The hills are alive...

[lilyvonschtupp26]

What do you think, theater fans? What do you think of Carrie Underwood as Maria?

[jarnon]

I didn't know Bill Compton could sing!

[Ritterskoop]

Though I was tempted by the supporting cast (Christian Borle, Audra McDonald, etc), I stayed away because I have never heard Carrie Underwood sing live worth ten cents.

But the episode of Glee I watched instead, that was held from last Christmas, was just pure crack. Absurdly poor taste almost all around, except they did finally strike a nice note in the final scene. But poor-taste funny, so I enjoyed it without having to admit it.

[a1mamacat]

I am quite enjoying it


Actually, I am more than enjoying it. I've been singing the whole time it has been on

[ontellen]

I agree, Saucy. I only tuned in around 10 but was singing along with all the songs. I pretty much memorized the soundtrack album. The first time I saw the movie was during the great 1965 blackout on the east coast. We bought our tickets around 6:30 and went to a restaurant nearby for dinner. We ate by candlelight and just about 8:00 the power came on in Toronto and we saw the movie in its entirety.

[gsabc]

Good singing and dancing. The choreography was excellent, especially the dance part of "16 Going On 17" around all those stage trees on the hill. And Underwood can hit the notes. "Lonely Goatherd" was great.

Casting was so-so. Lisle looked older than Maria and Captain von Trapp should look older than 35 to have a nearly 17-year-old child in that era. And who played the housekeeper (non-singing role)? I kept looking at her and thinking that Marni Nixon should have had a cameo role. Not sure the actress was old enough, though.

Acting? Carrie, keep the day job. Though with the constant barrage of Julie Andrews and her British accent, I'm not sure who could have done the role justice, especially on live TV with all the closeups.

[geoffil]

I have mixed reviews. I agree that I enjoyed seeing a live performance and hope that the networks do more live shows. Carrie has a beautiful voice and I enjoyed her singing. Most singers lip synch and she is really talented. However, as an actress she is a great singer. I did not like the lighting and the scenery seemed so fake on my TV.
i would have liked to see more professional choreography in the dance scenes.

I always thought the story was based on a true story, but I was surprised to see how embellished the story actually is. The captain hired Maria to be a tutor not a governess. He wasn't that rich. They didn't escape hiking in the mountains. They took a train to Italy. They toured as a singing group to make money. Maria was known as being mean and the precursor to a monager like Kris Jenner. One of the kids went back to Austria to live.

[silvercamaro]

On the whole, I was happy to watch the whole production. Sure, I had some minor quibbles, but no more than I've had after watching Billy Elliot, Wicked, or Cabaret on Broadway, too. Carrie's singing was much better than I had dared to expect, and I was relieved to hear virtually no trace of Okie accent in her dialogue. Her acting was a bit low-key (in my opinion,) but I doubt she's had much -- if any -- stage experience beyond singing and beauty pageants. In fact, I would be surprised if little Checotah, Oklahoma, so much as tries to present an annual musical at the high school. Some wise acting coach for this project no doubt advised her to under-act rather than over-act for the television cameras.

While I kept wishing the production staff would have looked a little longer to find someone to play the youngest daughter among the kids, I was enchanted by the younger boy in the role of Kurt. His voice was amazing. I would watch the whole thing again just to witness his hitting a few more of those clear, high notes.

I suspect we'll see much more of Carrie in the future, and she'll keep getting better and better.

[TheCalvinator24]

Underwood's acting was atrocious.

The rest, I liked.

With regard to Kurt, I commented that I could imagine the actor being a pretentious little snot in real life. He just put out that vibe to me.

On the lighting, the only time it jumped out at me was the scene with the nuns right before the wedding. It looked like an SNL sketch.

[mrkelley23]

Very proud to have had a contemporary of mine from lil ol Evansville play three roles in this production. Paula Leggett Chase and I graduated together and started out as voice majors together at Indiana University. She stuck with it, unlike me, and has many, many Broadway credits as well as some TV roles. It probably didn't hurt her casting chances that her husband was the pianist (and I think music director) for this performance.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2774148/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

http://ibdb.com/person.php?id=72365

[Vandal]

[TheCalvinator24]

Very proud to have had a contemporary of mine from lil ol Evansville play three roles in this production. Paula Leggett Chase and I graduated together and started out as voice majors together at Indiana University. She stuck with it, unlike me, and has many, many Broadway credits as well as some TV roles. It probably didn't hurt her casting chances that her husband was the pianist (and I think music director) for this performance.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2774148/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

http://ibdb.com/person.php?id=72365

I'm impressed that she played Mitzi and understudied Tess in "Crazy for You" on Broadway. That show was my first lead as an adult (I played the title role in the Scottish play in High School).

[Ritterskoop]

I watched a clip of Audra McDonald doing "Climb E'vry Mountain" at the Christmas tree lighting a few days ago. She killed it. Outside. In the wind.

I'm glad Carrie Underwood sang well, and I do understand they couldn't stock the whole cast with Broadway vets, or the target audience (young people who spend impulsively) wouldn't watch. But next time, networks, try a great actor and see if enough of us slightly older folks with more disposable income don't still get the result you want.

It's time to pitch the 18-34 demo concept. CBS is doing fine with an average viewer age of 75 or whatever. We spend.

[T_Bone0806]

I didn't see all of it, but a fair amount of it. I am NOT an Underwood fan (I hear that throaty yell almost every time she opens her mouth that seems to be a part of so many female country singers) but she hit the notes. Julie Andrews set the bar so incredibly high that it is impossible not to suffer in comparison. For an "amateur", she handled herself reasonably well...I mean, she remembered her lines, anyway! But honestly, I could think of a couple of girls from my high school drama club that could've acted as well if not better...

One exception...I thought she showed good reaction skills while Audra McDonald was singing "Climb Every Mountain", with the tears welling up and all. Then again, considering my eyes were a bit misty as well, I found myself thinking that that was GENUINE emotion and there was no acting involved during that performance...McDonald was 100% awesome on that song. Chills-up-the-spine awesome.

[MarkBarrett]

I have now had a chance to see both The Sound of Music and Glee from last night. Carrie Underwood's acting needs some work, but at least NBC did not cast Katharine McPhee. "The Lonely Goatherd" was quite good. Nice job on the quick change from the outside kiss to the wedding dress in under a minute. The captain needed more time to get his dress clothes on.

I thought I would never picture "The Chimmunk Song" again thanks to the Glee version until I saw what they did to "Love Child." There are no words. And baby Jesus for the living nativity? It was one thing watching the show straight through to know what was happening and why. I can't imagine how channel surfers took to the episode. Jane Lynch was hilarious with the lumps of coal in the stockings of other actresses during the introduction.

[Bob Juch]

[TheCalvinator24]

One exception...I thought she showed good reaction skills while Audra McDonald was singing "Climb Every Mountain", with the tears welling up and all. Then again, considering my eyes were a bit misty as well, I found myself thinking that that was GENUINE emotion and there was no acting involved during that performance...McDonald was 100% awesome on that song. Chills-up-the-spine awesome.

When I said her acting was atrocious, I wasn't being completely fair. I thought her facial expressions were good throughout. It was just her bizarre line readings that set my teeth on edge.

[TheConfessor]

Underwood's acting was atrocious.

Carrie prayed for you after the show.
http://omg.yahoo.com/news/carrie-underw ... eekly.html

I didn't watch it and have no opinion about it.

[silverscreenselect]

On the lighting, the only time it jumped out at me was the scene with the nuns right before the wedding. It looked like an SNL sketch.

Check out the opening of SNL this week (it's available on Hulu or NBC.com).

[BackInTex]

With all the comparisons, mostly critical, to the original and this live version....I did not realize the original version had no retakes or over-dubbing (sarcasm intended).

[Bob Juch]

With all the comparisons, mostly critical, to the original and this live version....I did not realize the original version had no retakes or over-dubbing (sarcasm intended).

The main problem was that people compared the live play with the film and not the original play because they had never seen the play before. Nevertheless, the acting sucked.