Surviving Members Of Von Trapp Family Pan NBC's Live Performance

[Initech]

After Carrie Underwood performed the “The Sound of Music” in a live broadcast last night, the von Trapp family and mine found we couldn’t solve a problem like awful acting. Hopefully Ms. Underwood’s performance won’t make the next generation take the musical off their list of “favorite things.”

“It’s just upsetting that this could potentially be the final broadcast of our story,” Myles von Trapp Derbyshire told ABC upon first hearing that Underwood would play his great grandmother Maria, originally played by Oscar-winner Julie Andrews in the 1965 film. One can only imagine what he thought of the actual performance.

“And although her voice is amazing, she doesn’t have acting experience,” Mr. Derbyshire told ABC “It’s just the overall image, she’s a country star, she won ‘American Idol,’ she’s very public in kind of a tabloid way.”

It was hard for me to tell exactly what my 10-year-old son was saying with the couch pillow over my head, but it sounded like, “Can we make this stop now?”

http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Family/Modern-Parenthood/2013/1206/Von-Trapp-family-snubs-NBC-casting-Suhay-family-concurs

[B2G]

1. Well that was mean.

[JimDandy]

31. Did you watch it? Lead actors gave truly terrible performances.

Underwood can not act worth beans - it was painful to watch - had to turn the channel because it never got better.

[B2G]

37. I did watch

Carrie needs to work on her acting skills. The kids were adorable and the music was wonderful.

I give them all credit for pulling off a 3 hour live performance. No do-overs. That alone was pretty amazing.

[JimDandy]

42. I also thought the kids did a good job.

Without their performances, I wouldn't have even watched the scenes that I did.

[tridim]

2. The whole time it felt like she was in an SNL sketch reading cue cards.

But she sure can sing!

[Initech]

3. One critic said he'd seen better high school performances.

Ouch!

[EOTE]

5. That's not an exaggeration, I certainly have.

Really, she's a terrible actress. Why anyone thought casting her in lead was a good idea is so beyond me.

[underpants]

17. She drew big numbers - see below

I read another review NYT that said the other main female character had played Maria on Broadway but as often happens she got bumped for the "star".

[Dawson Leery]

24. I've seen better performances in middle school.

[sabrina 1]

28. I would agree. I recently saw an excellent high school performance at my nephews school, which

included Jr. High and even elementary students, of the Music Man. I wasn't expecting it to be Broadway, but it WAS. It was excellent, as good as any Broadway Musical I ever saw. The girl who played the leading role would have made a great Maria.

I watched the Sound of Music for about an hour and then turned it off. They changed eg, the position of many the songs so well known to generations now, eg, My Favorite Things which was originally sung when the children were frightened, to distract them, was sung out of context and replaced with a different song in the scene that made it so famous.

But it was a Wallmart production, so I didn't really expect it to be great. The Baron was all wrong, way too robotic and not so much 'stern' as not human.

Too much makeup on Maria also, who was supposed to be on her way to becoming a nun.

[WolverineDG]

41. Actually, it was the movie that changed the positions of the songs

& eliminated a couple of them.

What NBC broadcast was TSOM as it was written & performed on Broadway.

So really the "Walmart production" comment should be deserved for the leads who were miscast & not properly coached.

[dhill926]

22. exactly what I said last night....

[EOTE]

4. I was actually amazed when I started watching last night.

I've seen the play a few times and I enjoy the Julie Andrews version, it's certainly beautifully shot. When I somewhat jokingly reminded my wife that it was on last night, she turned to it for a few minutes.

I can't understand, for the life of me, why that needed to be done. The beautiful cinematography of the original replaced by fairly drab scenery that would have seemed to be of low-production value for a Broadway production. Also, they're right about Carrie Underwood. I like her as a person and she's got a terrific voice, but she's a TERRIBLE actress. Why they couldn't have gotten a good actress to do this is just mind-boggling to me.

[jberryhill]

6. Folks, Think About The von Trapp's for a moment

Have you ever really thought about the plot of this film?

Captain von Trapp lives pretty nicely. But, after all, he is an important officer in the Austrian Navy.

The Austrian Navy.

I say again - THE AUSTRIAN NAVY.

Let that sink in, and reflect on what you know of geography. If you do not know geography, find Austria on a map.

Okay, got it?

Yeah.

Now, Austria, before WWI was a much different place than it was after WWI, but that's another story.

Okay, so, now that you've found Austria on a map, find Salzburg. Salzburg is a beautiful place. Mozart's hometown. It is just southwest of the best f-ing town in Austria:



or, if you prefer



Coming or going, it's good either way.

The problem, though, is that the only mountains you are going to walk over to get anywhere out of Salzburg, don't take you into Switzerland. If you walk over the Tyrolian Alps from Salzburg, you are going to Berchtesgaden where, at that time - the Anschluss being in October, not only are you going to deep freeze toot-suite, you could drop in and pay a visit this guy at his mountain house there:




a/k/a the guy who riled up the Austrian dispossessed class to welcome in the folks who were going to rid Austria of aristocratic holderovers, such as, oh, an over-entitled captain of the Austrian NAVY.

That said, the score and script are wonderful, but Julie Andrews nailed that role shut.

[jberryhill]

10. NOW you are talking fine musical theater....

[underpants]

15. Great post- I've been there

When I was in the Army - we got a special weekend trip to a govt owned hotel.

Bus ride up the mountain and you walk through a restaurant that is in the Eagle's Nest. Supposedly the hilltop singing scene was filled just outside that spot.

[jberryhill]

16. Yes it was

"Sound of Music" location tours are a staple of the Salzburg tourist trade.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

19. i am not sure i get your point

you're upset because a musical took a little license with the story? so, he was in the Navy...most people don't know the history of the Austro-Hungarian Empire or the navy thereof so that's no big deal. And yes, they went to Italy on a train... not an exciting enough ending so they jazzed it up a bit. Are you equally upset about WHEN they actually married or that there were really 10 kids instead of the 7 from the movie?

perhaps i am misunderstanding your angst in this matter...

sP

[BlueStreak]

27. The could only use 7 kids because if they tried to do Do-Re-Me

with more than 7, Stavinsky would have to write the score.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

40. but that isn't what REALLY happened

and some people have a problem with that... but you make a good point. maybe they could have harmonized parts...

sP

[big_dog]

7. Michael K at Dlisted.com reviewed it this way

Carrie Underwood puts the wood in Underwood. Her singing and yodeling were good, but her talking… Those community theater set pieces were more captivating and human than her. My iPhone is in the red and it has more life in it than Carrie did last night. Even if it died it would have more life in it. For a second there I thought that maybe Carrie is a thespian genius and was making a controversial, yet brave, acting choice. Maybe she was playing Maria as though Maria was brainwashed by Hitler and was working as a spy for the Nazis. She had a glazed look in her eyes like her brain had been taken over by another force. If she was playing one of Tom Cruise's beard wives, she would’ve nailed it!

Even her praying wasn’t believable! Carrie is practically the Christian golden child and she couldn’t even fake pray right. God was up there thinking to himself, “Err, put some stank on it, my child.” But Carrie did bring something new to the role. When Mother Abbess tells Maria through song to climb that man, I saw something I’ve never seen in that scene before. When Mother Abbess sang “Cliiiiiiiiiimb every mountaaaaaaiiiin, search high and low, ” she really wanted to sing, “Cliiiiiimb out that windaaaaaah, get outta my face.” Mother Abbess didn’t care about Maria finding her true life. Mother Abbess just wanted Maria to get out of her life. I see you, Mother Abbess. I see you trying to pawn Maria off on Captain Von Trapp, because her lack of human emotions and animatronic mannerisms are creeping you out. Right after Maria left the abbey, Mother Abbess probably called Captain Von Trapp up and told him that if he doesn’t take Maria off her back she’ll tell everyone he’s a vampire.

And as for Vampire Beeeehl….. I’m going to assume that Vampire Beehl was suffering from a serious case of diarrhea and clenched his ass cheeks the entire time. If he put too much umpf into his singing, his chonies would’ve come alive with the sound of squirting. On a positive note, Audra McDonald and Laura Benanti stole every scene they were in and saved the show. Captain Von Trapp should’ve been arrested when he chose the wooden Swiss Miss statue over the glamorous Baroness Elsa!

Despite all of the Carrie Underwood hate, the Sound of Music Live! was a hit and had huge ratings. So I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before NBC announces that next December they will do West Side Story Live! starring Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus as Maria and Tony respectively. http://dlisted.com/2013/12/06/so-yes-i-almost-typed-sew-about-that-sound-of-music-live-show/

[Blue_In_AK]

11. That last paragraph really cracks me up.

Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus?!

[IggleDoer]

8. As bad as it was, the reviewer was worse.

She quoted a Von Trapp grandchild who never saw the program. Just thought that Carrie Underwood had no acting experience and felt it would be a bad performance. His grandmother and mother also had no prior public appearances when they went to the Salzburg festival.

The reviewer then liked the Captain Von Trapp actor even though he had no singing experience. What gives there?

The reviewer's only real opinion quoted was that of her child who said something intelligible and evidently wanted to go to sleep on a school night!

Probably the most lazy review I have seen in a long time. Talk about "phoning it in."

[RockaFowler]

12. NBC is the one laughing now

The show had over 18 Million viewers last night. People watched the entire 3 hour performance. Say what you will about Carrie Underwood, without her NBC never would have done it. Her voice was amazing last night. Singing live takes a lot of guts and well PIPES to do it!

In all fairness, I work for a NBC station, so this morning I was pretty impressed with the overnight ratings. We had estimated the show at 7.5 Household. The show averaged a 13.9 last night. In my area that means 120,000 people watched the show - 3x as many as the next top show of the night (Big Bang Theory)

[big_dog]

20. it got the biggest ratings in the 18-49 demo on Thursday since ER

bring on West Side Story with Corbin Blue and Zendaya!

[JimDandy]

32. The acting was so bad that

after the first half hour of the show, the viewers were probably there only to see if the actors would physically mess up live.

[CBGLuthier]

13. Do austrians have a word for tact?

Somehow, I do not think they do.

I share Christopher Plummer's opinion about that work.

[xchrom]

14. Du rec. Nt

[badtoworse]

21. Carrie Underwood is no Julie Andrews, but I enjoyed it.

The 1965 film was a masterpiece. I wasn't expecting this to be as good.

[lindysalsagal]

23. If you're waiting for american network TV to be about talent, skill, expertise and artfullness

you obviously haven't seen this:

http://www.tlc.com/tv-shows/here-comes-honey-boo-boo
?w=262

[wickerwoman]

26. To be fair,

that's on cable meaning people actually pay to see it.

Network TV has no such incentives for quality.

[Dash87]

25. Of course it sucked! What did they expect?

That's like complaining that Syfy has shitty movies. It's kind of a given. You just have to work with what's there.

[Redford]

29. loved it

sorry...

[footinmouth]

30. My review

It was an enjoyable 3 hours for me. I loved it. Carrie's singing was great, acting not so much - but I still loved seeing the production.

[Vashta Nerada]

33. Yeah, it was awful.

Who told Carrie Underwood she could act? She can't.

[dmr]

34. I enjoyed it.

I watched all three hours. Since I DVR'd it, I had it on again today as I cleaned house.

The only complaint from me: I thought the orchestra overpowered the singing at times.

The kids were adorable, the scenery was nice, and Underwood's voice was amazing - especially as she sang, hitting the high notes while jumping and bouncing on the bed. If she messed up here, I didn't notice.

Sometimes I think our society is hyper-critical when we needn't be.

[hatrack]

35. Only saw a few minutes of her singing, which was fine, I thought . . . .

Didn't stick around for the acting, though - kind of sorry I didn't. Sounds great, in an Ed Wood, train wreck kind of way . . . .

[loli phabay]

36. best version of the doe a deer song i have heard

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=3pUb9pUcvcU

[LWolf]

38. I watched 15 or 20 minutes.

I have to admit to some bias; I grew up singing along with Julie Andrews. Sorry, but Underwood simply couldn't compare, singing or acting.

Even before Maria left the convent, I thought the black Reverend mother would have made a better Maria than Underwood.

I think I'll pull out my old dvd this weekend to cleanse my listening palate.

[Beaverhausen]

39. Can't believe how many don't know there was a Broadway version before the film

That was what this was based on.

I only got through 30 minutes so far but I recorded it and plan to watch it all.

I feel bad for Underwood. Her first acting job was a three hour live TV special. That is hard on seasoned actors and for this to be her first acting gig I think she deserves credit for bravery if nothing else.

[cherokeeprogressive]

43. It absolutely achieved its one and ONLY objective...

And it seems as though more than a few DUers assisted.