The Sound of Football

The only thing good about Thursday Night Football this last week was that it guaranteed that our hometown team would not lose another game today. 

The Texans have fallen so far this season that we couldn’t stand to watch another debacle.  We chose  to watch Carrie Underwood in NBC’s presentation of the Sound of Music instead.  It wasn’t quite as depressing.

NBC, the network that brought you the Heidi Bowl back in 1968, had little to lose – at worst, a live presentation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical could only be their second worst decision in history.  As it turns out, regardless of reviews, the show was a hit, drawing 18 1/2 million viewers.

Most reviews began by commending the bravery of Carrie Underwood (and the network) for attempting something of this magnitude but then the knives came out.  Lots of really snarky comments of the “can sing-can’t act” variety.  And they slammed everything from the sets to the costumes.  Most agreed that a “live” production needs a live audience, and several mentioned the “filmed live” description.  What the heck does “filmed live” mean anyway – every show (except maybe animation) is recorded live.

Personally, I thought Underwood did an adequate, if not stellar, job.  She was a far better singer (and actor) than Steven Moyer, who played the cardboard cutout they substituted for Captain Von Trapp.

My first big problem with the production came in the opening scenes with the appearance of Audra McDonald as the Mother Superior – the likelihood of seeing a black nun in an Austrian convent in the 1930s has to be next to nothing – but she turned out to be the best thing in the show.  That woman can SING!

I’ll admit that the Sound of Music isn’t my favorite R&H musical, but I think that if they were going to cast a country singer in the lead they might have been more successful performing Oklahoma.  Underwood would be right at home as Laurey Williams. 

I haven’t settled on anyone to play Curly yet, but Garth Brooks could easily play Ali Hakim – or for that matter, Jud Fry (he looks sleazy enough) and I would love to see Kellie Pickler as Ado Annie.