Carrie Underwood is no Julie Andrews
Underwood clunky in live NBC telecast
NEW YORK — Whew, that was nerve-racking, right? All those kids and staircases, pillow fights, candles and dancing. But somehow the cast and crew of NBC’s three-hour live telecast of The Sound of Music pulled it off Thursday night with only a trodden-on dress, some inconsistent sound levels and a flubbed few words.
This was the first time in more than a half-century a broadcast network dared to mount a full-scale musical for live TV and there seemed to be danger everywhere, making it impossible to stop watching in case one of the von Trapp kids tumbled into a fountain or a camera accidentally exploded. But it was all whiskers on kittens and warm woollen mittens, for the most part.
The only real problem was the real reason most people tuned in: Carrie Underwood, an American Idol winner and country music star, sang well as Maria but her acting inexperience was laid bare. She had zero chemistry with her love interest and lacked any intensity or shading.
Underwood was done no favours by being surrounded by some Broadway veterans — Christian Borle, Laura Benanti and Audra McDonald, especially — who thrive under the lights and pressure. This is what these Tony Award winners do for a living and it showed.
Full credit goes to Underwood for trying, though. She was not just dancing and singing live in front of millions in a medium she is a novice at, but she also was stepping into the role made famous by Julie Andrews in the 1965 film. As if that wasn’t enough, it was also only a few hours after the death of Nelson Mandela. Theatre lovers mocked her on Twitter but the only reason we got to see The Sound of Music on TV was Underwood. No one is about to build a live network musical around a Broadway star, alas.
Viewers who tuned in hoping to catch the film version may have been surprised at what was broadcast from a Long Island sound stage. This show was based on the stage original, not the Andrews film. It includes several songs that were left out of the movie and is darker, with more Nazis.
The directors — Tonynominated director and choreographer Rob Marshall and Emmy-nominated Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock director-producer Beth McCarthy-Miller — used all six sets efficiently and the dozen cameras worked hard, catching close-ups as well as sweeping shots. But it was often strangely lifeless, with the crack and zing of being live rarely transmitting through the screen.
Borle was wonder fully slimy as Max, Benanti was glamorously witty as Elsa, and McDonald wasa majestic Mother Abbess. Michael Campayno as Rolf was a natural though he’s still in drama school and Ariane Rinehart was a winning Liesl. Stephen Moyer, primarily known for his work on HBO’s True Blood, was a particularly stern Captain and more than a few people watching would probably have liked him to ditch the nun dropout and stay with Benanti.