Carrie Underwood to star in NBC’s broadcast of “The Sound Of Music”

How do you solve a problem like Maria? Try casting Carrie Underwood in the lead role.

In an unusual programming move, NBC plans to air a three-hour live broadcast of the beloved musical “The Sound of Music” during the 2013 holiday season, and has cast five-time Grammy winner Underwood in the starring role of Maria. The production will be based on the original Rodgers & Hammerstein Broadway musical, which differs a bit from the Oscar-winning 1965 film starring Julie Andrews. The theatrical version, which debuted on Broadway in 1959, won a Tony Award for best musical.

NBC is partnering for the new production with Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, the producing team for its Broadway-set musical series “Smash.” Their credits also include the film versions “Chicago” and “Hairspray,” as well as the upcoming “85th Annual Academy Awards.”

The role will find Underwood taking on such iconic songs as “The Sound of Music,” “My Favorite Things,” “Do-Re-Mi,” “The Lonely Goatherd,” “Sixteen Going On Seventeen (Reprise)” and “Edelweiss.”

Underwood made her acting debut with a role in the 2011 film "Soul Surfer."