<p>D tells me she watched it with her conservatory friends. They were laughing at how bad CU was. But, they did like most of the other performers. So, D tells me to go on Hulu–apparently they have all the clips without Maria–and watch the good performances. I guess this is how to solve the problem of this Maria.</p>
<p>Another thing a live audience does…it can “feed” the performers. As a live performer, you want the crowd to react positively to what you have done. If they don’t…some performers consider that when they continue. No, they don’t CHANGE what the director has told them to do, but sometimes it’s as simple as the inflection on the delivery, the expressions on ones face, or the movements one is making while speaking. </p>
<p>Our local civic,theater started doing open dress rehearsals so that the cast could get a feel for crowd reactions.</p>
<p>The only thing…applause and laughter do add to the performance time.</p>
<p>I tried to watch. Fell asleep.</p>
<p>No disagreement, thumper. But in this case I don’t really think that would have helped CU. The problem is simple, really. She can’t act. She’s not an actress so this shouldn’t be surprising. Yes, whole thing did look really weird and awkward and I do think the lack of an audience contributed to that but if you look past Maria there were some amazing performances in that mess.
However, Maria is important in SOM.</p>
<p>Now that I’ve had time to watch it again and think about it, I conclude that it was pretty bad. There were some good parts that I enjoyed, but others I just had to fast forward through.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I am glad they did it if it introduces live theater to those not fortunate enough to experience it often like we do. We are an unusually tough crowd. I also hope they do it again but do a better job before they turn the world off to MT. </p>
<p>I also quite understand why they needed a “name” actress to appeal to the masses, but you can’t tell me that in all of Hollywood they couldn’t find someone who could both sing AND act? Really? On this entire planet?</p>
<p>Not even all the kids were good. I did enjoy Liesel. Kurt I couldn’t stand to watch and the rest were okay.</p>
<p>I agree. The audience feedback seems essential in live theatre and without that a performance must feel like a dress rehearsal to the cast - with just much more pressure knowing millions are watching . It seems impossible not to compare different performances - I saw the movie 7 times as a child when it first came out (my mother loved it and sent me with every group of out of town guests we had because she thought everyone should see it !!) but I tried to be open minded about this production as I watched the performance last night. While I didn’t think CU did a good job, IMO there were significant other problems too. On the plus side, I thought the children were very good and that the Liesl character was better than in the movie - she seemed much too old in the movie and lacking in “innocence”. I also thought the baroness and Max were very good. But both the Captain and Rolf struck me as wooden and stilted and, I realize this is a minority opinion, I don’t think Audra MacDonald compared well to the original movie Mother Abbess. To me she seemed lacking in gravitas and awkward in the role. There was something about the diction? emphasis on sylabuls? (don’t really know how to describe it) in some of the singing that bothered me and as for the costumes … But lots of people watched it and enjoyed it and that’s really the point. I don’t know anything about CU but if her fan base is not a traditional MT audience and they watched because of her that’s a huge plus.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I am glad they did it if it introduces live theater to those not fortunate enough to experience it often like we do. We are an unusually tough crowd. </p>
<p>Okay, this bugs me so…</p>
<p>Here’s the thing. This was bad. We are not a tough crowd. All of the reviews are devastating. Al of them. How does this help theater? The amazing performances were overshadowed by the lackluster performance of the lead role. It’s SOM. Maria matters. </p>
<p>There is no shortage of really cheap live theater. High schools do musicals all the time and most HS Maria’s could teach CU a thing or two about acting. Her singing was fine and I don’t even care whether or not she strummed the correct chords on the guitar. But speaking was her biggest issue.
I’m baffled by how this happened, actually.</p>
<p>I disagree. cc is a tough crowd. And so are theater and movie critics. I know many of them, including one featured in one of the recent links. He/she is smug and snarky and a snob and gets lots of joy from making fun of commoners. I knew one guy who wouldn’t give a widely released movie a positive review but constantly fell all over himself over indie anything. Just seemed to have a problem thinking that something designed for the masses could have any merit whatsoever.</p>
<p>Theater critics are snarky. And the Maria in this production had big problems. It’s not either/or. Might the masses love it? Maybe.
But, the masses would love it more if it was actually good.</p>
<p>musicprnt, you keep repeating that everyone was out to get CU, but in fact I believe that everyone was REALLY HOPING that she would be good! Or at least passable. And they were bitterly disappointed.</p>
<p>I know I was.</p>
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<p>Is it snobbish to have standards? Is anything above the lowest common denominator somehow bad? I think this is fake populism. It’s like saying it is “snobbish” to think that Jonathan Livingston Seagull is not a good book because you’ve read The Great Gatsby or something. It’s “snobbish” to think that Miss Whatsit in a beauty pageant is barely tolerable singing O Mio Babino Caro because you’ve heard Renee Fleming?</p>
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<p>Exactly.</p>
<p>H and I watched the How Do You Solve a Problem scene on youtube last night. He said “That was great!” And it was. We watched The Divine Audra singing Climb Every Mountain, and with the entire force of her genius three feet away she was able to bring some kind of fleeting reaction to CU’s face.</p>
<p>Surely there must be starlets in Hollywood who can sing, or other pop singers who can act! Dolly Parton can act, for heaven’s sake. Linda Ronstadt was reportedly great on stage. They must be out there.</p>
<p>And I don’t care if she was faking the guitar.</p>
<p>What I’m saying is that even if CU were fantastic, they’d find another reason to pan the production. I’m on record as saying her acting was bad.</p>
<p>I agree that a lot of professional critics would find something to dislike even if Carrie Underwood could act. But I don’t agree that we here would be so unhappy with the production. A lot of us wanted to like it. I could enjoy it because I approached it the way I’d approach high school theater-- you know there will be gaps, but you appreciate what is good in an uneven production. But I should not have to take that view in a national production. This was not opera, where we have to sometimes accept substandard acting skills.</p>
<p>I, for one, was willing to accept Carrie Underwood, if she was good in the role. I didn’t mind it was a remake and wasn’t comparing it to the original as it is not even a fair comparison as this was a filming of a live stage version and the movie was a movie made as a movie. I don’t see what is wrong with critiquing performances or art! </p>
<p>Overall, I am glad it was made and that the viewership was so huge. The performance of the lead has been panned across the board pretty much. There were other fabulous performances in the production, however. </p>
<p>I don’t truly like stunt casting but I understand it in terms of it being a business. But if you are going to use stunt casting, at least find someone who has the required skill set. As others have written, there had to be a name…either a singer or an actress, who could have done a good job in the role. Carrie Underwood wasn’t right for the part. The lack of acting was very apparent in the first 10 minutes of the telecast. </p>
<p>When I see a Broadway show or view a big budget feature film or telecast of this sort, I expect to see top talent. There is a LOT of talent in America and getting these roles is challenging and I expect to see the best or nearly the best at this level. My expectations are lowered when I see regional theater or community theater, for example. When there are sooooo many actresses who could have done the role of Maria WAY better than CU, it is hard to believe they couldn’t find one, even if they wanted some name recognition. </p>
<p>I have even thought personally about stunt casting lately. I have a daughter in the business. She is in callbacks presently for a lead on Broadway. She is not a known name at all. On top of the long odds in being cast at that level, I figure her not being a name makes the odds even longer, because Broadway often uses names to sell shows too. On the other hand, the lead male in this show is a big name and so maybe they are willing to cast in an unknown in the female slot. I don’t know. I keep figuring, why cast my D when she is not famous?</p>
<p>I understand why “names” matter in selling a show. Still, I expect to see top talent at this level when I see a production. And that was the weak part of the SOM live show…the lead was far from top talent for the requirements of the role, even though she is talented otherwise.</p>
<p>Critics often are snobs, and they look for any chance to stick knives in what they consider ‘mass appeal’ things. They made fun of it in one of the “Naked Gun” movies where the movie that won was the one that made like 50c at the box office…or the great novel that critics love that readers refuse to read…It happens the other was as well, as when Rene Fleming did an album of rock music, and the critics were out to burn her at the stake for daring to do it, or all the knives that come at other forms of crossover music (Paul McCartney did an oratorio called Ecce Cor Muem, that the music critics and snobs went frothing at the mouth over, yet for one it was actually pretty decent IMO, if not Faure’s Requiem, and it got a lot of people to go and listen to it when it was performed live, probably the only time they had ever heard something like it). </p>
<p>I think a lot of the criticism is valid, I wish CU’s acting skills were there (though as others point out, that goes on in opera all the time, for every opera singer who can act, a lot more are great singers but stand and plant), and there were other things I didn’t like. I think if they had put up an unknown in the role who acted not so great, the reviews would have been bad, but I don’t think you would have seen the level of snark you did, either, I think people would write it off as an attempt that failed, but without the viciousness. Even if it had been a broadway actress who wasn’t right for the part, you wouldn’t have all of this happening. In part I think it was because it was so hyped by NBC, and because there are those who are ****ed because they hired a pop star to do the lead, it inflamed what would have been a negative response. I am not negating anyone’s feelings expressed on here, I can appreciate that,there are broadway shows people loved, that I thought were absolute crap (in general, not fond of the mass spectacle Andrew LLoyd webber spectaculars of the past, or the ‘theme shows’ like Jersey Boys and the like), it is a matter of taste.</p>
<p>And yeah, as much as I have tried to defend the show, despite sharing some of the criticisms, I also enjoyed the snarks. The classic one I saw had to have been from one of the gay guys who love musical theater, when he said “as odd as it sounds, for the first time in my life I was rooting for the Nazis”. I appreciate a good snark,too. Not everyone agrees with everything, George Lucas had a T shirt that had the start of a review for the original Star Wars, that said something like “Star Wars: a land of wooden acting, idiotic plot, unreal situations…”…</p>
<p>I just hope that the beancounters at the networks who give us such crap normally, will actually put a little of something out there more cultural. I would have loved to have seen Annie Get Your gun with Reba McIntyre when it was on broadway, I hear it was a hoot, and I think given that tv these days isn’t a cultural wasteland, to use the words of a long ago head of the FCC, but a cultural Sahara catering to the lowest of low common denominators, if they are willing to take the chance on plays and musicals being done live, it would be great. Unfortunately the archive of Broadway performances that exist will probably always remain off limits, thanks to greed and stupidity, but in this way maybe, maybe there would be some good tv. Put it this way, I don’t watch that much tv, don’t have the time, but I made the time to watch SOM and with all its flaws, is still light years ahead of what else is on…then again I am a NY Jets fan, and I waste time watching them every week, too:)</p>
<p>soozievt,</p>
<p>If your DD gets that part, I’ll fly to NY. You will probably have so many CCers who have followed her progress from pre-college until now, you’ll have to reserve a few rows!!</p>
<p>I hardly EVER watch TV. I tuned into SOM because I love SOM. I enjoyed it. I’m glad they produced it for TV and for the masses. I hope they do more shows like this. Still, I think with any performance, it is fair to critique the performances, and I don’t think it is all snark. Many here on this forum, like myself, said we were willing to accept Carrie Underwood in the role and give her a fair chance, but after watching, felt her performance was lacking. I don’t see anything wrong with giving such opinions. While viewing the show, I was truly surprised that they cast someone who simply could not act at all. I understand why they wanted a “name,” but they took a chance in using someone that they had to be able to tell through auditions, simply could not act. Given the budget, you’d think they could have found a name who could at least act satisfactorily. And it stood out even more because almost all of the other actors were great.</p>
<p>bookworm, the odds are VERY tough to be cast as a lead on Broadway. Not counting on it. But currently, she is appearing in a supporting role in a hit show Off Broadway and many friends have gone to see that. There are rumors of that show transferring to Broadway but no facts that it will. We shall see. I don’t typically post specifics of my D’s performances on CC. IF she were ever to make it to Broadway, I may break that though! :D</p>
<p>Ironically, my initial skepticism re CU in the part had to do with her singing voice. I think she did a good job of adapting in that regard. It never occurred to me that she would be THAT bad an actress: below the level of a decent HS performer.</p>
<p>All of this reminds me so vividly of Smash. Remember when they brought in Uma Thurman for her name, having been told that she could sing? :)</p>
<p>I miss Smash. I know it was cheesy, but it was fun!</p>
<p>Cheesy? I loved it. :)</p>