Carrie Underwood To Take On Julie Andrews’ Iconic Role In NBC’s The Sound of Music Adaptation

I’m having a hard time picturing country music superstar Carrie Underwood as a nun. 

This was actually the first I heard of NBC’s attempt at recreating the 1960 Rodger’s & Hammerstein musical so I guess I’m more thrown by that than anything else. It’s being put together by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, the executive producers of Smash, and is set to premiere Christmas 2013. And oh yeah, it’s going to be three hours long and air live.

“Speaking for everyone at NBC, we couldn’t be happier to have the gifted Carrie Underwood take up the mantle of the great Maria von Trapp. She was an iconic woman who will now be played by an iconic artist,” said NBC entertainment chief Bob Greenblatt.

There’s no doubt Underwood is a huge win for the project. She won American Idol in 2005 and has since gone on to have one of the biggest careers of any of its past winners selling over 25 million singles and 15 million albums.

“We’re thrilled to be presenting the Broadway version of ‘The Sound of Music’ live,” said Zadan and Meron, “and having Carrie Underwood as the star brings it to a new generation who will fall in love with it for the first time as many millions of people already have. It’s a particular joy to us as producers to see this amazing artist stretch into new territory with this classic musical.”

But…I don’t know, Julie Andrews is a TOUGH act to follow. Underwood certainly has the singing talent, that can’t be denied, but does she have that Maria charm? She only has one acting role under her belt, a guest appearance on How I Met Your Mother. Do you think she’s the right one for Maria?

(via The Wrap)

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Jill Pantozzi

Jill Pantozzi is a pop-culture journalist and host who writes about all things nerdy and beyond! She’s Editor in Chief of the geek girl culture site The Mary Sue (Abrams Media Network), and hosts her own blog “Has Boobs, Reads Comics” (TheNerdyBird.com). She co-hosts the Crazy Sexy Geeks podcast along with superhero historian Alan Kistler, contributed to a book of essays titled “Chicks Read Comics,” (Mad Norwegian Press) and had her first comic book story in the IDW anthology, “Womanthology.” In 2012, she was featured on National Geographic’s "Comic Store Heroes," a documentary on the lives of comic book fans and the following year she was one of many Batman fans profiled in the documentary, "Legends of the Knight."

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