In his "absolutely fabulous" ten-star review, David Kravitz said that "never once" did he yearn for Julie Andrews or Christopher Plummer. I didn't yearn for them once either; I yearned for them (especially Andrews) from beginning to end. Not that this was a bad production— far from it—but it paled before the 1965 film. By coincidence, I had watched the DVD of the film just a few days before seeing the new BBC production, so I had a dramatic contrast of the two productions. Much of the superiority of the film was due to it being a film and being 30 minutes longer. One can't justifiably downgrade the stage play for lacking the magnificent Austrian scenery or the expensive 20th Century Fox sets (e.g., the beautiful ball room), or the wonderful photography, from the jaw-dropping opening sequence to the romantic "Something Good" number and the Vermeer-like quality in "Climb Every Mountain." And in fact this stage production was better than the one I saw years ago in L.A. starring Florence Henderson. But although one can't blame the BBC production for lacking what only a film can provide, those and other factors make the film a much better audience experience than the stage show—better writing, improved sequence of songs, more dramatic scenes and sufficient length to bring the audience into greater identification with the characters, e.g., the romance between Maria and the Captain made more sense in the film than in the stage play, where it sort of came out of the blue, and the "I Have Confidence" number (new for the film) provided much deeper appreciation of Maria's character. Likewise, with the omissions in the film, e.g., the relatively mediocre songs that were cut, the better timing for the first singing of "My Favorite Things" rather than the ludicrous song-and-dance duet with Maria and the Mother Abbess. What made the film so superior was the acting, and this despite the excessive cutesiness of Plummer and the film children. Julie Andrews brought real depth to Maria, whereas Kara Tointon's Maria was relatively workman-like and lacking much emotion (and lacking anything but a run-of-the-mill voice). Julian Ovenden certainly has a better voice than Plummer but lacked the stature of Plummer and came across as rather boring. Likewise, Eleanor Parker and Richard Hayden, because of both a better script and their own acting, made those characters much more than the perfunctory throw-ins in the BBC production. If the BBC production had been my introduction to "The Sound of Music," I'm sure I would have become a fan of the show. But the film was (and still is) transporting.
Review of The Sound of Music Live
