NBC staging 'Sound of Music'

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif., July 2 (UPI) -- NBC and the Hollywood producers of "Smash," "Chicago" and "Hairspray" are teaming up for a live broadcast of "The Sound of Music," a network executive said.

"It is our supreme pleasure to broadcast -- live -- a new version of the seminal Broadway musical 'The Sound of Music' for a whole new generation," Robert Greenblatt, chairman of NBC Entertainment, said in a statement.

"There used to be a tradition of broadcasting musicals live back in the 1950s and we're thrilled to do it once again with a musical that has been a family classic for five decades. There is no more talented and creative producing team than Craig Zadan and Neil Meron to bring Rodgers and Hammerstein's final -- and most beloved -- collaboration to network television in this groundbreaking live telecast."

"It isn't our intention to produce a remake of the movie version of 'The Sound of Music' -- that would be artistic blasphemy," Zadan said. "What we want to do, instead, is to give audiences a completely fresh experience of this great Tony Award-winning stage musical in the form of a classic television event, combined with the spontaneity of a live performance. And all of the actors will be singing live; there will be no lip-synching to pre-recordings."

"This groundbreaking 'hybrid' of sorts will be based on the stage musical," said Meron, "and will feature all the classic songs that audiences associate with 'The Sound of Music' -- including the title song, 'Do-Re-Mi,' 'Climb Ev'ry Mountain,' and 'My Favorite Things' -- plus a few wonderful songs from the Broadway version that people are less familiar with."