Nearly 18.5 million people tuned into “The Sound of Music Live!” on December 5th, a ratings bonanza which spurred Robert Greenblatt, chairman of NBC’s entertainment division, to announce that presenting Broadway musicals live will be become an annual event on the network. Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, the executive producers of “The Sound of Music,” will head the search for the next musical to fill the bill, which they will also produce. It will be a highly-coveted spot among rights holders of classic musicals for several reasons, not the least of which it inspires licensing of everything from productions to cds to merchandise. There will no doubt be a spike in community and school productions of “The Sound of Music,” already one of the most-beloved titles in the Rodgers and Hammerstein catalogue. The phenomenal success of the broadcast was only briefly clouded by the snark which descended upon the telecast among critics and social media. Reviews were mixed. Critics gave Underwood props for assaying a role made indelible by Julie Andrews in the phenomenally popular 1965 film version. But they generally derided her poor acting ability, not surprising given her extremely limited film experience and nil stage work. The tweets began almost from the first notes sung by Carrie Underwood and continued throughout the broadcast. Some were funny, if cruel. One wag suggested that her understudy was “a block of wood.”
Underwood felt compelled to fire back, tweeting: “Plain and simple: Mean people need Jesus. They will be in my prayers tonight….1 Peter 2:21-25.” The scriptural reference admonishes the faithful to “….rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind….”
The Oklahoma-born singer, who rose to fame on “American Idol,” has made no bones about her deeply-held Christian faith but her tweet was probably inadvisable from a purely public relations point of view. It comes off as holier-than-thou and simply draws more attention to the tweets. Legendary actor Cary Grant adopted the best attitude toward his critics as well as any tabloid headlines his personal life may have generated: “Never complain and never explain.”
Meanwhile the casting of Underwood proved to be a very savvy choice by the producers. The platinum-selling artist delivered her audience; the ratings were three times what the producers expected. And the whole event has now become a pop cultural marker. “Saturday Night Live” made a memorable contribution on December 7th, bringing back Kristen Wiig’s Doonese character to dig her tiny claws into “The Sound of Music.” It doesn’t get any better than that.
Photo by Will Hart/NBC