The Sound of Music LIVE! (2013)

As you may have known, last night was The Sound of Music LIVE! on NBC. Even though I can count on one hand how many times I've seen the 1965 film, I definitely enjoy it, even if it's not one of my top favorites. It's not hard to see why it's such a classics, though, and so I was excited when I heard the were doing to be broadcasting the stage version live on NBC.

Knowing that this was going to be the stage version adapted for television, I wasn't worried about story and songs being different or anything like that. Being a Broadway fan, just being able to see something like this is exciting and fun!

STARRING

Carrie Underwood as Maria von Trapp

Stephen Moyer as Captain von Trapp

Audra McDonald as Mother Abbess

Laura Benanti as Elsa Schrader

Christian Borle as Max Detweiler

Michael Campayno as Rolf Gruber

Sophie Anne Caruso as Brigitta

Peyton Ella as Gretl

Michael Nigro as Friedrich

Ariane Rinehart as Liesl

Grace Rundhaug as Marta

Ella Watts-Gorman as Louisa

Joe West as Kurt

I'll start off by getting my least favorite part out of the way: Carrie Underwood. To put it simply, I though she was painful to watch. Her acting wasn't very good at all; you never felt any emotion from her, neither in her voice or facial expressions. She always seemed happy, and especially so in the beginning scene at the abbey. I wasn't particularly fond of her singing either. She wasn't terrible, but she wasn't what I expected for a musical. Her style just doesn't fit musical scores, in my opinion. 

And that was my biggest issue of the whole thing. Put that aside and you have a light and pleasant production. I went into it wanting to love it, but I came out a little disappointed because of that. But overall the cast was good, the sets were great, and most of the costumes were very pretty!

As far as Captain von Trapp goes, I don't have a strong opinion one way or another. I felt like there was somethings slightly missing, but I can't put my finger on it. Steven really looked the part, though.

16 Going on 17, one of my personal favorites, was fun to watch. The way they suddenly cut into that scene with Rolf and Liesl felt kinda odd, but once it got going I enjoyed it. Liesl has always been a favorite of mine and I though Ariane was fantastic! Plus she actually looked 16, unlike in the film.I thought all the kids were wonderful. They really did a marvelous job with both the acting and singing and I enjoyed every moment they had on stage/screen. Brigitta never stood out in the movie, but she did in this version, which I thought was great. All of the girls dresses throughout the show were beautiful. I would love to have Liesl's wardrobe. Everything she wore was so pretty!

The scene with all the children getting ready for the party was one of the best of them. And the part with Maria and them singing The Lonely Goatherd during the thunderstorm was great too! 

Personally I think the most talented performer was Laura Benanti, who played Elsa Schrader. Her acting was fantastic and she sang wonderfully. If they had chose a cast that were all as skilled at acting and singing as she is, the show would have went from nice to fantastic. Uncle Max, played by Christian Borle, was another fine actor.

All in all it was a decent production, but not one I'm likely want to re-watch often--at least not anytime soon. It had it's highlights, but for me Carrie made it hard to watch. Considering it was live, and that something like this hasn't been done in a long time, they did a great job. Seeing something big like this on NBC is really neat and I wouldn't mind if they decided to do something like this again. I just hope they'd cast their lead a bit better.

If you watched last night, I'd love to know -- what did you think?