THE SOUND OF MUSIC ON NBC IS A SOUND OF FAILURE THAT FLOPS AND FALLS FLAT ON ITS FACE

   

  With music by Richard Rodgers...lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II...and the book (or script for the play) written by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse...The Sound Of Music is arguably one of the best musicals to be produced for the Broadway stage and later for motion pictures.  That being said...the four men named above - who are responsible for the creation and development of this masterpiece of entertainment artistry - were rolling over in their graves on Thursday night, December 5th, 2013...if from heaven...they were watching the NBC live production of their Tony and Oscar winning smash hit.

     The hills were "dead" (not "alive," as Mr. Hammerstein wrote)...with The Sound Of Music.  The cast...starring Carrie Underwood as Maria...Stephen Moyer as Captain Georg von Trapp...and "most" of the remaining cast...were... lifeless.  Oh Carrie can certainly sing.  We know that.  She's an awesome singer.  But I truly am sorry to say that Carrie Underwood is not a good actress.  Her performance as Maria was painful to watch - as was the entire production.  Getting kicked in the groin by a 400-pound, full-grown gorilla would have brought less pain than the agony suffered by watching this version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein show-business classic.  If acting is Carrie's goal, she needs a whole lot of training...and no director or producer worth his or her salt should have offered such an enormous undertaking to Carrie Underwood for her first major acting role.  The song, Maria - which is sometimes referred to by its lyrics - "How do you solve a problem like Maria?"...should have been called..."How do you solve a problem like Carrie?"

     The 3-hour presentation was tantamount to watching a massive train wreck or a burning skyscraper.  Of course for those of you who take my every word so seriously...such a disastrous catastrophe...which destroys a transportation giant or an architectural monument...and where perhaps human life has been tragically slaughtered...would be profoundly worse than the debacle of a television program.  But it was horrible to observe and emotionally shocking to think that any executives at "The Peacock Network" would give the green light to such a poor production.  The NBC portrayal of The Sound Of Music made me cringe with disappointment.  The actors - "most" of them - sleepwalked their way through their roles.  But that makes perfect sense since the majority of the show was one big nightmare.

     Twice above I have used the word "most"...when describing "most" of the actors and their inadequate performances.  I do not include Audra MacDonald...who shined as The Reverend Mother.  MacDonald's musical delivery of Climb Every Mountain was of consummate perfection and deserves raving recognition.  My only gripe is that Miss McDonald is only 43 years old...and a young-looking...not middle-aged 43.  The Reverend Mother should be a more mature...senior age...to be "motherly" for Maria.

     The original musical Broadway play - from 1959 - which starred the incomparable, Tony Award winning icon, Mary Martin was a gem in the treasure chest of entertainment.  Let me be clear, however...that as I tuned in to The Sound Of Music on NBC...I had no intention of equating Carrie Underwood - a Grammy Award winner and music superstar in her own right - to either Miss Martin...or to the Academy Award 

winning, Hollywood legend...Julie Andrews.  I would in no way imply any comparison between Carrie Underwood and the brilliant and radiant Julie Andrews or the stupendous and spectacular Mary Martin.  It would be impossible for anyone to equal...and certainly not top...the splendor and majesty of Dame Julie Andrews...and one of the queens of Broadway...Mary Martin.  I was merely hoping to enjoy an adaptation of a show that I have loved since first seeing it back in 1965... when Robert Wise produced and directed the Ernest Lehman 

screenplay that was honored with 5 Academy Awards including the Best Picture and Best Director Oscars at the 1966 film industry ceremony.  Unfortunately...I have seen high school and college renditions of The Sound Of Music which were exceedingly better than the one presented on NBC.

     Whether you're walking out of a high school or college...a local community...or Broadway theatre...The Sound Of Music has most people parading out of the playhouse...singing...humming...whistling... and sometimes even dancing in the streets with pleasure.  But the NBC production had me wondering...how this show ever made it on the air.  Instead of being filled with the warmth and love that The Sound Of Music should have...NBC gave us the discomfort received by intestinal constipation.

     The Sound Of Music on NBC was pitiful, pathetic and embarrassing.  It lacked soul...it lacked heart...it lacked charm and sincerity...and it lacked chemistry between Maria and Captain von Trapp...and between Captain von Trapp and his children.  Stephen Moyer...as the von Trapp patriarch...was beyond bad.  Moyer, Carrie Underwood and the entire cast also lacked any believability with their characters.  And what happened to the European accents?  There weren't any.  Carrie Underwood sounded "U.S. country southern"...and Stephen Moyer's speech was a cross between "I don't know what" and "it just isn't right."

     And why change the essence of some of the characters...and why omit some of the important lines?

     One of the most pivotal scenes in the 1965 movie was when the von Trapp kids sang the title song, The Sound Of Music to Baroness Elsa Schraeder and Max Detweiler.  Afterwards...it is when Captain von Trapp acknowledges to Maria that she has "brought music back in to the house."  The Captain earlier had ordered Maria to leave...but now von Trapp realizes he was wrong.  "I want you to stay.  I ASK you to stay."  Those last five words - "I ASK you to stay" - were so meaningful to the story...and in the NBC production...they were left out.

     In the film - at the party at the von Trapp home - after the children sing So Long, Farewell...it's Max who enthusiastically wants Maria to join them for the evening.  Max tells Captain von Trapp that Maria will be his "dinner partner."  And von Trapp agrees.  But in the NBC version, it's Captain von Trapp who makes the suggestion that Maria stay...and Max argues that she's a "nursemaid" and has no business sitting at the banquet table.

     Furthermore...let's not change history.  Adolf Hitler was an evil, evil disgrace to the human race.  He was the embodiment of evil.  But the phrase was..."Heil Hitler"...not just..."Heil."  And for some reason...the bosses at NBC decided to cut Hitler's name from the 2013 adaptation.  Did NBC not want to offend Jews or others with a reference to Hitler?  Americans are much more sophisticated than NBC apparently wants to give us credit.  I'm Jewish...and the line was "Heil Hitler"...not just "Heil."  Hitler's name should have remained written in the script...if for any other reason, but to remind us of the anguish, misery, torment and death that Hitler and the Holocaust caused.

     Also...one of the best parts of The Sound Of Music - as written for the screen - was the scene in Maria's bedroom...when she sings My Favorite Things to the von Trapp kids.  Why in the NBC version did Maria sing it in the abbey to the Mother Superior?  Instead...in her bedroom...Maria sings The Lonely Goatherd to the children.  Now those of you who recall the Broadway play...or will Google me to try to prove me wrong...wait just a second and hold on to your hats.  I completely realize that the original play has Maria singing The Lonely Goatherd in her bedroom.  But this lively number...featuring the marionettes...is famous because of the movie...not the play.  And NBC should have kept it...as it was...in the motion picture. 

     Technically...the orchestra - in the NBC show - often overpowered the singers...and the choreography...was dreadful.  It needed Emmy Award winner Derek Hough of Dancing With The Stars.  

     Can't Hollywood leave classics alone?  Must the producers, writers and directors remake everything?  Let us remember classics for how they are best known.  They should not be touched.

     The jewel in the Rodgers and Hammerstein crown is missing precious pearls in this rendition of The Sound Of Music.  Unfortunately...it's "the sound of failure."  But fear not...you can still enjoy The Sound Of Music this holiday season as ABC presents the original motion picture blockbuster starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer...tonight... Sunday, December 22nd, 2013 in primetime.

     With all the money invested in to this enormous television event on NBC... I've got to sit back and scratch my head with mystery as to where the network heavyweights were...and why after seeing rehearsals...didn't some top NBC brass say with great exclamation..."Stop!  We can do better than this.  Let's make some changes before this project bombs."  Too late.  It did. 

     And that's The Controversy for today.

     I'm Gary B. Duglin.

     "We'll talk again."

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