” but it was weird. Something was…off. </p>
<p>There were awkward moments.</p>
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Ah, Flossy! That’s what I couldn’t put my finger on. </p>
<p>They had zero chemistry.</p>
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<p>Sutton Foster would likely disagree with you on that! ;)</p>
<p>Well, yeah. But …</p>
<p>And, I understand they’re still great friends!</p>
<p>How about, “He can do no wrong on stage or screen”?</p>