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<p>When they interviewed them for the ‘making of’ special, the Liesl and Rolf commented how difficult it was to go from rehearsing in the studio in Manhattan to the real stage which had the hill, especially the roll down the hill part!</p>
<p>Oh yes. forgot to add the wedding dress was awful.</p>
<p>Which reminds me–I missed Project Runway…</p>
<p>Consolation - I do believe it is more of a challenge to perform live when you don’t have an audience to give you feedback. I know there have been times when my daughter has performed when she said how difficult it is to get through a show when the audience just doesn’t get into it. And there’s also a difference between doing a show in a large theatre which seats maybe between hundreds or thousands of people, and being broadcast across the world to millions. It’s just unprecedented.</p>
<p>What - there was project runway? I thought I had that set for auto record :(</p>
<p>Rolf is a senior at Carnegie-Mellon so he’s probably 21 or 22. Liesl is a junior at Barnard so she is 20 or 21. In the movie, the actress playing Liesl was also 21. I don’t know how old the Rolf actor was in the movie. </p>
<p>I thought Carrie seemed most natural when singing and when interacting playfully with the children. Audra McDonald was incredible. My D saw her in Porgy & Bess last year for a class and got to meet her afterward. I would have loved to see her in that! Her voice is just amazing. I didn’t think she was that great on Private Practice, but she’s terrific on the stage. </p>
<p>The hissing and the lighting (at times) were a little annoying. I was kind of laughing when the Admiral messed up his lines. All those kids got it right… </p>
<p>I thought all the kids were terrific! Great casting there. </p>
<p>I watch True Blood so I had a hard time not seeing Bill Compton and seeing him as Captain Von Trapp instead, but I think he did a good job. </p>
<p>Overall, I thought it was fun, which is what I was looking for 
I love the music- always have. I too had the Mary Martin album when I was very young and used to dance around the house singing along. It’s just a feel good show.</p>
<p>Well, teriwtt, that may be true, but it didn’t stop the REAL musical theater actors from performing well.</p>
<p>For those who want to hear what Audra can do, try her CD How Glory Goes. Private Practice was a complete waste of her talents.</p>
<p>When you perform before an actual audience it really sharpens your focus, and increases the quality of your performance by an order of magnitude.</p>
<p>I wonder if knowing a lot of people are watching, vs. a physically present audience, provides the same boost.</p>
<p>Did the Admiral fluff his lines or was the Captain late with the delivery of his?</p>
<p>^^And I’d add…Have you ever been to the opening night of a new run? I’ve been to several, and they’re not always great. </p>
<p>It was nice. Great? Not really…but compared to alot of the crap that folks sit slackjawed in front of every night, I’d say not bad. Plus, it’s never a bad idea to introduce a new and probably younger audience to a classic story.</p>
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I think he tried. I didn’t know he was Captain in this play so I was thoroughly surprised that Stephen was in there! Was sort of hoping Sookie would waltz in…</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s unprecedented. TV had some live broadcasts, sometimes of actual Broadway shows, during the 1950s. PBS broadcast live musicals in the 1980s</p>
<p>Plus, a lot of the old TV shows were live. The Ed Sullivan show was one of them.</p>
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<p>OK… time to talk about the mistakes we noticed. I thought I detected a slight misstep on Carrie’s part in her first number as she was coming down the hill.</p>
<p>Also, when Maria and the captain came back from their honeymoon, and she and Liesl were singing 16 Going on 17, H noticed Maria’s wedding ring was on the wrong hand! (Gotta give H credit for picking up on that).</p>
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<p>NBC kept saying ‘this’ hadn’t happened in 50 years. I think what they’re talking about is broadcasting a musical in a studio, without an audience, for just one run.</p>
<p>Project Runway all stars. Take a look at your DVR and you can probably pick it up on a late rerun at 2am or some odd time</p>
<p>What finger did she have the ring on? (in some European countries, it is worn on the right hand. Not sure about Austria)</p>
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<p>NO, Broadway (or musical theater) doesn’t require a higher set of skills or talent than country music. But they are DIFFERENT. A country music singer must be a very good singer and of that particular genre. In musical theater, the person must also be a good singer (though a different style than country) but ALSO must ACT. In musical theater, it is not enough to be an excellent singer. If you can’t act, it doesn’t matter if you sing well. </p>
<p>And there lies the problem, in my view, with Carrie Underwood in the role. I watched it with an open mind. But she could not ACT at all!!! She was best when interacting with the kids ,but otherwise, her acting was so amateurish and wooden and came across even worse when in scenes with excellent actors. In terms of her singing, she is an excellent singer, but just wasn’t the right choice for some of these songs. For example, I think she was poor on the opening song, “The Sound of Music,” and her voice never soared in the song as it should. She sang Lonely Goatherd very nicely, however. In another song, I think it was Do Re Mi, she sounded out of breath (and yes there was a lot of movement, but that is true in musical theater and a lead should be able to do it and not sound out of breath). </p>
<p>I enjoyed watching the telecast. I have always loved The Sound of Music, my favorite movie as a kid and I don’t mind a remake (and it is not a total remake as it wasn’t a movie, but rather a filming of a stage version). I thought the rest of the cast was very good. Audra MacDonald is incredible. Her singing is tops. Her acting is as well. It was almost hard to watch her in scenes with Carrie because the discrepancy was so huge. Laura Benanti and Christian Borle were very good, in my view. I thought the children were great. It is kinda a shame that the weakest link was the lead.</p>
<p>nj2011 - thanks. Found it and set the DVR. I’m off to bed.</p>
<p>Anyone remember a few years ago, one of the major networks broadcast a live performance of On Golden Pond? It starred Julie Andrews and Christopher Plumer–it was great.</p>
<p>50 years ago is not “unprecedented.” </p>
<p>I do know that during the 1950s, live television was common and it included musicals. I sincerely doubt that tonight’s performance had as many people watch it as Peter Pan with Mary Martin, which was broadcast live…maybe with a live audience, I don’t know. But it was live…and it wasn’t the only one.</p>
<p>I just checked on Wikipedia–Mary Martin did it TWICE live on TV!!! 65 million people watched it te first time.</p>
<p>PS just found this on wikipedia
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<p>The last televised staging of a musical in this fashion that I recall was Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, which I loved back in the day.</p>