The Sound of Music Live

This production went out live on a giant stage in London. It was not simply great, it was magnificent. Incredible production values and a wonderful cast. It follows the original stage show (almost) which means that the two deleted numbers from the film version are restored but "something good" written for the film is added. The original sequence of songs and orchestrations are there as well.

I will not single out any of the cast as this would be unfair, they all perform to perfection and never once do you yearn for Julie Andrews or Christopher Plummer. There are no silly English accents with a German/Austrian twang.

The kids are good too, again I single out no one.

I think that an audience might have helped but this would not be possible, technically given the size of the sets. And if you want to see how it was done, there is a documentary "The making of ....".

I presume that this will be available on DVD if you didn't record it live. Go out and buy it - and play it over and over again. Well done ITV.

I enjoyed the solid British style of this production and although I can see why Christopher Plummer's military bearing might not be matched in this version, it isn't a fair comparison to me. I found the sets and the singing, albeit not so polished as on film, far more immediately engaging and the 'live' feel came across really well. A great treat, found by chance on the itv hub from its broadcast in the final days of last year (2017) - a Sunday night jewel.

As a revival of the stage musical, it is not so bad. I like this Maria, young and spirited. Yes, a little tense, as mentioned in the other review, but still in a cute way.

Julian Overden as the captain is a surprise for me. He sings so much better than the captain in the movie. But of course his acting is no match to Christopher Plummer who is a more convincing decorated sea captain of authority. Julian still looks like Charles Blake in Downton Abbey.

What amuses me so much than the rest is one song not included in the movie, How does love survive. The tune is catchy, the lyrics is hilarious, but not in accordance with the rest of songs. No wonder they took it out in the movie.

I've loved "The Sound of Music" since I saw the movie when I was nine. Since then, I've seen several stage productions (both good and bad) along with seeing the movie countless times. With NBC's Live version in 2013, I was excited to see the story brought to life again but was left ultimately disappointed and wanting to forget it.

Then, I discovered that ITV had produced their own version and after seeing some clips online, I wanted to see more. In short, this is a wonderful production. The sets are so detailed (especially Maria's mountain and the family's garden) and unlike the NBC version, I never felt like I was watching actors in a studio. Kara Tointon is wonderful as Maria and was just a joy to watch. All of the kids were great too.

Granted, it's not an entirely perfect production (they only had one time to perform this after all), I didn't really care for the "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" scene, the dancing was boring and I thought Rolf was just an okay singer. There are some awkward camera angles and a moment where the camera stays on a Nazi officer who demands that the family sing before abruptly cutting to the festival. But these are all just minor things and didn't take away from my enjoyment of a new production of a familiar story. I loved it so much that I bought the DVD!

Like many other reviewers, I had seen the American live telecast that had come out around the same time first, and thought this one to be far better in many ways.

I wasn't sure what to expect but as a recent fan of Julian Ovenden and a lifelong fan of the Sound of Music, I wanted to give this a try regardless of my wariness about the format. It was indeed a pleasant surprise; the performances both in acting and what I assumed was live singing, were excellent across the board and there were also quite a few moments that really captured the magic of the original movie and stage show. My favorite moment has always been when the Captain joins in singing the Sound of Music with the children and they executed that scene here brilliantly. Even the cinematography is something to take note of in this production, for despite very limited sets, they managed to make the most of them and bring out some rather visually engaging shots.

Admittedly, if you're averse to remakes or have too fond of memories about the original, this will not be the TV movie for you. I think that besides the obvious and more warranted comparison to its contemporary, the American live movie from circa 2015, a fan should give this one a fair shot as its own production and allow the performances to speak for themselves.

To be fair as well, the pacing is probably the weakest point with some scenes and scene changes feeling awkward by at times either stalling or moving almost too quickly making the experience jarring. All in all, it probably makes for a great soundtrack if it exists and bonus: Leisl actually looks 16.