One gets twitchingly nervous when it comes to re-making epic classics such as the soundtrack of "The Sound of Music."  Is such an endeavor sacrilegious?  Can a historical monument like the soundtrack to the film "The Sound of Music" be improved?  If not, why bother with an updated version?  And wouldn't comparisons then be drawn between the two female leads, Julie Andrews and Carrie Underwood?  And can Carrie Underwood hold a flame relative to the immortal voice of Julie Andrews?  Older fans may recall that when the soundtrack was released in 1965, it spent a staggering 10 weeks on top of the Billboard album chart. It was also the best selling record in the UK from 1965 to 1968.  However, for younger fans, many of us who did not grow up in the sixties, few are familiar with the soundtrack other than an odd track here and there.  Thus, NBC has made the magisterial decision to recast the musical as one of three-hour event to usher in the holiday season for a whole new generation with a newly record studio version of the soundtrack. 

Country music superstar cum American Idol alum Carrie Underwood has been billed as the star power behind this NBC TV recast and its ensuing soundtrack.  And Underwood did command the masses.  Though Underwood had been crucified by TV critics for her wooden acting skills, the TV movie attracted 18.62 million viewers, making it the most watched non-sporting event on the channel's prime time.  Like most of Underwood's platinum studded successes, the soundtrack is destined to follow in the same direction.  Directed under the auspices of conductor David Chase, Underwood shares the lead vocals with her fellow cast members such as her on-screen beau Stephen Moyer, Ariane Rinehard, Christian Borle, Audra McDonald and Laura Benati. Instead of re-inventing the wheel, the cast has kept abreast with the original versions.  And unlike many soundtracks whose songs are tangential to the musical's plotline, the soundtrack is indispensable to the script.  Set in Salzburg, Austria just before World War II, one of the postulants by the name of Maria Rainer (played by Carrie Underwood) returns to the convent late.  Enthralled by the beauty of creation, she was out in the fields singing to the title track "The Sound of Music."  Though Underwood doesn't have the pristine clarity and strength in her higher registers relative to Julie Andrews, she does indeed make the hills come alive with her passionate delivery.

While the nuns debate as to what they ought to do with Maria, Maria joins Mother Abbess (played by Broadway favorite Audra MacDonald) on "My Favorite Things."  Instead of trying to out-sing each other Underwood and MacDonald perfectly complement each other. Mother Abbess suggests Maria spends some time outside the covenant in contemplation whether or not she is ready for the monastic life by becoming the governess of the seven children of widower and submarine captain Georg von Trapp.  One of her first lessons with the children is to teach them a song entitled "Do-Re-Mi."  This is one of Rodgers and Hammerstein most ingenious compositions where childlike innocence and the highest caliber of musicology meet.  Not even on her country records has Underwood been as country as when she yodels on "The Lonely Goatherd," a song she sings to the children. 

Not too long after Maria finds herself falling for the Captain.  Instead of being honest with her feelings, she tries running away.  This is when Mother Abbess sings to Maria "Climb Every Mountain." From a Christian vantage point, "Climb Every Mountain" is most encouraging as this crescendo building ballad speaks of facing our fears with faith.  Though Maria and the Captain do get married, trouble awaits the couple when the Captain is offered a commission in the German army.  Maria begs her newly wedded husband not to go until the festival where a concert is staged. The concert features one of the most heartfelt songs on the soundtrack, "Edelweiss," sung by the Captain and his family.  "Edelweiss" was also the last sung Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II wrote together before Hammerstein died of stomach cancer.  Precisely because of the song's beauty, some churches have incorporated "Edelweiss" as their benediction hymn.  Overall, despite the jarring stabs Underwood has received for her acting, vocally she is in great form.  And the rest of her cast are nothing but a great asset to her as together they have introduced to us (a newer generation) one of the immortal soundtracks of music history.