The latest in the online weekly streaming of Musicals under the banner 'The Shows Must Go On' was the 2013 filmed-for-television adaptation for NBC of Rogers and Hammerstein's perennial favourite, The Sound Of Music.
The choice of Musical was a very good one. As we move away from exclusively Andrew Lloyd-Webber shows and this series opens itself up to the whole spectrum of wonderful shows out there, The Sound Of Music was a very wise show to use to bridge that gap. Not only is it possibly the world's most famous and well-loved show (of all time!), but it is also a show with which Lloyd-Webber was very closely connected in his well-documented TV search for the perfect Maria.
I have seen this show countless times, but it was the first time that I had ever seen this NBC filmed version. In a word it was disappointing. The show had been adapted by Austin Winsberg with a new book by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse, whilst it was directed by Rob Ashford and Beth McCarthy-Miller. My overall lasting impression of this film will always be that it is a very poor cross, an odd compromise, between the stage show and the iconic Julie Andrews film.
I am unsure where to start in my critique of this show, since it teetered between mediocre and almost unwatchable throughout. My main criticisms must be that Carrie Underwood (Maria) and Stephen Moyer (Captain Von Trapp) were completely unsuitable for their respective roles. Moreover, Moyer is too young looking, and there was aboslutely no chemistry between them and their acting skills were sadly lacking.
Filmed on a New York studio set, there is a distinct lack of atmosphere and sadly both the directing and the choreography do little to try and assuage this. There were some very odd choices throughout this film, not least of which was changing the name of Salzburg to what sounded something like Cottbus (a city in the north of Germany).
There was very little to recommend from this film unfortunately, other than that the children were cute. If you want to enjoy The Sound Of Music, then please watch the 1965 film with which most of us will already be very familiar.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 22/5/20
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