Did anyone else watch "The Sound of Music" live on NBC

[markw]

If so, share your opinions. I'll start.

First off, the set was gorgeous, the staging was creative and flowed perfectly, and the cinematography was well executed. Now, for the rest.

I found the acting stilted, particularly Vampire Bill as the captain and his singing was barely capable. Maria was barely credible as an actor but her singing was fine, but that's what she does. IMNSHO, the Reverend Mother blew everyone away with her rendition of "Climb Every Mountain".

I noticed a few new songs that I don't recall either from the movie or the play (which I saw in '62) and the barely referenced "The Lonely Goatherd" was almost an insult to the original.

The kids were good but a bit precocious but I guess that's part of the territory here. Max was good comic relief but that's about it and the Captains intended wife was quite good.

Then again, I'll cut everyone a bit of slack since it was done live in front of a national audience, with no retakes, and the pressure must have been intense. And, the first night of any play is going to be a bit rough.

But, my biggest gripe was with the sound: I noticed a loud rushing sound during most of the dialog which, for a musical, I found unnacceptable.

 

[lsiberian]

I was at a live musical so I missed it. I love the Sound of Music. Last time I watched was actually at Walberswick Studios certainly and amazing experience. It's sad what happened to Julie Andrews.

 

[GO-NAD!]

It's sad what happened to Julie Andrews.

Are you referring to the loss of her singing voice?

 

[adk highlander]

Just watched it with the wife and kid. I can understand some of the critisizms I saw but thought it was very good for being live.

 

[skizzerflake]

Scary. I don't even like the show, but, I saw enough to realize that Underwood was trying (and not succeeding) to sing a few notes above her natural range, resulting in strained, "pitchy" sound that did NOT come close to the high singing Julie Andrews who owned the role. The TV actor who played Von Trapp had a scary voice and no acting chops at all. The only singers that sounded good were the nuns, who, at least could sing their parts, but who were no-names who had supporting roles. The end came so suddenly, that I suspected that somebody noticed that 11 PM was coming and the show was over. Later, I heard that the Von Trapp guy forgot his last song and they cut to the credits. Sad. Had they cast professional Broadway performers (like the nuns), it would have been much better.

Sadly, the ratings were high so the network got encouraged to do it again.