How do you solve a problem like casting an iconic role in a remake of the most popular musical of all time? Hire Grammy Award-winning American Idol champ Carrie Underwood. Playbill reports the singer will take on the role of novice nun Maria in the NBC's live broadcast of The Sound of Music for prolific producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron.
"Speaking for everyone at NBC, we couldn't be happier to have the gifted Carrie Underwood take up the mantle of the great Maria von Trapp," says Robert Greenblatt, chairman of NBC Entertainment.
Maria, who leaves an Austrian convent to become governess to the children of a widowed Naval officer, is a plum role for any actress. The character was first played by theater great Mary Martin in the original Broadway production of the fact-based Rodgers and Hammerstein musical in 1960 and later by Julie Andrews in the Academy Award-winning 1965 film. The new production is expected to be broadcast during the holiday season of 2013.
Underwood previously appeared on an episode of the sitcom How I Met Your Mother and played a supporting role in the film Soul Surfer.
