Audra McDonald is being credited with ‘saving’ the live broadcast of The Sound of Music on NBC Thursday night. Starring Carrie Underwood in the lead role as Maria (played by Julie Andrews in the film version), McDonald outshone Underwood. But then again, Carrie Underwood isn’t an actress.

Audra McDonald has appeared on Broadway. In fact, the former Private Practice star (she played Dr. Naomi Bennett) is a Tony Award-winning actress. She shares the record for the biggest number of Tony Awards won with greats like Angela Lansbury and Julie Harris. It’s no wonder at all that she out-performed Carrie Underwood.

Carrie Underwood’s vocals in The Sound of Music were amazing. However her acting abilities were noticeably stilted and made for a long evening for viewers. There was almost no chemistry at all between her and Stephen Moyer in his role as Captain von Trapp.

Meanwhile Audra McDonald pulled off a flawless Mother Abbess, with both her acting skills and her vocals. She made seamless what Underwood left choppy–through no real fault of her own. It’s questionable as to why Carrie Underwood was even cast in a role like Maria in The Sound of Music. Yes, she has an incredible singing voice, but surely there are many more actresses with amazing vocals who could do both sides of such a role the justice it deserved.

Audra McDonald had Twitter abuzz–even via big name celebrities.

Ugh, @LauraBenanti & @AudraEqualityMc were SO good in "Sound of Music Live". Audra basically dropped the mic after "Climb Ev'ry Mountain".

— Jesse Tyler Ferguson (@jessetyler) December 6, 2013

If you had a chance to catch The Sound of Music-Live! on NBC Thursday night, do you agree that Audra McDonald carried the show? Or do you think Carrie Underwood–with her big name draw–was enough in the role of Maria to take credit for being the highlight of the show?

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