Last Sunday, I journeyed up to Hollywood to experience "The Sound of Music" singalong at the Hollywood Bowl. My two enthusiastic friends had coaxed me into joining them, but deep down, I feared the evening would really suck.
Little did I know what a blast it would be. Preceded by a costume contest, Melissa Peterman was the MC, assisted by the lovely Charmian Carr, best known as the eldest Von Trapp daughter, Liesel.
This contestant, dressed as Liesel, had her boyfriend shoot a photo of her with the real Liesel (well, as real as possible, considering there was no Liesel Von Trapp).
These two contestants came with "Brown paper packages tied up with string." I'll give you a minute to figure out the joke.
The winner of the contest were these imaginative tots dressed as the Oscars that the film won. The children told Melissa and Charmian that the gold lame came from their grandfather. Huh. That must be one very fun home!
The highlight of the pre-show was seeing all of the actresses who played the Von Trapp daughters together onstage. Kym Karath (Gretl), Debbie Turner (Marta), Angela Cartwright (Brigitta), Charmian Carr (Liesel), & Heather Menzies Urich (Louisa).
What a beginning; the aerial shot that expertly/seamlessly cuts to a closeup of Julie Andrews is sheer genius.
When "Edelweiss" was sung, the audience broke out their cell phones and lit up the hillside.
It was a beautiful sight to see.
Everyone loves to hate The Baroness. "Hisssssssssssssssssss…"
Whether you like the script or not, you can't argue that the lighting and design on this film are stupendous.
One of my favorite scenes: "Reverend Mother, I have sinned."
If this show ever comes to a location near you, I highly recommend it. Although I would find it difficult to think of a better venue than the famous Bowl itself. The image was crystal clear, and the audio literally shook the hillside.
To see more Hollywood Bowl photos, visit my Hollywood Bowl web page.
I still have never seen this movie! When I was in Salzburg years ago, half of the tour went something like this: "Over there is the gazebo from 'Sound of Music'." "There is the row of trees from the 'Do - a deer' sequence in 'Sound of Music'. " And so on, and so on. I had no idea what they were talking about.
ReplyDeleteSounds like fun, Dave! Did you wear a costume? Liederhosen (sp?), perhaps?
ReplyDeleteI think Disney tried doing something similar to this with a Mary Poppins sing-along at the El Capitan a few years back.
@Major. I remember the same thing from my trip there, I also was clueless, but my wife fixed that later and rented the video for me.
ReplyDeleteHollywood Bowl. Cool place, visited there once years ago during the day (not a show) and I was disappointed that the back wall was not knee-high, like I saw in some cartoon, where the pleated shell got smaller and smaller and smaller.
JG
Thanks for sharing this images from Sound of Music Sin-a-long 2011! I suppose it was amazing! Is Kym kissing Charmian on the lips in that picture? Haha!
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