There's not really anything in that article that hasn't been said here -- and most don't disagree. Is it her FAULT she cannot act? Not really, I have no doubt she tried, and gave it her all. It's just hard to discuss the show and not talk about the elephant in the room.
That people would send her hate tweets, is simply showing the state of Americans. To have a negative opinion is one thing, to go out of one's way to make you hurt someone with that opinion is another story.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
I agree, dramamama. We all knew how little acting experience she had. I was just hoping for the best. I don't think Stephen was much better than she was. Both leads were weak at acting their roles. I do think she sang the songs extremely well. Hate comments and threats are completely out of line.
Wicked had posted on FB to watch for something from them during the broadcast. Did anyone see that?
I don't think Carrie's acting was bad so much as nonexistent. It's like saying someone is a bad driver when they never got the car out of "park."
She was sincere and focused and attentive and said her lines. That's not acting, but it's not bad acting either. She didn't make any false choices, in my opinion, and she didn't force any false emotions. Now the Captain Vampire did that, absolutely. He overacted and his choices rang false. That's bad acting to me.
Carrie has potential. She was in way over her head, but she didn't drown. She didn't swim either. She just stayed afloat and "survived."
I hope she takes the gifts she has and studies. She has the talent, the drive, the discipline, the concentration, and the dedication to become a good actress ... if she wants to do it. I wish her the best.
And if you want to see someone who started out FAR worse than Carrie Underwood, check out Jessica Lange's horrendous first performance in the remake of King Kong. It's one of the single, most awful acting jobs I have ever seen on film. She should never have had a career after that. Yes, it's that bad.
And we all know how that turned out.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Excellent comments, best12bars! I agree. Her acting was more non-existent than bad, but she did have a few moments that made me think that, with training and without all the pressure and hype of an event like this, she might become a good actress someday.
On the one hand, if Maria had been played by a more experienced actress, this really could've been magical. Still, I feel bad being too hard on Carrie. There's no longer a Hollywood studio system grooming triple threat superstars. A Judy Garland or a Julie Andrews is a rare thing. So I'm at least happy that Carrie was able to bring such a huge audience and make doing another live musical on tv inevitable.
Also, it has nothing to do with her acting, but I do appreciate Carrie repeatedly making favorable comments about gay marriage. Considering how conservative a lot of her fans are, it's a cool thing for her to do.
"The gods who nurse this universe think little of mortals' cares. They sit in crowds on exclusive clouds and laugh at our love affairs. I might have had a real romance if they'd given me a chance. I loved him, but he didn't love me. I wanted him, but he didn't want me. Then the gods had a spree and indulged in another whim. Now he loves me, but I don't love him." - Cole Porter
Carrie didn't have an acting coach until production started two months ago. She definitely needed more than two months but last year the only way for her to do that would have been to take an acting coach on the road with her. She worked on getting the twang of her singing voice when her tour was finished in June.
I just re-watched it and I really, really enjoy this production. In the end, that is all that matters (for me). They all worked very, very hard. The singing was marvelous. They should all be proud. This was not an easy thing to pull off.
She was may better than Madonna who was an experienced actress, had infinite takes and rehearsal.
Don't forget Maria is supposed to be innocent and nervous and inexperienced.
Evita was not.
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Did not see the show but heard Ms Underwood is receiving some pretty nasty e-mails. Come-on...if you didn't like the production–O.K. but to send hate mail? Now, that's plan insanity.
Yes, it's sacred. They complimented her singing though and were very respectful. Unlike the people who are sending Carrie death threats and all kinds of hate mail. They should be found and arrested, like they do in the UK. It's just absolutely unacceptable.
Carrie is getting criticized for being thinskinned when she is getting vile emails and deathtreats by some of the same people on BWW who run crying to Daddy when they hear something they don't like right on her. Just imagine if it was National.
FINDINGNAMO, SNAFU, THEATERDIVE, JORDANCATALONO, LIZASHEADBAND, PALJOEY: You all claim to "IGNORE ME" I wish you would and stop constantly commenting on my posts. Thanks ......................................................................................................................................
The MOST POPULAR and DANGEROUS Poster on BWW! Banned by the PTA, PTC and the MEANGIRLS of BWW.....................................................................................................................
...Ukraine Girls really knock me out, they leave the west behind..........................
The presentation had a period of rehearsal and then a one-shot, live performance on tv.
There was no out-of-town tryout, no preview period in which to guage audience reactions, to polish one's performance, to grow ino one's part. No retakes, no reediting, either. I've been to many first previews in which our finest theatre actors with stellar resumes were flubbing lines all over the place, and who were giving less than sterling performances. How many times have we heard actors commenting on "growing into a part." Underwood didn't have that opportunity, and I feel she did damn good job.
"I've seen every major musical production on Broadway (and film) in the last 40 years--this was the worst. "
Now, Bob, do you really believe, and would you really have us believe that this Sound of Jusic was worse than Got Tu Go Disco; Smile; Leap of Faith; Brooklyn; Wonderland; Title of Show; Lysistrata Jones; Late Nite Comic; Aida; All Shook Up; Good Vibrations; The Pirate Queen; Tarzan; Big Fish; Urban Cowboy; Chaplin; First Date; Soul Doctor, and heaven knows how many others I've failed to mention?
Enough negativity. How great was Ariane Rinehart as Lieseil? Great voice, beautiful girl. Flawless acting.
Wouldnt she make the perfect Cinderella? Now that Santino is leaving, I'm sure Laura is next.
She really looks like Cristin Milioti too. Maybe Girl in Once?
FINDINGNAMO, SNAFU, THEATERDIVE, JORDANCATALONO, LIZASHEADBAND, PALJOEY: You all claim to "IGNORE ME" I wish you would and stop constantly commenting on my posts. Thanks ......................................................................................................................................
The MOST POPULAR and DANGEROUS Poster on BWW! Banned by the PTA, PTC and the MEANGIRLS of BWW.....................................................................................................................
...Ukraine Girls really knock me out, they leave the west behind..........................
I said it before but Ariane Rinehart is the prettiest Liesl I have seen since the beautiful Charmian Carr immortalized her on screen.
I have yet to see the broadcast, but from the performance on the Thanksgiving Day Parade and the various clips on YouTube she really is quite fetching - - - they did a great job in casting Liesl.
Liesl has always been my favorite Sound of Music character.
Honestly, I loved it! Maybe I'm easy to please, but I loved the show and had a smile on my face the whole time. I was not expecting Masterpiece Theater, Great Performances, or Live at Lincoln Center. It was just as I expected -- a nice live production of the stage play. Was it necessary? Absolutely not. But it did make people, at least my parents and one of my best friends, aware that Sound of Music was a play before it became a film. The sets were gorgeous, some of the costumes were incredible and the scene changes were fabulous. The choreography was so much fun, especially Do Re Mi and Sixteen Going On Seventeen.
As for the performances, I thought Carrie sang exceptionally well. Her acting was lacking though. I think it was a combination of nerves, inexperience, and bad direction. I think people must have been scared to tell her she was not acting correctly during rehearsals. Lets say the way she acted was on purpose, then I think she made Maria a weak, feeble girl with no emotion or passion. Maria is supposed to be a problem, but Carrie's Maria was too sweet. I couldn't buy Carrie's Maria as someone who disobeyed the nuns. I do think she shined most in her scenes with the children. I give her a pass because this was her first acting gig, and she really was not that bad. I just wish she did more. I commend her for trying.
As for the Captain, at first, I thought he was fine, but during my second viewing (I have seen this show 3 times now), I could see that he played the role too angrily. Audra as Mother Abbess was great. She played the role as a woman giving tough love, and her line deliveries made me laugh in a good way. As for Max, I wish he was more comedic. I feel as if the children weren't as close to him as they have been in other productions. Frau Schmidt was hilarious, and I loved that Franz was given more to do. Same with Ursula, the maid (Ashley Brown's character). I kind of felt bad for the character because I kept thinking that if I were her, I would be upset that I've been in this villa all this time and the Captain had never made a pass at me, but this nun waltzes in and he marries her?!?! Lol. Rolf wasn't too old to me. I believed he was 17 going on 18. Out of all the children, Liesl was the best. The children overall were great. I thought they looked like a real family. The person that stole the whole show was Laura B as Elsa. She was everything -- her acting, characterizations, costumes, facial expressions and line deliveries were the best!
Overall, I loved it and will probably get the DVD. It's on Time Warner On Demand, so I've just been letting it play in the background whenever I'm bored. I give it 3 stars out of 4. I think the problem is a lot of people thought it would be a live production of the film version. Not many people knew it would be the stage version, and A LOT of people did not even know SOM was a play first. I think a lot of people were extremely disappointed the moment Maria started singing My Favorite Things with the Mother Abbess. Shoot, they were probably confused once the show started with the Preludium instead of The Sound of Music. Anyway, some of the negative commentary disappointed me because if this was truly the worse thing you have seen in your whole life, then you really haven't seen much. If you think Carrie's performance was the worst thing ever, then you obviously haven't seen Beyonce or Taylor Swift try to act. Im not Carrie's fan or anything, but I still think she didn't deserve all the negative comments and tweets. She wasn't horrendous. Lindsay Lohan in Liz & Dick was worse (ashamed I even watched that).
