Talk about old things being new again-NBC is set to recreate and possibly revive the live musical broadcast with their Thursday debut of The Sound of Music Live! Starring country singer Carrie Underwood in the renowned role of Maria, the three-hour primetime production is the first of its kind to be made in more than fifty years.
In the 1950's, it was quite popular to stage large scale productions regularly and was always regarded as a huge television event. The original Maria herself, Julie Andrews, performed the title role of Cinderella in an enactment produced by the CBS in 1957. Now, the Sound of Music will take after its staged counterpart in a conscious choice to not do a reconstruction of the movie version.
Joining Underwood is Stephen Moyer of True Blood fame to star as the dashing Captain Von Trapp. More than 600 kids came to audition for the roles of the seven Von Trapp children. Rehearsals were intense and is even reported to last only weeks until the airing on the 5th of December at 8/7 Central.
Needless to say NBC executives are in for a massive challenge not just because a production like this hasn't been seen in a long time but because there has been no model in which to measure the modern day audience's reaction to the retelling of the classic story. How does one tell the Sound of Music in the age of social media and Netflix after all?
Brian Stelter, CNN's Senior Media correspondent, had this to say about the event: "Even in this age of Netflix where everything's available on demand, I would love to know how many people out there haven't (seen the movie). I have a feeling those younger people in NBC's audience that haven't seen it yet will discover it for the first time."
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