The Sound of Music Live! A Review

My mama took sis and me to see The Sound of Music starring Julie Andrews when it first came out. It is one of the sweetest memories I have of going out with my family and the musical has held a special place in my heart ever since. Last summer, when the girls and I were stuffing soccer T-shirts into bags for the soccer league (a monumental job that took HOURS!) we found The Sound of Music on Amazon and watched it all the way through. The girls have been humming variations of “My Favorite Things” ever since. So when NBC announced that they were going to take on the theatrical presentation of The Sound of Music on live t.v., I knew that was an event I wanted to share with my own daughters.

I hurried around to make sure all of my typing was done for the evening and that everyone had been fed so that when the magic 8 o’clock hour came, we would be ready to watch.  And watch we did – snuggled down on our comfy couch with the appropriate beverages and snacks.  Except for a couple of potty breaks during commercials, Rosie was glued to my side for the entire 3 hours.

And what a 3 hours it was!  The vocals were fabulous!  Who knew Dr. Naomi Bennett  (Audra McDonald) from Private Practice could sing!  She was totally believable as Mother Superior too!  Carrie Underwood was sweet and innocent – totally believable as Maria.  What I couldn’t quite get into was the romance between Underwood’s Maria and Stephen Moyer’s CaptainV on Trapp. To be fair, I’m not sure that was entirely due to a lack of chemistry between Underwood and Moyer.  At the key moment of the dance, the moment when those sparks are supposed to be flying, the camera angle was kind of weird and the staging was off.  For all I know, their chemistry could have been totally explosive, but the camera just wasn’t there to pick it up! 
Looks like they had chemistry in rehearsal!

All of that aside, it was still great t.v. and a good experience for the kids.  I loved pointing out the fashion to Izzy and Rosie – Frau Schrader had some awesome wardrobe pieces.  And the dancing was top notch.

Were there flubs?  Absolutely  Carrie stumbled a little in her first scene coming down the mountain, and Captain Von Trapp and the Nazi dude got all tripped up in the dialogue.  So what?  They recovered and went on.  That’s life and that too is a good lesson for the kids.

The critics are tearing this production up pretty good in the reviews this morning, but I think they’re missing the bigger pictures.  Something daring and real was on NBC last night – something you could watch with your family that the kids will remember as kind of epic!  Instead of tearing it down, I think we should applaud NBC and ask for more!!  The next time will be even better and I think most moms and dads would welcome some entertaining and wholesome family entertainment. I relaxed the entire night instead of anxiously having my finger on the remote to change channels just in case those pesky Victoria Secret Models tried to walk through my living room again. Kudos to NBC for keeping the sponsors family friendly too.

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