It looks like NBC is building on their recent campaign to bring Broadway and musicals to the forefront. According to a press release, NBC is teaming with Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, the production team of SMASH, to bring television viewers a live version of “The Sound of Music,” based on the Broadway musical.
NBC Entertainment chairman, Bob Greenblatt said in a statement,
“It is our supreme pleasure to broadcast — live — a new version of the seminal Broadway musical ‘The Sound of Music’ for a whole new generation. There used to be a tradition of broadcasting musicals live back in the 1950s and we’re thrilled to do it once again with a musical that has been a family classic for five decades. There is no more talented and creative producing team than Craig Zadan and Neil Meron to bring Rodgers and Hammerstein’s final – and most beloved – collaboration to network television in this groundbreaking live telecast.”
Zadan went further to say that remaking the movie would be “artistic blasphemy.”
“What we want to do, instead, is to give audiences a completely fresh experience of this great Tony Award-winning stage musical in the form of a classic television event, combined with the spontaneity of a live performance. And all of the actors will be singing live; there will be no lip-synching to pre-recordings.”
The event will feature the songs fans are familiar with, as well as lesser known versions of songs from the Broadway musical. NBC is hoping this will revive a tradition of old – staging a full live Broadway production on television. Casting is not yet underway, but plans to begin casting are underway and casting will begin shorty. An air date will also be released in the new future.
What’re your thoughts on this? An epic event or an epic fail? Will you be watching this event or are you turned off by the fact such an iconic film will be brought to life on television? Sound off below!
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