Live Blog The Live Sound Of Music- Page 19

[suestorm]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 1:19pm

Goth,respectfully disagree...

have you watched Vampire Diaries, Dirty Lil Liars or Two Broke Girls?

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 1:22pm

Jane2, I'm not saying that those who like it are being insincere, I'm responding to those on this thread who seem to be criticizing those of us who didn't like it (for many of us a gross understatement), and express why we didn't, based on the fact that the show got a hell of a lot of viewers and was live musical theater television.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 1:47pm

After Eight’s logic does not, of course, apply to ONCE playing sold-out houses for almost two years.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 1:49pm

suestorm, go back and look at the lyrics for Grease. Additionally, the stage show is very different from the movie. Would people tune in expecting to see a car race?

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 1:53pm

"I'm responding to those on this thread who seem to be criticizing those of us who didn't like it"

I'm not criticizing anyone. I just think people are being OVERLY bitchy and snarky.

Was it perfect? No. But the fact that it was even attempted and done is astonishing in this day and age of reality TV.

Thankfully the audience loved it, and stayed tuned in. The audience was three time bigger than the finale of SMASH.

And if anything would have killed people going to see live theatre, it was that show, with it's overly polished vocals.

They have no where to go, but up. And I can't wait to see what they will do next year.

[suestorm]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 1:54pm

POPQUIZ.....

Whats the easiest way to tell the diff between a successful Broadway performer and a nitpicky Broadway wannabe?
Easy, how they support and show love for their art.

Exhibits A-G...

Steve Kazee ?@SteveKazee 14m
Honestly don’t understand why theatre people have the reputation for being catty, petty, judgmental, bitter, and jaded. I just don’t see it

Andy Mientus ?@andymientus 13h
Gosh, it must suck to work really hard on a TV show and have the theater community tweet snarky things about it.

Megan Hilty ?@meganhilty 9h
Congratulations to everyone in #SoundOfMusicLive! What an incredible production! May this be the start of a long tradition! @nbc

Anna Kendrick ?@AnnaKendrick47 11h
Yes girl, bust out that belt again! @carrieunderwood #SoundOfMusic


Laura Osnes ?@LauraOsnes 12h
So magical watching @SoundofMusic live! The @CinderellaBway cast was glued to it backstage!! Congrats, friends! pic.twitter.com/i2AGALIeLs


Laura Benanti ?@LauraBenanti 20h
PLEASE watch the show tonight with an open heart and mind. We are performing for you with love. We adore our leading lady. Suck it haters.

Santino Fontana ?@SantinoFontana 14h
http://instagram.com/p/hj_b9ek5ow/ from one R&H classic watching another! @LauraOsnes

Updated On: 12/6/13 at 01:54 PM

[BroadwayGirl3]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 1:55pm

Have to say that I would have LOVED to have seen Laura Osnes as Maria---that would've been awesome. I have to echo the person who said they liked Ariane Rinehart as Liesl, I liked her the best of all the children.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 2:05pm

My friend sent me this: I know TMZ is awful but this was amusing:

http://www.tmz.com/2013/12/06/sound-of-music-live-special-painful-not-good-original-actress/

[Hairspray0901]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 2:19pm

I watched the show last night and tweeted several things---in the beginning, I will admit to not liking Underwood at all, but by the end I was more than happy with her overall performance. She definitely came off nervous, seemed like she was trying too hard, and stiff during her first few scenes and while I realize she is not a trained actress, I could't stand how they would cast someone who in fact, wasn't trained. However, she quickly grew on me and knowing she wasn't a trained actress, overall, I think she did a great job.

I realize what a great accomplishment this was for live theater, I really do. I also read this thread and think people are entitled to their own opinions. I saw some posts by theater tweeters that people in their own profession were mocking the performance. My question is - based on the POSITIVE tweets suestorm posted above---which professional(s) were badmouthing the production? I'm curious because I follow TONS of theater-folk on twitter and didn't see one negative tweet?...[well, aside from Kym Karath lol]



Updated On: 12/6/13 at 02:19 PM

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 2:20pm

"I know TMZ is awful but this was amusing:"

No, it wasn't.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 2:26pm

"I just think people are being OVERLY bitchy and snarky."

Take your own advice.





Updated On: 12/6/13 at 02:26 PM

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 2:48pm

You should, too.

[ModernMillie3]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 2:53pm

Sutton Ross wasn't being bitchy. She posted a link to share with people who were interested. You chose to click on it and complained, so yes, take your own advice. Yuck.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 2:55pm

Just finished watching it (had it DVRed). I agree that Carrie Underwood's line delivery was super stilted and that took me away from it, but she was still charming. I prefer the more legitimate sound of Julie Andrews, even if Mary Martin did more of the belting approach.

Stephen Moyer's Captain von Trapp was just not very likeable. He played him SO intensely. My husband (who hasn't even seen the SoM movie) said "He seems angry constantly!" The times he wasn't angry (like with Maria) seemed to be a completely random 180 change. They didn't have much chemistry and to me it seemed ridiculous that they were all of a sudden in love (I know a lot of musicals are like that, but it goes better if the actors have some chemistry).

Laura Benanti was so great and I don't remember ever liking Elsa so much. Wasn't she a complete bitch in the movie? I can't remember since I haven't seen it in a while.

Audra McDonald was, of course, absolutely divine. And the nuns all sounded great!

To end on a positive note, it was a delightful way to spend three hours. I forgot how uplifting R&H scores are.

Updated On: 12/6/13 at 02:55 PM

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 2:56pm

"My friend sent me this: I know TMZ is awful but this was amusing"

Yes, because that is incredibly bitchy and snarky....

[suestorm]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 2:57pm

""Sutton Ross wasn't being bitchy. She posted a link to share with people who were interested. You chose to click on it and complained, so yes, take your own advice. Yuck.""

AGREED, esp since TD is known as one of the nastiest namecallers here on BWW

Updated On: 12/6/13 at 02:57 PM

[SweetLips]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 2:59pm

Not being able to watch live I will buy the DVD when available then I will have an opinion.My question is--Why did it have to be 'live'? Is that for ratings? It seems from a lot of the comments that people were watching,almost hoping,like a car race,for an 'accident'.As a member of an audience,if I am not comfortable[nervous] for a lead performer then I am on edge all night but sometimes, if a lead makes mistakes,it doesn't matter as they can carry you through the performance just with their confidence.I look forward to seeing my reaction when I can view SOM 'live' on DVD.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 3:30pm

"Laura Benanti was so great and I don't remember ever liking Elsa so much. Wasn't she a complete bitch in the movie? I can't remember since I haven't seen it in a while."

As someone else said, "You try getting hit in the pelvis with a ball by unruly children who don't want you to be their mother and see how you come across."

I actually liked Elsa in the movie. I like her cold, stiffness. It highlights why she shouldn't be with the Captain. I liked Laura Benanti's performance, but wish her characterization had been even more of an ice queen so as to play against Maria's sunny youthfulness.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 3:51pm

As much as I love Laura Benanti (and I do, very, very much, both as a person and a performer), she retweeted one of @BillyEichner's tweets in November of 2012 saying he wanted to kill himself because Carrie Underwood was playing Maria. That was over a year ago, obviously before she ever thought she'd be a part of the final product. And now, everyone else, who has actually seen the final product, is a "hater" or is "snarky"...?

And I stumbled upon this fact late last night, in the first few pages of the original SOM thread, before people accuse me of digging through her Twitter history or something.

I just think it's ridiculous to act like people are unsupportive of theater in general if they had issues with this production. Updated On: 12/6/13 at 03:51 PM

[suestorm]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 3:58pm

Ha, Wicked, i didnt see that tweet, but i will take your word for it. Its possible that Carrie won her over though, if not as an actress as a person. have you ever heard anything bad said about her? i havent.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 3:58pm

I actually liked Elsa in the movie. I like her cold, stiffness. It highlights why she shouldn't be with the Captain. I liked Laura Benanti's performance, but wish her characterization had been even more of an ice queen so as to play against Maria's sunny youthfulness.

Oh, I didn't mean that Elsa was bad in the movie. A lot of people say that they liked her better than Maria because she was so delightfully bitchy.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 4:04pm

"As much as I love Laura Benanti (and I do, very, very much, both as a person and a performer), she retweeted one of @BillyEichner's tweets in November of 2012"

Laura Benanti, 2012 Graduate of The Hunter Foster School Of Public Relations

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 4:09pm

I think Sue brings up an interesting point in that part of the charm of the presentation for me was watching Carrie Underwood, who clearly is not an actress make her way through the evening. I could sort of envision her as an extension of every person watching the program imagining what it would be like to star in a big TV musical surrounded by all this wonderful musical theater talent. Her reactions to Audra McDonald during "Climb Every Mountain" being a perfect example.

There was a quaint, disarming charm about the entire evening that went along with that -- the old fashioned almost soap opera like filming -- the embracing of a story and script that are completely old fashioned and out of style -

I can't argue with those that argue it wasn't great theater - but I did think it was wonderful entertainment -- and I smiled more watching it, with all its community theater flaws, than many a more accomplished production in NYC this season.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 4:17pm

I agree Michael Bennett. Even though Carrie wasn't the greatest actress, it was still more interesting to watch than the 90s Broadway revival.

And as has been pointed out before, the movie has totally eclipsed our idea of the piece. The stage version can drag in some places, especially from the marriage to the end of the show. So of course without good direction, Carrie wouldn't have known how to make that stretch of material come alive.

[darquegk]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 4:20pm

The stage show is considerably less of a classic than the film is. The film is ubiquitous- you can't really escape it no matter how hard you try. But the stage show has made a few appearances on Broadway and in the West End, but hardly as many as constant runners like Chicago, Gypsy, Sweeney Todd, and so on.