I will say what didn’t help the live musical was that the first two were not very good. A big fault of The Sound of Music Live was the miscasting of Carrie Underwood as Maria. I know singing is important in musical theater, and you want the big star, but another big part is the acting. And with Peter Pan Live, personally, I don’t think it’s a strong show. But the main fault in the first two of the live musicals is that they felt staid. Yes it’s theater, but you are also making a television show. You don’t have to film it like it’s a pro-shot.
The first to really get that you were primarily making television was Grease Live. From the get-go it looked and felt different. That opening with Jessie J singing “Grease” all around the backlot was gold, and I can’t say enough about the dance at the gym. It was just so much fun. And after that success, the live musicals became more of a spectacle with bigger production values, and more importantly, they were just better productions.
But I guess ratings were down and eventually it just petered out. Which is a shame. Maybe it’s not something that you have to do every year. Maybe you could do it every other year, or just whenever you have something you really want to put on. I don’t think the live television musical is something that should go away completely.
I do have an idea of one a network can stage in 2027. Because, in 2027, it is the 70th anniversary of Rodgers and Hammertein's Cinderella. It was a musical that was written for television and staged live. And it was a star vehicle for Julie Andrews, so in the run up to the production, you can do a separate tribute to Julie Andrews. And maybe you could put together some kind of programming about the history of the Cinderella story, and include the different productions of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. Especially because it would also be the 30th anniversary of the 1997 television film adaptation. It would be a good way to honor the history of television, and musicals on television, by putting on this production. And it could be a Cinderella for a new generation.
There is a great legacy of the live television musical, all the way back to the early days of the medium. It’s not one that should be left behind.