{"id":27085,"date":"2013-10-23T10:08:07","date_gmt":"2013-10-23T14:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=27085"},"modified":"2016-09-30T16:01:46","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T20:01:46","slug":"the-worlds-most-famous-singing-nun-is-about-to-return-on-nbc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/10\/the-worlds-most-famous-singing-nun-is-about-to-return-on-nbc\/","title":{"rendered":"The world’s most famous singing nun is about to return on NBC"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A lot of us winced when this project<\/a><\/strong> was announced. \u00a0 Now it looks like it\u2019s actually going to happen, airing live on December 5.<\/p>\n

From NBC:\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

From executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (\u201cSmash,\u201d \u201cHairspray,\u201d \u201cChicago\u201d) comes an instant holiday classic: \u201cThe Sound of Music,\u201d based on the original Broadway musical. Carrie Underwood and Stephen Moyer star as Maria and Captain von Trapp in this beloved story of the young novice who falls in love with Captain von Trapp and his seven children, set against the backdrop of Nazi-occupied Austria. The jewel in the Rodgers and Hammerstein crown, \u201cThe Sound of Music\u201d contains some of the most famous songs ever written for the stage, including \u201cThe Sound of Music,\u201d \u201cMy Favorite Things,\u201d \u201cDo-Re-Mi,\u201d \u201cSixteen Going on Seventeen,\u201d \u201cClimb Every Mountain\u201d and \u201cEdelweiss.\u201d<\/p>\n

This new version of \u201cThe Sound of Music\u201d will be a faithful adaptation of the original stage musical, to retell the story for a whole new generation. And more than that, it will be broadcast LIVE, adding a whole new level of immediacy and excitement. Get ready to reintroduce your family to the most joyful, most emotional and most musical family adventure of them all. Three-hour live event.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What may be most intriguing, though, is the \u201ccolor-blind\u201d casting of the Mother Abbess, with acclaimed Broadway performer Audra McDonald donning the wimple to sing \u201cClimb Every Mountain.\u201d The film\u2019s producers have experimented with this before\u2014remember Brandy and Whitney Houston in \u201cCinderella\u201d?\u2014but the idea of a black nun in Austria in the 1930s may be a bigger stretch.<\/p>\n

McDonald talks about it in the Los Angeles Times:<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

You\u2019ll be playing Mother Abbess in NBC\u2019s live production of \u201cThe Sound of Music\u201d on Dec. 5 opposite\u00a0Carrie Underwood<\/a>\u00a0as Maria. Is that a role you\u2019ve always wanted to play?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I grew up with it; but it\u2019s certainly never a role I thought I\u2019d be in! For obvious reasons. I have to credit Neil [Meron] for thinking outside of the box and inviting me to be part of it. Most people only know the movie version, so they think of Mother Abbess as this 70-year-old woman; but in the staged version, the first woman to ever play her was 43 years old. And that\u2019s right where I am.<\/p>\n

I also have ideas about where she\u2019s come from and what her life has been, what in her past life led her to put on the habit and take on this lifestyle. I feel like when she guides Maria and pushes her toward living a life outside the convent, I think she does it with some sort of knowledge about what lies beyond the convent walls. She did it, she knows it and she chose the convent walls \u2014 that makes her more interesting to me.<\/p>\n

Does the live-broadcasting element make you nervous?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No. I\u2019ve done so many \u201cLive From Lincoln Centers\u201d; I\u2019ve also done fully staged, costumed productions that were broadcast live. It\u2019ll be performed on a soundstage, then broadcast live while we\u2019re doing it. But we\u2019re approaching it as if it were a staged night in the theater. I think it\u2019s going to be a big challenge, it\u2019s a huge task, but I\u2019m excited about it. It\u2019s a very diverse cast and it\u2019s going to be fun. It doesn\u2019t scare me.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A lot of us winced when this project was announced. \u00a0 Now it looks like it\u2019s actually going to happen, airing live on December 5. From NBC:\u00a0 From executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (\u201cSmash,\u201d \u201cHairspray,\u201d \u201cChicago\u201d) comes an instant holiday classic: \u201cThe Sound of Music,\u201d based on the original Broadway musical. Carrie Underwood […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[11199],"class_list":["post-27085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tv","tag-tv"],"yoast_head":"\nThe world's most famous singing nun is about to return on NBC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A lot of us winced when this project was announced. \u00a0 Now it looks like it's actually going to happen, airing live on December 5. 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