You know, I wasn't hotly anticipating NBC's Live from LA it's The Sound of Music! telecast. I just didn't understand the why's and the how's of it all. I even missed the first half hour of it while I was busy catching up on my favorite gay fantasia, Coven. But by the time the episode finished, my glass of limited edition Three Buck Chuck Nouveau was not yet empty, so I decided to check it out. And, wow. Sometimes you don't know what you want, so the Universe just gives you what you need.
I think I really went through something while watching this, so I'll show you my live-tweets, so you get an in-the-moment sense of what happened:
So, already I feel like I'm watching The Sound of Music, something I've seen a million times, with fresh eyes.
But, right? Liesl's in love and everything's roses and gazebos at midnight, then one day he's a Nazi! Like, two minutes ago he was singing about how he's going to take care of her and now suddenly he is really comfortable with throwing her entire family on a train, and I can tell you, it is NOT going to Clarksville, okay?? Little Marta is going straight to a camp where you do not make lanyards and Rolph won't even think twice about it because he's already taken up with some Aryan tart! MEN!!!
Yikes, someone get this girl a Sleepytime tea!
Onward...
Then at some point, this little sliver of Broadway perfection waltzed her way onto the screen and into my heart:
Then Maria goes back to the Abbey (oh, sorry, are you wondering what my thoughts are on Underwood? I think her deadpan line read was oddly comforting and took me right back to every mediocre community theatre production of The Sound of Music that I saw throughout my childhood. Loved it).
Then Maria comes back from the abbey because Audra McDonald's like, look, sex is natural, sex is good, not everybody does it, but you totally can. And then she says you can't swear off men just because the guy you're into is marrying someone way better than you. Which I'm guessing is what inspired all those Sex and the City episodes, but if you have half a brain you know that Big leaves Natasha and goes with the blonde woman by the end, anyway.
Then things took a turn.
Apparently, I thought it was okay to start roping people I don't even know into my feminist tirade:
But leave it to Ronan Farrow to ground us all back in reality.
Then it was 10:30 and I had to go to bed because this thing is way too long. It takes her a half hour JUST TO GET TO THE CHILDREN. I didn't need to know there was a problem like Maria, just totally unnecessary to the plot except that all those nuns allow for some extra parts for female actors, so I take it all back.
But I'd say my biggest take away from this television EVENT was:
Right?
