“Sound Of Music”: A Little Too Stagy
I watched the live “The Sound of Music” last night — or, rather, I taped and sped through it — because I know and like Laura Benanti, who played the Baroness. There were some strong musical moments — Audra McDonald, of course, with “Climb Every Mountain” — but Carrie Underwood (pictured), starring as Maria, left me a little cold. (Julie, too, apparently.) As for the indoors production, I kept thinking: This is too stagy for TV. We’re always aware that people are performing for us. The broadcast was a noble experiment: worth doing, even though the results, musically and dramatically, were not thrilling.
