The NBC TV production of The Sound of Music Live! starring country music superstar Carrie Underwood will be the next show available free of charge on The Shows Must Go On YouTube channel.
First shown in the US in the run-up to Christmas 2013, the filmed version of the original 1959 Broadway production proved an instant hit with home audiences and was the first in a series of NBC’s live broadcasts of major Broadway shows that have become a fixture of the pre-Christmas schedules in the US.
The multi-award-winning singer made her genre debut as Maria opposite True Blood star Stephen Moyer as Captain von Trapp, Tony Award-winning and Broadway stalwart Audra McDonald (Carousel, Porgy and Bess) as the Mother Abbess. The cast also includes the Tony Award-winning star of Broadway’s 2008 revival of Gypsy, Laura Benanti as Elsa Schraeder and multi-award-winning Broadway star Christian Borle (Spamalot, Something Rotten!) as Max Detweiler.
Commenting on the casting of Underwood as Maria at the time, Ted Chapin, the president of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organisation, said: “To have a star like Carrie Underwood perform Maria in The Sound of Music, and in such a very special and unique production, is exciting beyond words.
“Part of the magic of Rodgers and Hammerstein is how their work has adapted itself to so many different incarnations, and I am certain the fresh spirit Underwood brings to her own songs will transition into exciting versions of the classic songs we all know and love.”
The first non-Andrew Lloyd Webber production in the streaming service, The Sound of Music Live! will be available for 48 hours from 7pm (BST) on 22 May 2020.
Aimed at giving locked-down theatre fans access to a West End or Broadway experience in their own homes, the new channel was launched last month by Universal Pictures Home Video Entertainment’s Content Group.
A new show is released online every Friday from 7pm British Standard Time for a limited 48-hour period. With no charge or sign-up fee payable, theatre fans who are able are being asked to make a donation to charitable organisations offering help and support to people in the industry facing hardship as the theatre closedown continues. The charities listed on The Shows Must Go On channel include Acting For Others, Broadway Cares and the Actors Benevolent Fund.
Alongside the full-length shows, clips of famous performances and behind-scenes footage are also being uploaded regularly to the channel.
Angela Thomas
SHARE THIS POST:
Comments are closed.