It’s been over a decade since Carrie Underwood stepped onto a soundstage in Bethpage, New York, to do something most modern stars wouldn't dare: perform a three-hour musical live on national television.
Honestly, looking back at The Sound of Music Live! feels like peering into a different era of TV. It was 2013. Twitter was still the "global town square" where everyone gathered to snark in real-time. NBC was desperate for a hit. And Carrie Underwood, the reigning queen of country music, was about to become the most talked-about person on the internet for reasons she probably didn't anticipate.
The production was a massive gamble. You've got to remember that before this, "live TV" basically meant sports, the news, or American Idol. The idea of mounting a full-scale Broadway production—not a movie, but the original 1959 stage play—was unheard of in the 21st century.
Why Carrie Underwood's Sound of Music Was Such a Shock
The biggest thing people get wrong about this broadcast is the "remake" factor.
Most viewers tuned in expecting a shot-for-shot remake of the 1965 Julie Andrews movie. Instead, producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron went back to the source material. This meant different song orders, a slightly darker political tone involving the Nazi annexation of Austria, and songs like "How Can Love Survive?" that casual fans had never heard.
Carrie was essentially fighting two ghosts: the legendary Julie Andrews and the audience's own nostalgia.
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The Performance: Vocals vs. Acting
Let’s be real for a second. Carrie Underwood can sing circles around almost anyone in the industry. Her "Lonely Goatherd" was a masterclass in yodeling while jumping on a bed. Critics generally agreed that her voice was "pristine" and "powerful." She even won over some skeptics by hitting those legit soprano notes that her country hits don't usually require.
But the acting? That’s where the internet sharpened its knives.
- The "Wooden" Critique: Many critics described her performance as "lifeless" or "amateur."
- The Broadway Gap: She was surrounded by absolute titans like Audra McDonald, Laura Benanti, and Christian Borle.
- The Chemistry: Her scenes with Stephen Moyer (Captain von Trapp) often felt stiff, like two people who had just met in a coffee shop rather than a couple falling in love during a world war.
Audra McDonald’s rendition of "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" was so good it basically stopped the show. When you put a country singer next to a five-time (at the time) Tony winner, the difference in "stage presence" is going to be glaring.
The Ratings Juggernaut Nobody Expected
Despite the "hate-tweeting" and the mixed reviews, the numbers were staggering.
Basically, 18.6 million people watched. That is a massive number. It was NBC’s highest Thursday night viewership for a non-sports program since the Frasier finale in 2004.
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The Carrie Underwood Sound of Music special proved that "event television" worked. People wanted to watch something live because of the "danger" factor. What if she forgets a line? What if a child falls into the fountain? That tension kept 18 million people glued to their screens, which basically saved the network's year.
Behind the Scenes Logistics
The show was filmed at Grumman Studios. This was the same place they used to build lunar modules for the Apollo missions.
They had six massive sets. They used 12 cameras. Because it was live, the actors had to sprint from the "abbey" to the "living room" during commercial breaks. If you listen closely to the original broadcast, you can hear a persistent hiss or "hum" from the open mics. That’s the sound of live theater. It wasn’t perfect, but it was authentic.
The Long-Term Impact on TV
If you’ve enjoyed Grease Live!, The Wiz Live!, or even the live episodes of sitcoms that popped up afterward, you have Carrie Underwood to thank.
She took the arrows so others could follow. She knew she wasn't a trained Broadway actress, yet she spent months in rehearsals, reportedly arriving with every single line memorized on day one. Even her harshest critics admitted she had "chutzpah."
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The von Trapp family famously didn't love the casting, but Julie Andrews herself gave Carrie her blessing. That should have been enough to quiet the trolls, but this is the internet we're talking about.
How to Revisit the Performance Today
If you’re looking to judge for yourself, the production is still widely available.
- Watch the DVD: It was released shortly after the broadcast and includes a "Making Of" feature that shows the sheer chaos of the Bethpage sets.
- Listen to the Soundtrack: This is actually the best way to appreciate what Carrie brought to the role. Without the "deer in the headlights" acting, her vocal performance is undeniably world-class.
- YouTube Clips: You can find the standout moments, specifically "Do-Re-Mi" and the Mother Abbess scenes, which remain the highlights of the night.
Honestly, the Carrie Underwood Sound of Music era was a weird, bold experiment that changed how networks think about the holidays. It wasn't the Julie Andrews movie, and it was never trying to be. It was a brave attempt to bring high art to the masses using the gravitational pull of a superstar.
Whether you loved it or cringed through it, you can't deny it was a moment.
If you want to dive deeper into how this specific production influenced the "live musical" trend of the 2020s, you should compare the technical shots of this 2013 broadcast to the more cinematic approach used in Rent: Live. The evolution of camera work in these specials is actually pretty fascinating from a technical standpoint.