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Agreed. I hope they see this.

Posted by: GrumpyMorningBoy 03:36 am EST 12/06/13
In reply to: Thank you Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. - keywslt 11:06 pm EST 12/05/13

Y'all know how much musical theater people love to bitch and moan, while loving every minute of it. This took huge balls, and we're lucky to have such successful tv / film producers who happen to have a big thing (and a great working relationship) with the American musical theater.

YouTube is littered with BAD television performances of musical theatre -- Cher's WEST SIDE STORY medley, anyone? The Brandy / Whitney CINDERELLA and the Tracey Ullman ONCE UPON A MATTRESS all show that Hollywood doesn't really 'get' musicals the way they should. You gotta go with New York.

- GMB


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the credit goes to NBC… not to Craig and Neil.

Posted by: Chazwaza 03:48 am EST 12/06/13
In reply to: Agreed. I hope they see this. - GrumpyMorningBoy 03:36 am EST 12/06/13

I'm sorry but the risk was almost entirely on the part of the Network. It doesn't take much for powerful and successful producers of musical theater-based tv and movie hit adaptations/events to pitch this kind of thing to the network, or even to produce it. The real guts is in buying the pitch and funding it and trusting the producers to hire the right people and pull it off… but that's what these producers do and love doing (and don't do particularly well in my opinion, but well enough and no one else is doing it besides them really).

So credit to Craig and Neil for what they pulled together and oversaw and for having the track record to help get the project green lit… but they didn't take the real risk.

… and also selling maybe the single most popular musical ever, and starring one of the country's biggest music stars who is not only big in the all-important southern and fly-over states but also a crossover popstar who had already won on a hugely popular TV singing competition, is not THAT hard as far as selling this kind of thing goes.


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Good points...

Posted by: GrumpyMorningBoy 05:14 am EST 12/06/13
In reply to: the credit goes to NBC… not to Craig and Neil. - Chazwaza 03:48 am EST 12/06/13

So maybe it wasn't the riskiest property. And yes, any country star is just gonna be BANKABLE for TV audiences. Carrie may not be an actress, but she's an endearing personality, and pretty darn telegenic for a singer.

It would be FUN to see other pop stars return to their musical theatre roots. Janelle Monae, Jason Mraz, Katy Perry = musical theater people. As much as we all love the TV audiences that the "Glee" cast, Kristin, Audra, etc, have earned, they just don't get press the way a star like Carrie Underwood does.

If I were at NBC, i'd probably look at a list of the top 10 musicals that are being produced at American high schools, and pick one of those. God knows GUYS AND DOLLS is about as foolproof as they come.

- GMB


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re: Good points...

Posted by: mikem 09:48 am EST 12/06/13
In reply to: Good points... - GrumpyMorningBoy 05:14 am EST 12/06/13

I don't agree that this wasn't a big risk for NBC. It could have been a huge disaster. (I know some people here think it was, anyway. . .) And we still don't know if it paid off for NBC in what they care about, which is ratings.


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re: Good points...

Posted by: Chazwaza 10:39 pm EST 12/06/13
In reply to: re: Good points... - mikem 09:48 am EST 12/06/13

I don't think anyone said it wasn't a big risk for NBC… in fact my point was that it was a big risk primarily for NBC and not for Craig Zadan and Neil Meron.

And any live event, especially something as risky as a full musical, and one with an untrained actress in the lead, is risky. But you can say that about almost anything live.


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re: Good points...

Posted by: SQ 09:57 am EST 12/06/13
In reply to: re: Good points... - mikem 09:48 am EST 12/06/13

Frankly I would have been surprised if the majority of the posts on ATC had "liked" the broadcast.


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