I was never a big fan of The Sound of Music on stage or screen. With the possible exception of South Pacific, the Rodgers and Hammerstein shows always strike me as well-written shows about people whose lives don't much interest me. But I sure like the idea of network TV airing musical comedies so I recorded and have now watched The Sound of Music Live. The broadcast did great in the ratings…probably much better than any expectations. NBC has announced that they will rebroadcast it on December 14, displacing a previously-scheduled airing of It's a Wonderful Life, and that there will be more such live presentations.
I thought they did a nice job. Carrie Underwood sang the songs well enough…but the role of Maria is kind of a dull one and it calls for an actress who can add loads of personality to the dialogue. That does not, alas, describe Ms. Underwood but I liked her and cringe at some of the reviews she received, scolding her for daring to not be Julie Andrews. (The write-up in Time pretty much came down to bitching that the show wasn't just like the movie.)
Everyone else was fine…and I'll overlook inauthentic racial casting any time it gets us Audra McDonald. If they were ever doing 1776, I wouldn't even mind if they hired her to play Mrs. John Adams.
Folks are speculating what show will receive this treatment next. If it were up to me — as of course it isn't and never will be — I'd opt for one of the many great musicals that is crying out for a faithful recorded production because the movie wasn't one. Doing The Music Man, as the same producers did for cable a few years ago, struck me as a pointless endeavor. The film was fine 'n' faithful…and if there was an actor around who could make us forget Robert Preston for two hours, it wasn't Matthew Broderick. Doing Bye Bye Birdie with Jason Alexander, as others did, was a better idea…or would have been if the original book of Bye Bye Birdie was more worthy of restoration.
My nomination will come as no surprise to my friends: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum…and being a comedy, it would have to be done with a live audience. That was something I missed somewhat with The Sound of Music. It just sounds wrong for some of those songs to not end with applause.
Forum is a great musical and one that on TV could easily best the movie version just by actually doing the book Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart wrote and including all the songs Stephen Sondheim wrote. It's also cheap enough to stage and shoot — one set! — so more money could be spent to assemble an all-star cast. Nathan Lane is the natural choice to star but there are other options. (Martin Short or Matthew Broderick as Hysterium? Andrew Rannells as Hero? John Goodman and Tracey Ullman as Senex and Domina? Audra McDonald as Miles Gloriosus?)
But they won't do my nomination. They'll pick a show with more familiar songs, and one that's strong on family and/or romance like The King and I or Camelot or Guys and Dolls. Guys and Dolls is another case where it wouldn't be hard to top the movie…and I still think someone should remake Damn Yankees with Christopher Walken as The Devil.
Or they may decide that they want to promote the show they do, as they did this time, by making a big deal out of the casting of children. In that case, we might get Oliver! or Annie. Those are two cases where I doubt they could improve on the movie versions but, hey, I'll take what I can get.
One last thing about The Sound of Music before we go to the video: Stephen Sondheim, in a recent book of his lyrics and the accompanying appearances, called attention to one particular lyric line by his mentor, Oscar Hammerstein. It's the mention in the title song of "A lark who is learning to pray." As Sondheim notes, that's to differentiate that lark from one who hasn't learned how to pray. It is a very silly phrase but it didn't strike me as such until Mr. Hammerstein's protégé began mocking it. As a result, I can never hear it again without a little mental giggle. And they sung it a lot in The Sound of Music Live.
Here's the best number from the show…
