The Sound of Music - Again!

[actor61]

Holy Frau Schrader! NBC has announced that because of the extraordinarily high ratings for the live broadcast of The Sound of Music last week, they're going to show it again. I guess shit DOES float!

[+ WilliamM]

I was happy to see the Broadway version of TSOM again for the first time since seeing the musical in New York in 1960. Yes, there were many problems with the recent TV TSOM. But, now people who have only seen the film have/had a chance to see and hear what started all the devotion to the musical called "The Sound of Music" -- that can not be a bad thing.

[+ deej]

Yes, there were many problems with the recent TV TSOM. But,

 

Yeah. I wasn't any more enamored with the production than anyone, but it was a production. There's still a wide swath of the country that NEVER sees a live theater performance.

 

The important thing to come out of this is that NBC is now emboldened, thanks to the ratings, to attempt to make it an annual event. A new musical every year.

 

They should get away from stunt casting, sure, but then they have a problem selling it to advertisers. (And without the stunt casting, they probably wouldn't have had the ratings.) It's a balance they have to strike. It's the business side of show business. But by all means do more of it! The only way to get good at it is to keep doing it! How do you get to Carnegie Hall? PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

NBC did do a nice job of promoting it for several months. And not all of the ads mentioned the casting. So maybe if they stick with a big name show the advertisers will sign up again.

 

I remember it being a big deal in the 70s when the movie version of My Fair Lady was going to be televised. It was one time I was permitted to stay up late on a school night. Of course that was before the VCR and DVD.

[leigh.bess.toad]

Be afraid. Be very, very afraid.

 

[+ Funguy]

Lee - I AM frightened!

 

no! No! NO! Miley Cyrus as Evita! She actually could sing it, but act it? No way, no how!

[hornytwells]

Well we already had Madonna who could neither sing it nor act it.

[+ WilliamM]

Nearly all the suggestions I have read on the Internet involve something close to "The Sound of Music," a family musical for the holidays next December. Think "Oliver" or "Peter Pan," not "Cabaret," or "Mame." I understand people are trying to guess what the hotshots at CBS will pick. "Evita" would seem to fall into the "Cabaret," "Mame" camp. But, I could be wrong.

[actor61]

Nearly all the suggestions I have read on the Internet involve something close to "The Sound of Music," a family musical for the holidays next December. Think "Oliver" or "Peter Pan," not "Cabaret," or "Mame." I understand people are trying to guess what the hotshots at CBS will pick. "Evita" would seem to fall into the "Cabaret," "Mame" camp. But, I could be wrong.

 

We've had a couple of televised Peter Pans already, the definitive one, of course, being Mary Martin's version. The Cathy Rigby version on A&E (remember when it really WAS Arts and Entertainment and not dumbass reality shows?) wasn't bad. I think "Oliver" is a great idea. Of course, they'll cast Tony Danza as Fagin, and Ashlee Simpson as Nancy but the ratings will go through the roof.

[+ g56whiz]

How about Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors with Justin Biber as Amahl?

[Daverwr]

How about Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors with Justin Biber as Amahl?

 

I was Amahl many decades ago. I'm no Bieber now, but fortunately, I was no Bieber then!

[+ WilliamM]

We've had a couple of televised Peter Pans already, the definitive one, of course, being Mary Martin's version. The Cathy Rigby version on A&E (remember when it really WAS Arts and Entertainment and not dumbass reality shows?) wasn't bad. I think "Oliver" is a great idea. Of course, they'll cast Tony Danza as Fagin, and Ashlee Simpson as Nancy but the ratings will go through the roof.

 

The Mary Martin version on DVD is not the famous live 1955 NBC broadcast. It is from 1960, and was filmed in a studio over a period of days without an audience. It is ok, but not nearly as good as the original which was televised shortly after the musical closed on Broadway. I believe the DVD is the only time that Martin appeared in a musical, play or a special on TV that was not broadcast live.

[+ Cash4Trash]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/12/theater/reviews/honeymoon-in-vegas-opens-at-the-paper-mill-playhouse.html?_r=0

 

"Of course, they'll cast Tony Danza as Fagin" Actor61

 

Looks like Tony Danza will be busy on Broadway in the critically acclaimed Honeymoon In Vegas produced earlier this year at the Paper Mill Playhouse.

He received great reviews. Show hasn't found a theater yet but will be the odds on favorite for best musical when it lands.

[actor61]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/12/theater/reviews/honeymoon-in-vegas-opens-at-the-paper-mill-playhouse.html?_r=0

 

"Of course, they'll cast Tony Danza as Fagin" Actor61

 

Looks like Tony Danza will be busy on Broadway in the critically acclaimed Honeymoon In Vegas produced earlier this year at the Paper Mill Playhouse.

He received great reviews. Show hasn't found a theater yet but will be the odds on favorite for best musical when it lands.

 

I wasn't disparaging Tony Danza; I happen to think he's terrific. I saw him in "The Iceman Cometh" years ago in New York, and he was wonderful. I was disaparaging the trick casting that Zadan and company do for their t.v. versions of B'way shows. I actually think Ashlee Simpson is kind of good too. I saw her as Roxie in "Chicago" last summer and she didn't suck. But you have to admit that the two of them as Fagin and Nancy in "Oliver" would be inappropriate to say the least - it was the lousy casting I was making fun of. I have hated almost every televised B'way show those producers have done because of the casting. Bette Middler was acceptable - just - as Madame Rose in "Gypsy" but Kathy Bates was lousy as Miss Hannigan in "Annie" (another production saved by Audra Macdonald who played Grace), Jason Alexander and Vanessa Williams were too old and very boring in "Bye, Bye Birdie", Matthew Broderick was likewise bland and dull as Harold Hill in "The Music Man", and even though everybody seems to be trying to be positive about Carrie Underwood in "Sound of Music", facts are facts" she was awful.

[adriano46]

How about Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors with Justin Biber as Amahl?

 

That is frightening - rather have him come on stage with his damn head stuck up some camel's butt (poor camel)..

[+ g56whiz]

That is frightening - rather have him come on stage with his damn head stuck up some camel's butt (poor camel)..

 

So true. But there's something sorta animal cruelty (to say nothing about audience cruelty) about the very choice you pose.

 

Years ago, the Met used impose Hansel und Gretel (auf Deutsche mind you) on young audiences during the holiday season. Now they've dumbed down the process by offering a bowdlerized version of Die Zauberflote (auf English of course).

 

I was told that Menotti while he lived (he was about 95 when he died in 2007) could be an SOB about performance rights to his works. Maybe that's why the Met never took it up as their holiday competition to the Nutcracker, the Rockettes or the ice show at Madison Square Garden. The Nutcracker two shows a night for the season has kept the NY Ballet in tutus for a generation or more. I guess the Met was never in such financial need. In the years since its first broadcast in my youth, I've seen only one amateur performance of Amahl, and yet some of its melodies still pleasantly lurk in my memory. Alas! Who has Richard Gelb's cellphone number?

[leigh.bess.toad]

I've seen only one amateur performance of Amahl, and yet some of its melodies still pleasantly lurk in my memory.

 

I've been in one performance of Amahl. And to this day, I can't get that damned "This is my Box" out of my head. Every time I need to pick up a box, there is that damned line. Over 30 years later.

[+ g56whiz]

I've been in one performance of Amahl. And to this day, I can't get that damned "This is my Box" out of my head. Every time I need to pick up a box, there is that damned line. Over 30 years later.

 

Yup! That's one of them.

 

 

The other is the shepherds' chorus in its several manifestations.

 

 

Now just try to whistle Visi D'Arte! I dare you. LOL

[leigh.bess.toad]

Yup! That's one of them.

 

 

In fact, I had it in my head just this morning as I was working out with my trainer using the jump box. There was that word "box" and that song came into my head. At 7 am. Ugh.

[Diverdan]

Hey, Lee.... there are worse "boxes" that could come to your mind and stick in your head !!