<p>We just watched Rent; supurb casting and singing. just saying.</p>
<p>Thank you, Jonri, #359.</p>
<p>Look…I never said the production on Thursday was good. I didn’t like it much. I personally didn’t like Audra either. I liked the kids.</p>
<p>That being said…haven’t we bashed this show enough? It’s Saturday and we are still carrying on about this thing that happened Thursday. Most of the arts reviewers agree it was not so great. </p>
<p>I’m saying lets move on. There has to be something more interesting to talk about now than how awful Carrie Underwood acted.</p>
<p>P.S. I go to live orchestral concerts because I like to see the interaction between the conductor and the musicians…something you cannot see on a CD while listening only.</p>
<p>I go to pop/rock concerts to see the presentation the musicians do. If they stand there like sticks, it is a way less appealing show.</p>
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<p>The film version or the recorded Broadway show? Not really a fair comparison either way since they were castmembers who had done the show hundreds of times, for the most part. Many of the original Broadway castmembers were in the film version in the lead roles, with the exception of Rosario Dawson playing Mimi. There was HUGE and I mean huge! controversy amongst Rent fans and theatre fans, in general, about this casting. Probably even more so than all the discussion about Carrie Underwood!</p>
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<p>Ah, yes, Flossy! The only thing better than Hugh as Peter Allen was Peter himself. Saw him many times.</p>
<h1>359 was spot on.</h1>
<p>@thumper Hmm…have we bashed this show enough? I don’t know, but if you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to. It’s Saturday and if I want to talk about a musical that happened on Thursday, I can. </p>
<p>Regarding Carrie’s response to her critics, it’s odd how she would respond like that. Perhaps, she’s hurt because she thought she gave it her all and pulled off Maria. While in reality, she didn’t and she can’t act. At all.</p>
<p>"I go to live orchestral concerts because I like to see the interaction between the conductor and the musicians…something you cannot see on a CD while listening only.</p>
<p>I go to pop/rock concerts to see the presentation the musicians do. If they stand there like sticks, it is a way less appealing show.:</p>
<p>Fair enough. </p>
<p>And I go to musicals to see the cast in person. And maybe it’s just me, but I have never walked out of a musical reciting any line an actor said - I leave humming a tune.</p>
<p>No, it’s not just you. The songs are the memorable part of most musicals. But it’s the story that keeps you watching and involved and hopefully on the edge of your seat from time to time for 3 hours isn’t it? That’s the acting. Otherwise, you just have somebody standing there singing a song which is more like a recital and really a bore unless it’s your kid or you’re a huge fan or something. Maybe, they make it look so easy you never noticed. That’s the goal.</p>
<p>“But it’s the story that keeps you watching and involved and hopefully on the edge of your seat from time to time for 3 hours isn’t it?”</p>
<p>Nope. TBH, usually I find the stories in musicals pretty silly and contrived and just a means to get to the music. But again, this is just my opinion.</p>
<p>So, you just wanted to watch a bunch of songs from the SOM movie soundtrack sung by Broadway stars, newcomers, and a country singer and they all did a great job and you don’t care at all about the dialogue or backstory in any musical anyway so you enjoyed it. Well, great.</p>
<p>I enjoyed it to BTW. It doesn’t have to be perfect to be entertaining. And there was much good in that production.</p>
<p>I’m with acting on this one. What’s a musical if a backstory isn’t set up? What’s the meaning of the songs? What’s the purpose of the singing?</p>
<p>I’m not saying the acting is the number one most important thing in a musical, but when a musical performance lacks it, it takes away from the overall experience.</p>
<p>Again, this is my opinion on musicals. If it doesn’t take away from my experience why should that matter to you?</p>
<p>Mean people need Jesus???</p>
<p>That’s so offensive on so many levels. OK, now I hate Carrie Underwood. Sanctimoniousness is no substitute for talent.</p>
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Okay, that’s funny. The star of the film version of “The Sound of Music” is, was, and always will be Julie Andrews, who had the class and good sense to wish CU well before the production aired and refrain from commenting since (unless I’ve missed something). Kym Karath? Cute kid, but for my money, the little girl who played Gretl on Thursday night gave a better acting performance. </p>
<p>The show may not be all bashed out, but I am. I haven’t thought this much about SOM since I was 10 years old and devoutly believed it was the greatest film of all time. Now I wish I didn’t know that my dh is getting me the original Broadway cast, movie soundtrack, and TV version on CDs for Christmas. I’ll have to act pleased, but I am done with SOM for a good long while.</p>
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Bravo, @Cardinal Fang!</p>
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thumper1, if you no longer want to participate in a discussion of the telecast, just avoid clicking on this thread, and it will be over for you. Unless you’re Carrie Underwood’s manager, I don’t understand the desire to police the thread–surely we’ve seen many discussions on far narrower subjects go on for far longer than this. Eighteen million people saw SOM; a few days of commentary seems quite reasonable to me, and since everyone is being quite courteous and non-confrontational, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t continue until interest in the subject naturally dies away. We’re not taking away any valuable bandwidth from the universe.</p>
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Exactly! And you know those Tony awards? They aren’t given out merely for singing ability. And you know all those colleges that offer a major in musical theater in addition to majors in vocal performance and acting? That’s because musical theater is a specialized discipline that combines singing, acting and, often, dance, and because PERFORMING a song is different from just singing it.</p>
<p>Whose fault is it? the person who applied for the job or the person who hired her? CU did the best that she could…I have told my kids many a time to apply for positions even if they don’t have all the prerequisites because they will not call you for an interview if they don’t think you could do it…so NBC are the ones to blame here and not CU.</p>
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That doesn’t add up. If NBC thought CU could do it, but she couldn’t. Isn’t that the fault of CU? She fell short. Or perhaps, you mean it’s NBC’s fault for not recasting?</p>
<p>I wonder if they had enough time to recast and find another singer that could stir up the same amount of hype CU did…I know Anne Hathaway’s name was thrown around previously. </p>
<p>@emily And we are merely voicing ours.</p>
<p>SNL’s opening is on SOM - on now - uh oh. Kristen Wiig’s Dooneese character is in it!</p>
<p>Oh, gosh. I’m dying. </p>
<p>Still be better Maria than Carrie was.</p>
<p>I guess it was inevitable–Saturday Night Live’s cold open was a SOM spoof. They even reproduced Maria’s “too ugly for the poor” dress. I wonder if Carrie Underwood thinks they need Jesus.</p>
<p>AGHHH!!! And I missed it. Of course I heard about it on FB immediately and it was too late by the time I changed the channel. Hopefully as soon as it’s available on YouTube, someone will post a link!!</p>