The Sound of Music Live

The book and score are closer to the original R&H version. "I Have Confidence" is missing but the movie song "Something Good" is added. Two minor original songs added and I can see why they were edited out of the movie. They point out how "shallow" the rich Capt. and Countess really were. Very well produced and directed UK "stage" version which was telecast there live in 2015. I do not (personally) like the 2 jarring real newsreel clips, but they are quite short and certainly get the point across that the real thing was no "romp in the park." British accents of course but that can't be helped. Great acting and singing performances from a cast that is (probably) unknown here in "The States". A few slightly off-key notes are expected in a truly live performance but this doesn't spoil a thing. Maria is "cast" a bit older than I expected. It's all 100% first-rate. 10 stars and 2 hankies. Shown on PBS' Great Performances series in November 2018. To those user reviewers that complain at the differences between between this and the popular movie, I suspect that they have not seen (many) live or taped performances of plays or musicals on stage. There is a huge difference between the two as a stage version can have only a few major set changes, and backdrops are usually painted but today may be digital.

Real facts: In truth, they traveled to the border at the end of their property and escaped by train to Italy. Therefore, they did not hike over the Swiss Alps. All the real children's names are different. "Edelweiss" is not an Austrian folk song! The real story only vaguely resembles this story and there are far too many differences to explain here. The "timeline" is totally different. There are several Internet articles that cover this subject. Also, look for "My Story" by Maria Von Trapp, published in 1949, for the true story.

To compare the ITV British SOUND OF MUSIC LIVE! production to the beloved (but still flawed) 1965 film is utter nonsense. It's like comparing apples and oranges, because they are two different media. Resources were available for the film that the stage production couldn't hope to utilize. More to the point, how does it compare to the NBC-TV 2013 Live production that starred Carrie Underwood?

The answer is that it's miles better! The production is excellent, and while I disagree with a few things (such as replacing "An Ordinary Couple" with "Something Good" and abridging a couple of the songs; hence the two stars off a ten-star rating), watching it was generally time very well spent. The cast was youthful and appealing, and - more to the point - everyone could actually act! The sugary sweetness of the show was, by-and-large, swept away.

The music was well-paced, and although I missed the original orchestrations, the ones used did no harm and didn't sound out of place. I have to admit that I hated the American version when it aired. Most fatally, Carrie Underwood, simply couldn't act, and the scenes dragged. No such problem here. I missed this when it was first broadcast by PBS in 2018, so I'm very happy that I happened to catch it last night.

An enthusiastic thumbs-up!.

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.

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.

In his "absolutely fabulous" ten-star review, David Kravitz said that "never once" did he yearn for Julie Andrews or Christopher Plummer. I didn't yearn for them once either; I yearned for them (especially Andrews) from beginning to end. Not that this was a bad production— far from it—but it paled before the 1965 film. By coincidence, I had watched the DVD of the film just a few days before seeing the new BBC production, so I had a dramatic contrast of the two productions. Much of the superiority of the film was due to it being a film and being 30 minutes longer. One can't justifiably downgrade the stage play for lacking the magnificent Austrian scenery or the expensive 20th Century Fox sets (e.g., the beautiful ball room), or the wonderful photography, from the jaw-dropping opening sequence to the romantic "Something Good" number and the Vermeer-like quality in "Climb Every Mountain." And in fact this stage production was better than the one I saw years ago in L.A. starring Florence Henderson. But although one can't blame the BBC production for lacking what only a film can provide, those and other factors make the film a much better audience experience than the stage show—better writing, improved sequence of songs, more dramatic scenes and sufficient length to bring the audience into greater identification with the characters, e.g., the romance between Maria and the Captain made more sense in the film than in the stage play, where it sort of came out of the blue, and the "I Have Confidence" number (new for the film) provided much deeper appreciation of Maria's character. Likewise, with the omissions in the film, e.g., the relatively mediocre songs that were cut, the better timing for the first singing of "My Favorite Things" rather than the ludicrous song-and-dance duet with Maria and the Mother Abbess. What made the film so superior was the acting, and this despite the excessive cutesiness of Plummer and the film children. Julie Andrews brought real depth to Maria, whereas Kara Tointon's Maria was relatively workman-like and lacking much emotion (and lacking anything but a run-of-the-mill voice). Julian Ovenden certainly has a better voice than Plummer but lacked the stature of Plummer and came across as rather boring. Likewise, Eleanor Parker and Richard Hayden, because of both a better script and their own acting, made those characters much more than the perfunctory throw-ins in the BBC production. If the BBC production had been my introduction to "The Sound of Music," I'm sure I would have become a fan of the show. But the film was (and still is) transporting.