McDonald, Benanti, and Borle Join NBC'S SOUND OF MUSIC- Page 2

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/16/13 at 4:13pm

Maybe because they're used to a 60-year-old Uncle Max in the movie.

[Citygirl.grace]

Posted: 9/16/13 at 4:19pm

Okay... sorry if this is a dumb question, but can someone explain to me exactly what this is going to be?? Is it a concert version? or is it going to be filmed live almost like a "remake" of the movie?? With sets, acting, costumes, etc...





Updated On: 9/16/13 at 04:19 PM

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 9/16/13 at 4:25pm

Perfect casting. All three of them are excellent choices for these roles.

Citygrace girl, it will be like the 1957 version of 'Cinderella' with Julie Andrews, which was a live performance of a musical.


Updated On: 9/16/13 at 04:25 PM

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 9/16/13 at 4:26pm

This will not be a remake of the movie. This will be a live television event similar to Mary Martin's Peter Pan in the 1950s.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/16/13 at 4:27pm

I hope they tape it on old fashioned video, then make a black-and-white kinescope of it to air on TV with really low quality!

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 9/16/13 at 4:30pm

Thanks guys! Also, this is based on the Broadway production, not the movie. I guess that's why the ages make perfect sense.

[Citygirl.grace]

Posted: 9/16/13 at 4:30pm

Ohhhh! Okay. Got it! I'm excited for this. Great casting!!

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 9/16/13 at 4:32pm

Benanti was not happy with Underwood playing Maria, so she must have thought why not play the woman who tries to steal Maria's man.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 9/16/13 at 4:39pm

.... Or she just thought it was a great opportunity on a national scale with a healthy paycheck.

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 9/16/13 at 5:09pm

Great casting all around! Though it seems silly to put two women who are far more suited for Maria (particularly Benanti) in supporting roles next to Carrie Underwood who is so terribly miscast, but I won't complain. I'm especially looking forward to Benanti and Borle singing Max and Elsa's duets.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/16/13 at 5:10pm

Why is she so terribly miscast?

[east side story]

Posted: 9/16/13 at 5:11pm

Didn't Benanti get a bit of press last year when this project was announced for bemoaning Carrie's casting on Twitter? Oopsies.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 9/16/13 at 5:15pm

I'd love for perfectlymarvelous to answer JC's question... Because I, personally, don't know how one could judge a performance if it hasn't happened yet. And not sure what constitutes it as being "miscast" aside from the fact that she's a country singer (Oh, for shame! How could they?!)

[beagle]

Posted: 9/16/13 at 5:22pm

Yes, I would think that charges of "miscasting" can be leveled after the show airs, but not really before. Doubts are definitely understandable, but nobody can say for sure that someone will be bad in a role until they see her play it. Pleasant surprises can and do happen. I can't say Underwood will be great, and casting a country singer with little acting experience does sound questionable, but I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. I hope she does well.

I love the supporting cast! This makes me want to see the show even more!



Updated On: 9/16/13 at 05:22 PM

Posted: 9/16/13 at 5:45pm

Maria is a simple, beautiful country girl. Elsa is a much more calculating, brittle, some might say cold urban beauty. I think they cast perfectly.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 9/16/13 at 6:39pm

My impression is that on social networking, the same people who always complain that performers are always the same in absolutely everything they do are the same people who are so quick to complain that, based exclusively on what they've seen a performer do (or on how they have seen someone else play a role that performer is about to play), that performer is hopelessly miscast and should not be given the chance to show what he or she can do with something so different from his or her established typecasting... and that the person who should be playing the role is the person whose previous work has been closest to what they think is required for it.

Ironic, no?



Updated On: 9/16/13 at 06:39 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/16/13 at 6:52pm

If that's the case with Benanti, it's kind of brilliant that they cast her as Elsa.

If there is some real "professional tension" between them, how could it not manifest itself into their performances ... live on TV?

As long as they don't mud wrestle or pull Glocks on each other ...

... no, wait ... maybe that's exactly what they have in mind.

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 9/16/13 at 7:25pm

"Didn't Benanti get a bit of press last year when this project was announced for bemoaning Carrie's casting on Twitter? Oopsies."

That's what I said earlier. If she is still disappointed about not playing Maria, then she will enjoying pretending to be unkind to Underwood. LOL.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 9/17/13 at 7:54am

Updated On: 9/17/13 at 07:54 AM

[Myron]

Posted: 9/17/13 at 8:57am

I also can't wait for the SOM live. I hope it's the stage version rather than the film. The film omitted "How Can Love Survive" and "No Way To Stop It" blaming this on Eleanor Parkers' lack of singing ability yet they dubbed several others for the film, including Miss Wood. Gone will be the extravagant scenery, of course, but the story and songs will be enough!

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/17/13 at 9:13am

I'm assuming it will be the stage version (at least to a greater degree) since they cast Benanti and Borle as the Baroness and Uncle Max. There would be no reason to have singers in those roles otherwise.

As for "blaming it on Eleanor Parker," she was cast as the Baroness after the screenplay had been written. I know other non-singing actresses who were up for the part as well. It was never going to be a singing role in the film.

Despite having a beautiful melody (which they kept as underscoring), How Can Love Survive isn't necessary to the plot or to character development. It was an easy cut, in my opinion, and since they were expanding other moments in the story (such as the chase scenes getting away from the Nazis toward the end), it made sense to remove a song that is pretty much superfluous.

I've seen The Sound of Music several times on stage, and "How Can Love Survive?" and "No Way to Stop It" add nothing to the overall show that we don't already know or come to learn about these characters and their situations. If anything, it makes them a bit more evil, shallow, and calculating. We get enough of that in the plot without overemphasizing the point. I think it makes the story more powerful if we don't completely hate the Baroness. She tried her best, and lost. She doesn't even lie to Maria. She merely exposes her love for the Captain and his love for her, and that's enough to drive Maria away. And Maria asks her not to mention a word of it to the Captain. While she certainly plotted and schemed, she also maintained a definite about of dignity while trying to "keep her man." And her scene with the Captain when he tells her "It's no use," is very touching in the film. That's why I think the film is a definite improvement over the stage show.

Updated On: 9/17/13 at 09:13 AM

[NOB88]

Posted: 9/17/13 at 9:15am

Underwood will get an Emmy for this. She is one of those performers who gets praised for whatever they do, regardless. I don't think she will be a disaster.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 9/17/13 at 9:47am

Not contributing anything to this conversation, but whenever I read "Underwood" I think Blair. Now that would be some brilliant casting.

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 9/17/13 at 10:24am

"Didn't Benanti get a bit of press last year when this project was announced for bemoaning Carrie's casting on Twitter? Oopsies."

That's what I said earlier. If she is still disappointed about not playing Maria, then she will enjoying pretending to be unkind to Underwood. LOL.

And who would not blame her? She, a Broadway TONY-WINNER FOR A BEST FEATURED ACTRESS IN THE MUSICAL, lost the part to a COUNTRY singer with little acting experience! I'd be peeved too!

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 9/17/13 at 10:32am

They should be casting BROADWAY ACTRESSES! These other people are stealing jobs from BROADWAY ACTRESSES! What's next? k.d. lang?!?!