the story of the persecution, crucifixion, and death of Jesus Christ - staged live in New Orleans and broadcast on Palm Sunday in 2016.
Perhaps you've forgotten FOX's Tyler Perry production of The Passion - i.e. The casting was pretty wonderful, though, with Moana's Auli?i Cravalho stepping into the role of Ariel, Queen Latifah as Ursula, Shaggy as Sebastian the crab, and John Stamos as the maniac French chef singing "Le Poisson." Still, the whole thing came off like a half-measure that wasn't confident enough to attempt an actual live musical, and for long stretches we were just… watching the movie. The Little Mermaid Live! (2019)Īsterisks abound for this ABC live musical, which was technically live and technically a musical but was more than anything else a fully costumed concert performance in front of a projection of the 1989 film The Little Mermaid on the Disney lot.
Broadway standouts like Kelli O'Hara, Christian Borle, and Taylor Louderman lent the production some much-needed pixie dust, street cred, but it wasn't enough to make Peter Pan Live! truly soar. Opposite Williams was Christopher Walken as Captain Hook, whose unhinged presence and bizarre line readings were what you'd expect (and even what we were looking forward to), but only served to accentuate the awkwardness of the live production. Like its predecessor, the 2014 production cast a grown woman to play Peter Pan - Girls star Allison Williams, but she was no Mary Martin. This production had some history behind it, as it was a nod to NBC's 1955 live production of Peter Pan, starring the iconic Mary Martin. Peter Pan Live! (2014)Īt the bottom of our list is NBC's horrendous staging of Peter Pan.
How will the little orphan's hard-knock production stack up against the live TV musicals that came before it? Ranked from worst to first, here's a look at each of the ten live TV musicals of the modern era: 10.
as Daddy Warbucks, plus Tituss Burgess, Nicole Scherzinger, and Megan Hilty filling in for a COVID-struck Jane Krakowski. Henson as Miss Hannigan and Harry Connick Jr. There have been plenty more that were faux-live musicals - including pre-taped productions of The Rocky Horror Picture Show on FOX and t he Grinch's pandemic spectacular just last year on NBC - and for that matter a number of promised productions that never came to pass (never forget Hair Live!, or the Jennifer Lopez version of Bye Bye Birdie that was not to be).īut this Wednesday NBC returns with Annie Live!, starring Taraji P. Since that first production of The Sound of Music, there have been ten proper live musicals on network TV. Often (but not always) arriving in time for the holiday season, the live TV musical has been a source of both delight and chaos on the network TV calendar since NBC revived the concept in 2013. This week sees the return of a tradition that, frankly, we hadn't realized we'd missed until we heard there was a new one coming: the live TV musical.