Annie Live! for the 2021 Holiday Season On NBC (1 Viewer)

[Garysb]

‘Annie Live!’ Musical Event Gets 2021 Holiday Season Broadcast On NBC

NBC will broadcast the holiday musical event Annie Live!, with Robert Greenblatt as executive producer along with Neil Meron, who has served as executive producer on such NBC’s live musicals The Sound of Music Live! and Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert. Annie Live! will be directed by Lear...

deadline.com

The behind the scenes people are impressive but this is a show that has been done again and again.

 

[Matt Hough]

Not a big surprise to be honest. They needed a family musical with big name recognition, and Annie pretty much fills the bill.

What will make me watch will be to see how much of the original score will be used. None of the three previous filmings of this musical have made creative use of that rich Adams and Strouse score.

 

[Garysb]

The musical with an orphan that I would prefer is "Oliver" The movie version, through a Best Picture winner, was overblown compared to the stage version.

I do like this clip for the award presentation for Best Director which went to Carol Reed for "Oliver".

 

[Malcolm R]

This airs tonight. I'm still amazed that they're putting it up against the NFL/Dallas Cowboys, coming off the most watched football game in 30+ years with the Cowboys' Thanksgiving game last week (over 38 million viewers). Granted, there may not be a huge overlap in audience, but it still seems like a risk.

 

[David Weicker]

This airs tonight. I'm still amazed that they're putting it up against the NFL/Dallas Cowboys, coming off the most watched football game in 30+ years with the Cowboys' Thanksgiving game last week (over 38 million viewers). Granted, there may not be a huge overlap in audience, but it still seems like a risk.

There's a football game on???

(I certainly wasn't one of those 38 million)

 

[bujaki]

Whereas I'll be listening to the Met Opera live transmission of Tosca.
Sorry, Annie, not even my favorite musical. That ditty Tomorrow, oy vey!

 

[Malcolm R]

Yeah, I'm so burned out from the incessant promos on NBC networks that I have no interest in watching it. Apparently "Hard Knock Life" is the only song they were allowed to use in the promos. Sick of it.

Sadly, even NBC News seems unaware of the details of the production. All the promos identify Taraji P. Henson as Miss Hannigan, but they interviewed some of the cast on NBC Nightly News tonight and captioned Nicole Sherzinger as Miss Hannigan (she's Grace Farrell).

 

[Jay_Z_525]

I don’t know why I’m still watching this- maybe it’s the holiday commercials that are making me wax nostalgic, or the idea of it being live. Dunno. I will say the biggest names are the weakest links, the production numbers are poorly paced and falling flat, the kids aren’t the least bit likable. And why is this family show running until 11pm on school night?

Okay, rant over.

 

[Chris Will]

I was just thinking the same thing. I like Annie but this has been very meh. I like the Wendy’s breakfast commercial.

 

[B-ROLL]

I only joined in time to see "Hard Knock Life." I understand doing live TV can be difficult but part of camera blocking is knowing WHERE the other cameras ARE. Lots of shots of backs of heads and camera operators. Virtually every hand-held shot wasn't framed correct. I was assuming at first that someone wasn't hitting a mark (there some many on the floor to see). But then it started happening on nearly every scene. The big production numbers went well but in between it looked like a camera rehearsal with costumes.

I have to admit the audio team did a good job until the finale (although Harry Connick Jr.'s head-mike was a bit annoying). I would have hoped they would have his bald cap fully attached by his entrance but that would be too much.

 

[Matt Hough]

It was a professional job, but it lacked the spark and fire of The Wiz, Hairspray, and (on Fox) Grease. Maybe I've just seen too much Annie.

 

[Chris Will]

I actually thought the audio mixing was, well, mixed bag. Some character's dialogue was noticeably louder then others and the balance between singers seemed off on a number of songs. This whole production seems more rough around the edges then past ones. So many of the actors this time around were so stiff, Harry Connick Jr. I know he can really play the piano but, he was stepping all over his on fingers, I noticed a number of wrong notes. I bet he wishes he had a second take.

Honestly, I do not understand the appeal of doing these live. Why not do it as a proper stage show and film it, then air it. Something more like the filmed versions of Newsies or Hamilton.

 

[Malcolm R]

Honestly, I do not understand the appeal of doing these live.

I think it was a nostalgia throwback to the golden days of TV when a lot of shows were live, kind of like the "Live in Front of a Studio Audience" re-enactment specials we're also getting. It was kind of a novel thing, at first, to modern TV audiences, but the bloom is off the rose. With this production of "Annie" getting the lowest same day ratings of any musical yet, I doubt we'll see too many more. It was trounced in the 18-49 demo rating by the NFL game (0.9 vs. 2.9) and beaten in total audience by the game and the CBS sitcoms Young Sheldon and Ghosts.

 

[Chip_HT]

Honestly, I do not understand the appeal of doing these live.

Because they want people watching it when it airs. If it's filmed, the audience is more likely to watch it on DVR or streaming.