<p>When Carrie Underwood first appeared in the wedding dress, I thought it was the slip and that the nuns were about to slip the actual wedding dress over it and all of a sudden, she started walking down the aisle. I was thinking, “wow, that IS the wedding dress itself!”</p>
<p>Also, her hairdo in the second half of the show just did not seem accurate for that time in history. It was a more modern hairstyle. I didn’t mind the braids on top of her head in the first half because it was an Austrian hairstyle and some of the von Trapp descendants (who are older now) still wear it that way (I live in Von Trapp country). But the shoulder length hairdo made her look unbelievable in the role. If she was going to wear it down, i think it should have been in a more old fashioned style, perhaps like the hairdo Ilsa (Laura Benanti) had which was worn down.</p>
<p>I’m getting downright annoyed at those who keep citing Carrie Underwood’s singing ability as a defense of her performance. Yes, she can hit all the right notes; yes, her tone is pretty; yes, she can belt (way too much), but those are the MINIMUM requirements for a musical theater actress. Carrie failed dismally at what is the heart of musical theater–telling the story and expressing the character’s emotions through music. It’s a very different skill from singing country pop an arena. Take a look at the video of Audra singing “Climb Ev’ry Mountain.” She emoted with her voice, her facial expressions and her body language–extraordinary! Because she has no acting ability, Carrie Underwood merely sang the songs, and that was woefully inadequate because in musical theater the songs aren’t just interruptions in the plot–they tell the story and reveal the characters as much as or more than the dialogue. So my bottom line is that Carrie’s casting was a disaster, and I am sad that at least some of the 18 million viewers may have come away thinking that this production reflected the state of American musical theater.</p>
<p>I also don’t see the point in doing a televised musical on a sound stage with no audience. Without the reactions of an audience, the whole thing felt flat, and visually it was awkward. We accept a lot of conventions of theater when we’re at a performance–painted backdrops, artificial lighting, limited movements to fit the size of the stage, etc. But on TV, when we know the whole world is available as a set, it all just looks cheesy, fake and constipated. Live theater should be seen from a seat in the audience. TV shows should use all the resources available to them and not be constrained by theater conventions. I hope they never do this again.</p>
<p>Agreed, soozievt! Actually, I was wondering if she had a chihuahua in her guitar case because she left with the waist length hair (which is what the full head wrap braid would have required) and came back out of the convent looking like Elle Woods in “Legally Blond”!
I thought the show was dreadful and can’t understand how no one, after several rehearsals, didn’t figure out that Carrie Underwood couldn’t act. Sure, NBC had already opened their bog mouth and committed to the program, hoping that Underwood would bring along a built in following, but how much would it have cost them to hire an acting coach? And if there is no chemistry between the Captain (always a thankless role, no matter who plays it) and Maria, then the show falls flat just as this one did.
I was around for the original Broadway production and new the Hammerstein family well. I can’t imagine that anyone would have been pleased with what NBC served up last night.</p>
<p>Following up on MommaJ’s post…I think many people don’t realize that in musical theater, it is not enough to be a great singer. Carrie Underwood is a great singer. But in musical theater, as you say, a performer MUST be able to act…both the songs and the dialogue/scenes. The songs must be interpreted/acted! As you say, the songs help to tell the story. This is where Carrie Underwood was sorely lacking. I don’t think you can place just any singer into a theater piece. The contrast with Audra McDonald was incredibly obvious…Audra not only sang the songs out of the park (hills?), but she acted every nuance of every lyric. I would say that the weakest part for me was when Carrie had to act the script though. She seemed like a high school kid in a school show. It was too bad because she really is a good singer in what she does in the major part of her career. I can’t really blame her because her skill set is not geared toward musical theater or acting. I am sure the director or an acting coach worked with her but she may not be a natural and it can take years of training to become a skilled actor.</p>
<p>Mezzomom…about the hair…oh yes, I was thinking that too…how her hair was obviously quite long to make the braids that criss crossed her head in the first part of the show and must have been cut (well, a wig of course) in the second half when it was shoulder length!</p>
<p>My D is currently performing in an Off Broadway musical. My D has long hair in real life. In her role, she also must wear her hair in braids that criss cross across the top of her head. You need long hair to do that.</p>
<p>I think someone figured out that Carrie Underwood couldn’t act. I am cynical enough to think it may have been intentional that no live audience was used. A live audience on Long Island, where lots of folks have seen real Broadway shows, might not have been that “kind” to Carrie. I don’t think they’d boo or hiss, but the difference in the level of applause after Audra’s number or the number with the Baroness and Max vs applause after CU’s numbers might have been too evident.</p>
<p>Also, FYI, NBC did hire an acting coach. CU said that most of the time the coach just focused on making sure she knew her lines–and only in the last couple of weeks was any thought given to the way she delivered them.</p>
<p>Anyone else think of the Aflac commercial? The one where the acting coach is trying to help the duck?</p>
<p>I agree with all those who said the show was terrible, Carrie Underwood can NOT act. At all, neither during song delivery nor lines. She was abysmal, we could not watch it after a short while. We switched shortly after do re mi. But come on parents, stop insulting high school productions… Our actors can sing, act, and dance. :)</p>
<p>The varied points of view are so interesting to me. We live in the Midwest and our only exposure to theatre is Cats and Les Mis over 20 years ago. I don’t know a single family or kid in musical theatre and recently attended a high school musical for the first time. I’m wondering if the viewership was broken down into categories, what percent of viewers were like us? I watched with H and my elderly mother. We all enjoyed it- especially the fact that it was live. This morning H said," That show was really good last night." The fact he would even bring it up again was surprising. We didn’t compare it to anything else- just enjoyed the effort, which was entertaining enough for us.</p>
Aww. maybe NBC could’ve done a better job in casting but I’d rather kids watch this show rather than Honey Boo Boo or Real Housewives of whatever. Besides, isn’t Broadway guilty of stunt casting too? I remember Debbie Gibson as Eponine and one of the Jonas brothers as Marius. I wonder if David Hasselhoof was a good Jekyll and Hyde or Brooke Shields as Roxy Hart.</p>
<p>I turned this on about halfway through last night, and was very disappointed.</p>
<p>As everyone has said, Carrie Underwood cannot act. I love Carrie - I love her voice, her attitude, her wholesome good looks and image, and her guts for taking this project on - but she. can. not. act. Someone should have figured this out before casting her. I feel bad for her - she clearly tried. </p>
<p>I thought the whole show was stilted and RUSHED. They had to get it finished by 11 pm - with a zillion commercials - and the stage version of this musical is LONG. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone talk as fast as Stephen Moyer (Captain Von Trapp) since the Fed Ex World’s Fastest Talker commercial. There was no time for reaction or thoughtful pauses between dialogue. It was just rush-rush-rush from line to line and scene to scene. </p>
<p>The kids had great voices and I admire them getting through this with no mistakes, but were they coached to be that stiff and artificial? </p>
<p>And the sound was awful. Amateur hour. Some of the dialogue was muffled, and the constant whooshing sound was annoying. This can’t be the first time someone has done live performances on TV - couldn’t they hire someone who knew what they were doing? I’m not buying the excuses in the link above… there should have been technical run-throughs and this problem should have been solved before broadcast. There should be no surprises on an issue like this. Did anyone call PBS and ask for the sound guy from Live at the Met?</p>
<p>I still love Carrie Underwood, but she was woefully miscast and in my book, this presentation gets a C at best. A for effort from the cast, but D for whoever produced it. Next time hold acting auditions, hire a Broadway triple-threat, and hire technical people who know what they’re doing.</p>
<p>I only saw the second half, or part of it, but what really struck me was the scene where the Captain and Maria sing “sometime in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good.” It was so extremely moving in the movie, Christopher Plummer was so touchingly awkward, and so extremely flat last night. And not because of the Captain. He was like a man trying to heave sandbags around, or as someone said, a man singing to a vacuum cleaner.</p>
<p>I’m now just fantasizing about Megan Hilty.</p>
<p>After seeing all of these comments, I kind of want to try to watch the whole thing now. Minus the Walmart nonsense. The thing that struck me was that it had a bit (a lot!) of a community theatre feel, but it seems so weird watching something like that on TV. Probably why I gave up so quickly. Plus for TV, I only have about an hour long attention span, even for stuff I am drawn into. And I hate the commercials on TV. Just when you start to get into something, it gets interrupted. I find that extremely annoying. Except for the recent Kmart commercials, featuring the bell ringing men in their shorts.</p>
<p>I just remembered one of my favorite scenes and songs from the movie that was missing. “I Have Confidence” that Maria sang so joyously on her way to the Von Trapp estate. Was it not in the stage version?</p>
<p>Something Good was also not in the stage version so I was surprised it was in last night’s production. They sang a different song (can’t think of the name at the moment.)</p>