<p>"I also get annoyed when singers who are paid obscene amounts of money lip sync “live performances.”</p>
<p>Did people get so bent out of shape when Marnie Nixon sang for both Audrey Hepburn and Natalie Wood in the movie musicals My Fair Lady and West Side Story? Would you now not watch those two movies because the singing was dubbed?</p>
<p>^^^^When I realized it, I was irritated even as a little girl. I remember saying to my Mom, “but that’s not fair!” Lol. And honestly, I have far less respect for the performances of those two actresses because they didn’t sing their performances. Not to say they weren’t great in other films, but no, I probably woudn’t watch those films again. Well, I might watch WSS because I love the dancing.</p>
<p>I still think an artist representing that they are doing a “live performance,” and lip syncing is ridiculous in most instances and is just an admission that they cannot sing without studio “magic” or are just not confident in their ability to nail it live even if they actually could.</p>
<p>Kudos to Carrie then because she was singing live while jumping up and down. The original movie wasn’t live was it?</p>
<p>Uhm, I don’t think singing live while jumping up and down is what they teach in these very expensive musical theater colleges. LOL!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The “original” was on Broadway and was in fact a live performance with no lip syncing. ;)</p>
<p>In fact, wasn’t the original Maria Mary Martin, mother of J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman)?</p>
<p>Yep, MM was LH’s mom. He had a very unconventional upbringing.</p>
<p>
Actingmt:
I thought I read that it lost money.</p>
<p>[NBC’s</a> Live ‘Sound of Music’ Cost Close to $9 Million](<a href=“http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/nbcs-live-sound-music-cost-661511]NBC’s”>NBC’s Live ‘Sound of Music’ Cost Close to $9 Million – The Hollywood Reporter)</p>
<p>Frankly for me it was about the singing and the music…for most that is what musicals are about and Carrie Underwood has a great voice no doubt. It’s probably “fun” to critique a major production in an academic sort of way, but there is a world of difference between academics and commercial success. </p>
<p>If anything the success of this endeavor, and by all accounts it was successful despite the Carrie Underwood hand wringing, should give hope to the legions of kids who want to be in musicals…a field with declining jobs and opportunities where rare few can actually find success…as the episode certainly brought national exposure for the unknown theater actors cast (particularly the woman who played the nun) and may lead to other attempts at televised theater which should make the MT insiders very happy. </p>
<p>18.5 million people tuned in to watch this one show. Less than 15 million people see at least one live musical each year (including all of Broadway and all of the touring shows) so the numbers for one show are very low indeed in musical theater compared to the SOM experiment.</p>
<p>And 65 million people watched Mary Martin live in Peter Pan…the first time. Way back then, there were a lot fewer people in the US. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Unknown!!! Audra McDonald? Audra McDonald was one of the stars of the TV show “Private Practice.” She’s been in serveral movies and TV specials. I would think some people who aren’t musical theatre afficionados have heard of her. She has also won 5 Tony awards. Read her Wikipedia entry here and try telling me she is an “unknown.” <a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audra_McDonald[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audra_McDonald</a></p>
<p>Oh, just remembered one of the TV specials she was part of. I guess only snobs watched it because it was on PBS. <a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrfKMT39M8c[/url]”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrfKMT39M8c</a></p>
<p>Audra is nowhere near “unknown”. </p>
<p>That woman has a voice and a charm about her that prevents her from ever becoming unknown.</p>
<p>Apparently, she is unknown in relation to Carrie Underwood. Sigh!</p>
<p>The soundtrack for NBC’s SOM WAS PRERECORDED!!!</p>
<p>Just found this…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>CU WAS [edited to add NOT ] LIP SYNCING!!!</p>
<p>PS, I’m wrong. See corrections below. Sorry, I didn’t realize it only meant the orchestra was pre-recorded</p>
<p>I think that means the cast album was pre-recorded, rather than the songs as broadcast. In fact, in the Making video we watched the cast album being recorded.</p>
<p>The orchestra was also pre-recorded. But not, I’m almost certain, the singing itself.</p>
<p>“And 65 million people watched Mary Martin live in Peter Pan…the first time. Way back then, there were a lot fewer people in the US.”</p>
<p>There were also only 4 channels way back when.</p>
<p>
[NBC</a> “Sound of Music” live](<a href=“http://blogs.denverpost.com/ostrow/2013/12/04/nbc-banks-on-sound-of-music-live-broadcast-dec-5/17197/]NBC”>http://blogs.denverpost.com/ostrow/2013/12/04/nbc-banks-on-sound-of-music-live-broadcast-dec-5/17197/)</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Of course. Everybody knows that. But what was very difficult for Julie Andrews was getting knocked over by prop wash in every retake and then having to get up and pretend again to be joyfully singing on a hill top, when she was actually spitting out mouthfuls of grass and feeling quite beat up.</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Obviously I was misremembering that. So I looked up a quote from Christopher Plummer on the same topic. What really happened was in researching the role of Capt. von Trapp, Plummer spoke the Captain’s nephew. And the nephew said that von Trapp was disagreeable and very boring.</p>
<p>I linked to a documentary about the Von Trapp family above. (It’s on youtube.) It was interesting.</p>
<p>In a way, I feel sorry for the Captain. He was raised to expect a certain kind of life. He married a very wealthy woman and, from all accounts, it was a happy marriage.</p>
<p>Then the Austo-Hungarian Empire lost WWI. As part of the peace, it was forced to give up its navy. He was out of a job–and an occupation --at the age of 38. Austria was now land-locked. He never really worked another day in his life. </p>
<p>His wife died of scarlet fever while caring for one of their children (who recovered). After her death, he made some investment decisions --withdrawing money from the US and UK to try to help establish an Austrian bank. He lost most of the money he had inherited from his first wife, leaving the family poor. Maria and the children began their singing career. The Captain never joined them in real life. </p>
<p>The German government loved the whole the Von Trapp family volklieder bit. They were invited to perform for Hitler’s birthday celebration in Berlin. The Captain was offered a commission in the German navy–and I think 95% of people in the same situation would have accepted it. </p>
<p>The family decided to leave Austria. There was no dramatic escape. The part of the A-H Empire in which the Captain was born became part of Italy post WWI. (Reminds me of a certain poster on this board :)–someone who shares my interest in genealogy.) So, the Captain claimed Italian citizenship in order to leave with Italian passports. They didn’t climb through the mountains; they took a train.</p>
<p>They headed to the US where they spent 3 days on Ellis Island. They had expected the US government to welcome them with open arms. They were wrong. A Catholic welfare organization stepped in and got them out. </p>
<p>There were hard times before they became successful in the US. The Captain basically became “Mr. Mom.” He took care of the kids when they were sick, for example. </p>
<p>His kids, Maria’s stepchildren, were most appalled by the way their father was portrayed in the various movies and the play. He was not a strict disciplinarian and was, from what they say, the more loving parent. </p>
<p>Maria sounds like a monster. However, it is only because she was such a monster that the family survived. She discouraged any friendships between the children and others. All the $ earned by the kids was pooled. So the kids went into their 20s and 30s not having a penny to their own names. When the THIRD oldest daughter announced at the age of 29 that she was getting married, Maria put her under lock and key for 3 days, trying to force her to change her mind. The young woman got word to her fiance and in the middle of the night, she climbed out her window and eloped with him. </p>
<p>When the Captain died in 1947, it was the death knell for the group. I got the impression watching the documentary that the kids of his first marriage had only stuck around out of love for their father, whom they all recognized was incapable of earning his own living and would be lost without Maria. (This is ONLY my impression.) So after he died, they moved on. BTW, THEY say Maria had horrible mood swings and treated her H very, very poorly when she was angry. </p>
<p>So, he may well have been boring and disagreeable, but I think he had a sad life. Oh, BTW, he WANTED to serve in the US Navy, but the US government turned him down.</p>
<p>Again, here’s the link to the documentary. <a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube;
<p>Thank you, jonri, for that biography. I would’ve never known otherwise…</p>
<p>Interesting Jonri. Someone should make a new movie. Maybe titled The Real Maria or Raindrops on Thorns.</p>
<p>^ I laughed a little bit too long at that!</p>