![](http://c250.columbia.edu/images/c250_celebrates/remarkable_columbians/240x240_rodgers_hammerstein.jpg)
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.
![](http://nyppagesix.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/sounds.jpg)
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.
![](http://soentertain.me/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Audra-McDonald-Mother-Superior-Sound-of-Music-NBC.png)
![](http://www.masterworksbroadway.com/sites/broadwaymw/files/imagecache/broadwaymw_sidebar_290x210/photos/SOUNDOFMUSIC_cast_phFF_0.jpg)
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![](http://images.usatoday.com/life/_photos/2005/07/06/inside1-lehman.jpg)
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.
![](http://www.biographyonline.net/military/images/adolf-hitler.jpg)
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.
![](http://www.puredwts.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/DerekCobu.jpg)
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.
![](http://www.christopherplummer.eu/attachments/Image/tumblr_m09eltrwE61r4dm8ho1_500.jpg)
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."
The Controversy is a publication of GBD Productions. Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Controversy is Gary B. Duglin.
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I just heard that NBC has decided to do another live preformance. Wonder what show they will do next? -B
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is...if they do...I hope they learned from their mistakes. GBD
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