The Sound of Music Live - U.K. Edition

I literally found out that the U.K. TV station called ITV was doing a live TV special of The Sound of Music the day before it aired!  So yesterday, I set up my tunnelbear and watched through the ITV player and absolutely loved it!  How is it that England does things better?

Sooo... my initial impression when watching it was of the set design. Obviously that promo image I have illustrating this post, does not do it justice.  It was actually hard sometimes to believe that this was a live production.  The set design and the lighting were beautiful.  It looked very natural at times.  With the economy of sets too, it still seemed believable that we were in different buildings or outside.  They didn't really have a good hillside set-piece though, but then again that would have been very difficult.  It was miles and miles above what the NBC live version of The Sound of Music achieved.

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Move Musical Challenge: The Sound of Music

In Movie Musical Challenge, I'm watching all 25 picks for AFI's Greatest musicals starting from the bottom.  Number 4 is the bestest, most glorious and awe-inspiring movie musical ever - The Sound of Music, released in 1965.  (Who me, biased?)

If you have not seen this movie before, there is nothing more important in your life than to go immediately to Amazon, or your local Target or wherever and pick up a copy.  You should buy it because you are going to love it.  It's 100% my favorite movie musical, and an amazing achievement in the genre.  Here's why:

--- Julie Andrews = BOSS ---
The character of Maria is the most important aspect of this movie.  Maria is the catalyst who every character falls in love with (well maybe except for the Baroness).  She has to carry the whole film on her sunshine-y shoulders and Julie Andrews is captivating.  She's full of determination, compassion and grace.  And loveliness - it's such a perfectly pitched performance - not too saccharine, because she knows when to fight back against the Captain, and yet she is the sweetest most understanding governess.  And what an amazing voice!  Her diction is so crystal clear, and her high notes are effortless.  It's enough to make me cry.   Julie Andrews is perfection in this film.

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Jane Eyre & The Sound of Music

After watching The Sound of Music recently, I was impelled to write this post. I know that seeing the similarities between Jane Eyre and The Sound of Music is not new.  It seems to be common among Jane Eyre fans to wonder at the similarities, and although I have seen this posted about on other blogs, I thought it would be fun to point them out on my own.  And perhaps go more in depth (because I have thought about this far too often!)  I do wish I could find out whether or not the writers who created the stage show for Sound of Music or rewrote it for the film did get some influence from Charlotte Brontë's novel.  Because even though The Sound of Music is based on a true story, there are a couple Janian elements to the musical that are not true to life.  And I would love to know if it's all just coincidence or if there really is a connection!

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The Sound of Music - Live TV Cast Recording

Tonight on NBC is the live TV broadcast of the musical The Sound of Music (one of my very favorite musicals ever) and I'm sure to be glued to my TV tonight, taking it all in!  Fortunately they released the cast recording on Tuesday so I have spent the past two days listening to this recording pretty much non-stop.  I'll have my thoughts on the actual show soon I'm sure, but for now I wanted to talk about the cast recording.

When I first went to download the music, I made sure "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" downloaded first, because I heard a snippet of Audra McDonald singing it, and I was completely bowled over by the clarity and beauty of her voice in this song!  This song usually has a very operatic sound, and to just have the beginning in a subdued straight tone that builds to the vibrato is so beautiful to me. The emotion and fervor intensifies noticeably to it's climatic and hopeful ending and I think it gives more layers to the song.  It's just so gorgeous and Audra McDonald more than does justice to it.  I absolutely love her and it was a great move to cast her in this role!

So this production is based on the original Broadway musical, not the wonderful film, and there are some songs in this that maybe people who are just familiar with the film might not have heard.  Like one of my top favorite songs from this musical - "How Can Love Survive" which is sung by the Baroness and Max.  It's sort of a comic relief song where they bemoan the fact that you rarely have love stories featuring rich couples - memorable romances need obstacles.  First of all, true, and second it's such a fun and buoyant song - I absolutely adore it.  With such wonderful singers cast, I'm glad they included this song in this production.  The other non-film song for the Baroness and Max and Captain Von Trapp is "No Way to Stop It" - is also fun I guess, but I've never really cared for it.  I wonder if seeing it in the live show will make me like it more, but for now I don't like the message of it - basically give up and be selfish.

The one word that comes to mind when I think of Carrie Underwood's voice as Maria is strident.  Which is fine.  Maria has a strong personality and it makes sense that her voice reflects that.  For the romantic number "Something Good" (which also happens to be my favorite song from the musical) I would have liked a little more softness and lilting, especially to match Stephen Moyer's softer tenor, but in the other songs it is perfect.  Stephen Moyer doesn't have the strongest voice but he has a very nice sound and I especially loved him in "The Sound of Music Reprise" and "Edelweiss".

This is a great recording of the musical overall, and it made me even more eager to see the show live tonight. It's great to hear the stuff that didn't make it into the film and also to hear some of the really fantastic people they gathered together for this production!

The official website for The Sound of Music Live