The Hills are Alive!
First of all, before I begin my rambling of the day, I want to thank everyone who read my most recent post and for all the support you offered me. It is one thing to know your blog is being read; it is another thing entirely when the people who read it take the time to respond to what you have written. Whether we laughed about it at school the next day or you wrote me a message, texted me, whatever...words cannot adequately express what I felt. I'm much better at writing my feelings than I am speaking them, too. I'm terrible at receiving praise--if it's possible, I'm even more awkward in those instances than in regular, everyday conversation.
So thank you all. From the bottom of my heart, I'm grateful :)
Now to what you've all been waiting for...(or at least I'm assuming this is what you've all been waiting for)
My Thoughts on The Sound of Music Live!
Of anyone I know (and please forgive me if this sounds at all conceited...that is most assuredly not my intent), I feel the most qualified to comment on this. The Sound of Music has been one of my all-time favorite movies since childhood. I can remember listening to my mom's CD on our old CD player with headphones that required an adapter. SOM Live! was actually performed numerous times in my bedroom with my sister and our Barbies/random stuffed animals/just us singing the songs and dancing around the room (it's totally cooler than it sounds). I was Maria in our high school production...goodness, I miss those days! All the laughing backstage and inside jokes with the cast mates and driving Mr. Strough crazy thinking we might not be ready by showtime...what a great time! And to top it all off, I got to visit many of the places the movie was filmed when I spent a day in Salzburg, Austria (see the blog post from that trip by following the hyperlink).
So believe me, I know what I'm talking about when it comes to Maria von Trapp and Rodgers and Hammerstein. When I first heard they were doing this production, I think my reaction was that of many people: Carrie Underwood is no Julie Andrews! But no one is Julie Andrews except for, obviously, Julie Andrews. And while I am not exactly a fan of remaking things, I have found a few remakes that I have enjoyed. So after those initial feelings passed, I started to get excited. I knew the production was the stage show (which, if you saw my Facebook post on Friday, you know I still remember all my lines...or a great deal of them) and not the movie.
If you are a person who has only seen the movie, then you were probably very surprised by some major changes: Maria singing The Lonely Goatherd during the thunderstorm and My Favorite Things with the Mother Abbess, no I Have Confidence, two new songs for Max and the Baroness, no pavilion dancing scene for Liesel and Rolf, no crazy scene where the Baroness is really mean to Maria and threatens to send the von Trapp children to boarding school (I much prefer the stage show baroness than the movie version). All of these changes were true to the Broadway production. They did make one change to the Broadway production while doing the live version, and I was behind it 100%. When Maria and the Captain profess their love for each other, in the movie, they sing Something Good, as they did in the live version. In the Broadway show, however, they sing a song called An Ordinary Couple. I used to not be so fond of Something Good, but after performing the show myself, I much prefer it to An Ordinary Couple.
As far as the actors went, I thought most of them did a fairly good job portraying their characters. Rolf seemed a little older than seventeen-going-on-eighteen, but he was believable. That is another big change between the stage and movie shows: the ending! In the movie, Rolf gives them up, but in the stage show, he shines his flashlight on Liesel and chooses to let them go. I love that. I always wonder what happened to Rolf, after the war...
I felt Carrie Underwood did a commendable job, though she might not have been the very best choice. She isn't an actress--not everyone who can sing can also act. Her emotions weren't always believable or spot-on, in my opinion. I also felt like she almost had too big of a voice for the part...does that even make sense? Her voice is very distinct, and for me personally, it didn't quite fit with the Maria that I know and love...and am (not that I would have been a better choice, by any means). Maybe what I mean is that Maria von Trapp is not a role someone should take as their break-in to acting.
Audra MacDonald was fantastic as the Reverend Mother. I always tear up during Climb Every Mountain...and Edelweiss. I had never seen anything with Stephen Moyer in it before, as I have never watched True Blood, but I was impressed.
So, television networks, what I am trying to say is that I love the idea of doing live productions of Broadway shows. My big question is: what show is next? I think Bye, Bye Birdie would be fun with maybe Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Albert Peterson. Or The Music Man. Oooh--Hello, Dolly! Honestly, I don't care what the show is--let's just keep this new idea rolling. I'd much rather watch that than try to keep up with the Kardashians (and in my world, everyone agrees with that).
Stay gold!
So thank you all. From the bottom of my heart, I'm grateful :)
Now to what you've all been waiting for...(or at least I'm assuming this is what you've all been waiting for)
My Thoughts on The Sound of Music Live!
Of anyone I know (and please forgive me if this sounds at all conceited...that is most assuredly not my intent), I feel the most qualified to comment on this. The Sound of Music has been one of my all-time favorite movies since childhood. I can remember listening to my mom's CD on our old CD player with headphones that required an adapter. SOM Live! was actually performed numerous times in my bedroom with my sister and our Barbies/random stuffed animals/just us singing the songs and dancing around the room (it's totally cooler than it sounds). I was Maria in our high school production...goodness, I miss those days! All the laughing backstage and inside jokes with the cast mates and driving Mr. Strough crazy thinking we might not be ready by showtime...what a great time! And to top it all off, I got to visit many of the places the movie was filmed when I spent a day in Salzburg, Austria (see the blog post from that trip by following the hyperlink).
So believe me, I know what I'm talking about when it comes to Maria von Trapp and Rodgers and Hammerstein. When I first heard they were doing this production, I think my reaction was that of many people: Carrie Underwood is no Julie Andrews! But no one is Julie Andrews except for, obviously, Julie Andrews. And while I am not exactly a fan of remaking things, I have found a few remakes that I have enjoyed. So after those initial feelings passed, I started to get excited. I knew the production was the stage show (which, if you saw my Facebook post on Friday, you know I still remember all my lines...or a great deal of them) and not the movie.
If you are a person who has only seen the movie, then you were probably very surprised by some major changes: Maria singing The Lonely Goatherd during the thunderstorm and My Favorite Things with the Mother Abbess, no I Have Confidence, two new songs for Max and the Baroness, no pavilion dancing scene for Liesel and Rolf, no crazy scene where the Baroness is really mean to Maria and threatens to send the von Trapp children to boarding school (I much prefer the stage show baroness than the movie version). All of these changes were true to the Broadway production. They did make one change to the Broadway production while doing the live version, and I was behind it 100%. When Maria and the Captain profess their love for each other, in the movie, they sing Something Good, as they did in the live version. In the Broadway show, however, they sing a song called An Ordinary Couple. I used to not be so fond of Something Good, but after performing the show myself, I much prefer it to An Ordinary Couple.
As far as the actors went, I thought most of them did a fairly good job portraying their characters. Rolf seemed a little older than seventeen-going-on-eighteen, but he was believable. That is another big change between the stage and movie shows: the ending! In the movie, Rolf gives them up, but in the stage show, he shines his flashlight on Liesel and chooses to let them go. I love that. I always wonder what happened to Rolf, after the war...
I felt Carrie Underwood did a commendable job, though she might not have been the very best choice. She isn't an actress--not everyone who can sing can also act. Her emotions weren't always believable or spot-on, in my opinion. I also felt like she almost had too big of a voice for the part...does that even make sense? Her voice is very distinct, and for me personally, it didn't quite fit with the Maria that I know and love...and am (not that I would have been a better choice, by any means). Maybe what I mean is that Maria von Trapp is not a role someone should take as their break-in to acting.
Audra MacDonald was fantastic as the Reverend Mother. I always tear up during Climb Every Mountain...and Edelweiss. I had never seen anything with Stephen Moyer in it before, as I have never watched True Blood, but I was impressed.
So, television networks, what I am trying to say is that I love the idea of doing live productions of Broadway shows. My big question is: what show is next? I think Bye, Bye Birdie would be fun with maybe Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Albert Peterson. Or The Music Man. Oooh--Hello, Dolly! Honestly, I don't care what the show is--let's just keep this new idea rolling. I'd much rather watch that than try to keep up with the Kardashians (and in my world, everyone agrees with that).
Stay gold!
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