# Live "Sound of Music" -- will you watch? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 5, 2013, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-sound-of-music-will-you-watch/675529 "2013-12-05T00:45:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-sound-of-music-will-you-watch/675529/81 "2013-12-07T05:30:00Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > What’s the [issue](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stormtrooper)? “These aren’t the family choir you’re looking for… they can all be on their way.” Seeing the star of Mary Poppins silently serving tea in the background really drives home the extent to which #TV-Money\>#Broadway-money ---
**Author:** ![vix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a88e4f/32.png) [@vix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vix)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-sound-of-music-will-you-watch/675529/82 "2013-12-07T15:52:19Z")
I missed the live broadcast, but I’ll watch at least part of it if it’s available on demand. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-sound-of-music-will-you-watch/675529/83 "2013-12-07T16:43:16Z")
Carrie’s response to the h8ers: [Mean people need Jesus.](http://usm.ag/1gNdqa4) ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-sound-of-music-will-you-watch/675529/84 "2013-12-07T17:22:15Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Carrie’s response to the h8ers: [Mean people need Jesus.](http://usm.ag/1gNdqa4) I guess she thinks Jesus wants the whole world to be like tee-ball, where criticism of the participants is out of bounds and all the players get awards just for showing up. Maybe the Emmys should have a “best effort” prize. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-sound-of-music-will-you-watch/675529/85 "2013-12-07T17:55:36Z")
Lest anyone think I’m a hater, let me just make clear: The difference in quality between my voice and Underwood’s is far, far greater than the difference between Underwood’s and Andrews’. By any reasonable standard, Carrie Underwood is a good singer. Julie Andrews is just a better singer, is all. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-sound-of-music-will-you-watch/675529/86 "2013-12-07T18:13:44Z")
And Andrews’s vocal style is far better suited to the material, I would say. I have several of Underwood’s songs on my iPod and like them very much. Her voice just doesn’t fit my mental image (heavily influenced by Andrews, to be sure) of Maria’s. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-sound-of-music-will-you-watch/675529/87 "2013-12-07T21:47:37Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > By any reasonable standard, Carrie Underwood is a good singer. Julie Andrews is just a better singer, is all. Not being a hater, but to me the more important difference is that Julie Andrews can act. It’s not like Carrie is a sweet girl doing this for community college theater, she got paid a lot of money to do it and like any other well paid job she should expect feedvback. Nothing against Carrie, who I really do not know one way or the other, but they should’ve hired an actress who sings rather than a singer who doesn’t act. On the other hand, I am more convinced that I was before that Audra McDonald is at the very least a demigoddess. I knew she had a magnificent voice of course, but I did not realize how good of an actress she is as well, and people I know who have met her are unanimous that she is a very sweet person in real life. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2013, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-sound-of-music-will-you-watch/675529/88 "2013-12-08T07:53:26Z")
Was only able to get through about 15 minutes and just quit. Although I really love Broadway musicals, and am happy this got good ratings so they might do more musicals in the future, this version of Sound Of Music just didn’t do it for me. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2013, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-sound-of-music-will-you-watch/675529/89 "2013-12-08T11:53:34Z")
I wonder why she was on “American Idol” if she thinks it’s not nice to critique someone’s performance. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2013, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-sound-of-music-will-you-watch/675529/90 "2013-12-08T15:41:00Z")
I watched it last night on On Demand Carrie Underwood can’t act. It’s not like the role needs a great actress but she can’t act her way out of a paper bag…or rather, she can’t act her way out of 21st century Middle America. That what bothered me the most, I got no sense of her being in this different time and place. If they were so compelled to use Underwood they should’ve done South Pacific, I could probably almost buy her as Nellie Forbush. When her and Moyer ( who I also felt lacked some acting chops ) were doing the lovey-dovey folk dance I think their awkwardness worked in their favor in that moment. I haven’t seen a stage production of TSOM in many years and I’ve seen the movie many times so I was a little thrown by some of the differences, especially in the song order. I did like the increased presence of Max and Elsa, the minimalizing of their roles in the movie always ticked me off a little bit. I don’t recall ever noticing before that the Captain DOESN’T sing during “How can Love Survive” I actually thought the “ugly dress” that she wore when she first came to the house was the most flattering costume they gave her in the production. When she came back to the Von Trapps after running away…after I saw her costume I expected her to say…“I’m not staying, I just came back to tell you I got a job as a stewardess for PanAm”. TSOM has become somewhat of a camp classic and I saw a lot of that influence, at times it felt like an inside joke that Underwood and Moyer weren’t in on. But Max, Elsa and the older children camped it up just enough to make it watchable, in particular I thought 16 going on 17was deliciously camp. I’m disappointed that they cut the little bit at the end where the nuns sabotage the Nazi’s cars. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2013, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-sound-of-music-will-you-watch/675529/91 "2013-12-08T17:01:36Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’ve commented about this before, in the context of the original movie: I can see why the Captain falls in love with Maria. She brought joy back into his life, and the life of his family. But why did Maria fall in love with him? Apparently in real life, she [didn’t](http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/winter/von-trapps.html). Not right away anyway. > [@](#): > > Maria did not marry Georg von Trapp because she was in love with him. As she said in her autobiography Maria, she fell in love with the children at first sight, not their father. When he asked her to marry him, she was not sure if she should abandon her religious calling but was advised by the nuns to do God’s will and marry Georg. “I really and truly was not in love. I liked him but didn’t love him. However, I loved the children, so in a way I really married the children. . . . \*\*y and by I learned to love him more than I have ever loved before or after.” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2013, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-sound-of-music-will-you-watch/675529/92 "2013-12-08T21:12:57Z")
Very interesting, **FreSli** - thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-sound-of-music-will-you-watch/675529/93 "2013-12-09T02:46:17Z")
And that relationship, I can buy. But of course, it doesn’t fit into the pattern of a romantic musical, so it had to be changed. Learn something new every day. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-sound-of-music-will-you-watch/675529/94 "2013-12-09T04:21:48Z")
The von Trapp family might’ve preferred Anne Hathaway: [Anne Hathaway In 'Sound Of Music Live'? Von Trapp Family Reveals Their Ideal Choice For Maria | HuffPost Entertainment](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/07/anne-hathaway-sound-of-music-live_n_4404715.html?ncid=webmail1) ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-sound-of-music-will-you-watch/675529/95 "2013-12-09T07:29:42Z")
I said “no” to the poll because there was something else I had to do. However, I realized it was on On Demand, so I watched it. It was okay. Underwood was out of her element. > [@YWalker](#): > > Yes, but there were some real disappointments. Carrie Underwood is talented, but her voice seemed too loud and brash for most of the songs to me Yeah. > [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > I can’t remember Christopher Plummer’s “knockout voice.” And Mary Martin, who originated the role, was somewhat brash. His singing was dubbed. And Underwood used her full-throated voice a lot more than Martin. That was the first thing that annoyed me. > [@delphica](#): > > A lot of the dilly-dallying over whether it was better to compromise with the Nazis felt like it dragged for me … maybe when the show was written, this theme was more emotional and audiences were more engaged with exploring this, but by now, I think we’re more of a “yeah, don’t compromise with the Nazis, now let’s more on” society. I’d hate to think that’s true. > [@](#): > > I have no issue with the casting, it’s a showcase role meant to display an accomplished vocalist, and there is no doubt McDonald is that. But every moment she was not actually singing, I felt her Mother Abbess was … weird. I think when that role is performed successfully, the character conveys that as the experienced leader of a convent, she has the wisdom, insight, and authority to guide a young woman. McDonald seemed a little young (in how she presented on stage, not her actual age), so I had a hard time buying this. I agree with that. At least for me, an abbess should have a stillness and dignity, with her true attention being on the worship of God while embodying his will in things done on Earth. Even so, I’m sure she would’ve enjoyed singing along with Maria in “My Favorite Things” (but skip her kicking her feet up). > [@Chronos](#): > > I’ve commented about this before, in the context of the original movie: I can see why the Captain falls in love with Maria. She brought joy back into his life, and the life of his family. But why did Maria fall in love with him? Perhaps for the same reason. She saw him as a stern, forbidding person at first. But when he opened up to the children, her feelings for this now warm person began. > [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > When she came back to the Von Trapps after running away…after I saw her costume I expected her to say…“I’m not staying, I just came back to tell you I got a job as a stewardess for PanAm”. Nailed it! The kids nodding their heads from side to side under the bed during “The Lonely Goatherd” was too cute! ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-sound-of-music-will-you-watch/675529/96 "2013-12-12T03:58:40Z")
Can’t believe I’m the first one to say it, but I loved it! I disagree with the assessment of Underwood’s acting. Liesl was bringing the naive budding sexuality so much more than the original actress, who was like 24… Brigitta was FANTASTIC. So was Mother Superior of course. The Marco Polo game had rather a predictable outcome, but it was funny nevertheless. The set was gorgeous, and the two dramatic in-scene location changes were flawless. Von Trapping was rather unmemorable, though; and it’s ridiculous for 16-year-old Liesl and 13-year-old Frederick to be afraid of thunderstorms. But y’know. The diction on the new songs wasn’t good enough to be understood, and you’d think with a live script program NBC would have been good enough to provide instant closed-captions. Role not turning them in seems to me, more real. Probably helped that it was Liesl, not the Captain, who confronted him. Overall I give it an enthusiastic A+, and am bewildered at the heretofore universally negative feedback in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-sound-of-music-will-you-watch/675529/97 "2013-12-12T13:27:19Z")
Apparently they’re rerunning it Saturday if anyone who wants to see it hasn’t yet. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-sound-of-music-will-you-watch/675529/98 "2013-12-12T14:48:05Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > Can’t believe I’m the first one to say it, but I loved it! I disagree with the assessment of Underwood’s acting… > > Overall I give it an enthusiastic A+, and am bewildered at the heretofore universally negative feedback in this thread. Carrie, let me be the first to welcome you to the Straight Dope! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jrsone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jrsone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jrsone)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-sound-of-music-will-you-watch/675529/99 "2013-12-12T14:55:26Z")
Carrie wasn’t the greatest but she is a fine singer. The rest of the actors more than made up for her shortcomings. The Sound of Music is one of my favorites, so I was excited to see the arrangement. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-sound-of-music-will-you-watch/675529/100 "2013-12-12T17:07:17Z")
Personally I thought it was a good time. It wasn’t a great performance and Underwood’s acting leaves much to be desired, but the supporting acts were quite good, singing and acting. I enjoyed watching it - much more than I thought I would. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-sound-of-music-will-you-watch/675529.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-sound-of-music-will-you-watch/675529.md?page=6)