Carrie Underwood is Atrocious
Good lord, its the worst performance I've seen in a long time. Whoever signed off on this project should be banished forever.
Carrie Underwood has major limitations as a performer, and this proves it.
Yes, her acting was lacking and she shouldn't have said "mean people need Jesus" to her critics, but the fact of the matter was she BROUGHT IN VIEWERS. Now that NBC live musicals are in their third year and will potentially become a long-running franchise, they wouldn't have happened if Underwood hadn't attracted massive ratings on the premiere of her live special.
shareSo we're supposed to admire her or somehow cut her a break because her fame brought a big audience to this terrible show and paved the way for more terrible shows?
If this and Peter Pan were so bad (and they were), why the heck should they have an audience? We should be vilifying her for that, not praising her.
I don't know if it's "really wacky," but your French is coming along.
You don't have to like these shows to recognize the FACT that it was a big-name star like Underwood who primarily got these shows off the ground. And you know for a fact that all future shows will be terrible?
shareYes, actually, as a theater professional assessing by now both this Sound of Music and last year's Peter Pan, I know for a fact that they do not know what the hell they are doing and make awful decision after awful decision, and there is no sense in expecting the future shows to be appreciably better.
I don't know if it's "really wacky," but your French is coming along.
As a professional you should know that any previous commercial successes are the reasons why ANY future shows get made. All 3 shows were/are made by different directors and crews, so you really can't predict their quality. Again, if "The Wiz" turns out to be great, then you will have no choice but to admit that we should all THANK Ms. Underwood for making it all possible in the first place.
sharethe reasons why ANY future shows get madeStop beating a dead horse. I don't want them to get made. It is to no one's credit that they get made. It is a disservice to mankind that they get made.
All 3 shows were/are made by different directors and crewsBoth The Sound of Music Live! (2013) and Peter Pan Live! (2014) were co-directed by chorus-boy-turned-talentless-director Rob Ashford and a competent TV director to call the camera shots. Both were tastelessly produced by Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, who are now producing The Wiz Live! (2015). The "crew" is immaterial.
The second effort did not perform in the ratings as well as the first, and the demographic appeal for the third will be somewhat different so who knows (likely the downward trend will continue), but as long as they continue to do "theater" with no live audience present, the shows will be bad, and will only please people who have no idea what they're watching.
With the warmth of live audience response (and some decent coaching), Carrie Underwood might have relaxed and been a little better instead of flailing embarrassingly for three hours in front of a huge live TV audience, the poor thing. No professional who allowed that to happen should be given another chance to fail, but people are greedy and have no taste, so instead the next year we got Newsies Go to Neverland with Christopher Walken giving the stiffest and strangest come-back performance since Mae West.
I don't know if it's "really wacky," but your French is coming along. share
And stop moving the goalpost and admit that you got no argument to the ORIGINAL point I made, which was that Underwood MADE this show, instead of getting shriller and shriller about your PERSONAL dislike of the shows that is relevant to you only. You also need to understand this is not exactly live theater, but LIVE TV that is reminiscent of the Golden Age of Television, which the NBC producers obviously want to emulate. Television is NOT like theater. It is a different medium that offers a more intimate setting, and the show's artists have to ADAPT from the original stage productions accordingly.
shareyou got no argument to the ORIGINAL point I made, which was that Underwood MADE this show,And my response was that a bad show is not worth making, so no credit is due to anyone.
getting shrillerOh sorry, I was supporting my point of view, which I thought was the proper thing to do, rather than just complain.
not exactly live theater, but LIVE TVMy problem with these broadcasts is that they are using scripts that were written to be done in the theater with a live audience. Live theater is an interactive experience. What we have here, so far, is actors playing lines meant for audience response and getting nothing.
Television is NOT like theaterFinally you agree with me, thank you.
the show's artists have to ADAPT from the original stage productions accordinglyIf you mean the writers have to adapt, I would say yes, but that is the problem. The Sound of Music Live! (2013) used the stage script, with the moments built in to provoke laughter and other responses that of course don't happen in the studio and therefore don't affect the performance, as they should. This wasn't a movie, with an adapted screenplay.
You're perfectly free to like these awful monstrosities, and I am free to feel they are monstrosities, so I don't know why you are trying to bully me into saying something nice about them or about Ms. Underwood. I am just stating my opinion as a lifelong theater-goer and someone who has worked in theater, film and TV.
I don't know if it's "really wacky," but your French is coming along. share
I'm obviously dealing with a simpleton. First of all, if an actress can put lots of butts on theater seats and in front of TVs, SHE HAS A RIGHT TO MAKE ANYTHING. Who are you to say they have no right to make them? And did I say I liked the show? If you have better reading skills, you would've read that I said Underwood's acting skill was lacking in my very first post. But since she drew audiences, she could star in whatever she wanted. As I said, you DON'T have to like it to recognize that. This is neutral, non-judgmental statement and a true FACT. But of course, you're obviously too jealous of other people's success to accept that or to even offer a single compliment on their success, such as the ingenious hiring of a big country star like Underwood. Funny how you called yourself "bullied" after you described others as "chorus-boy-turned-talentless" and "tasteless", and said "we should vilify her". Better work on your OWN theater craft before trashing others in the shrillest (yes) way possible that only makes you look like a loser.
sharehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
I don't know if it's "really wacky," but your French is coming along.
Is that the term you learned from your psychiatrist you see every week, LOL? Next time when you see an argument you can't counter, don't self-aggrandise with a song-and-dance routine about totally different issues that are relevant to no one but you.
shareTheatre Professional, it's a pity that this was made over your objections, but it's on again this year, and it's fun.