1 October, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Another week, another West End musical about a nanny. On Friday night I saw the Sound of Music. I’ve never seen it as a stage play but I love the film and like so many other hideous freaks out there, I can sing along with all the songs. I don’t know why I like this story and these songs so much. Maybe it’s because I grew up with it and it’s always been a part of my life. My mom loves it and I remember when we got our first VCR back in the 1970s, she actually bought the Sound of Music (on two tapes) and it was really expensive. I think it was the only film we owned and we watched it all the time.
In my early twenties I visited Salzburg and I went on the all-day “Sound of Music” bus tour which is the best! The only tourists who take this tour are from America, Britain, Australia and Japan. On the tour, you learn that virtually the entire population of Austria has a pathological hatred of The Sound of Music. Well, that’s not surprising given that the story is about a bunch of Hitler-lovin’ Austrian loonies who run an innocent singing family right out of town.
Though I am a major SoM fan, I’ve yet to attend the sing-along at the Prince Charles Cinema. Shameful! I must book my tickets. I did, however, attend an anniversary screening of the film here in London once and the woman who played Leisl was there.
So you see, I’m hardcore SoM, baby.
Given my SoM credentials, you can imagine how excited I was to see this play. I had really built it up in my mind and, well, you can probably guess where this is heading. The play turned out to be only good, not great. It didn’t make me go “wow” like other musicals I’ve seen. There are a few reasons for my devastating judgment, but there were a lot of things to like too.
Connie Fisher in the role of Maria was outstanding. For those who don’t know, she won the role of Maria through an American Idol/X-factor type TV show judged by Andrew Lloyd Webber, who produces the musical. She’s definitely doing a Julie Andrews impression, but that’s really what most people want. Overall, the songs were wonderful — especially those sung by the woman playing Mother Superior, who has a spine-tingling operatic voice.
I think that many of the other actors were miscast, particularly Captain von Trapp [no charisma], the von Trapp children [annoying, not charming, particularly Leisl] and Baroness Schraeder [not icy enough]. I also felt the sets were boring. I realize you can’t reproduce the Alps on a West End stage, but that weird green flying saucer thing that was supposed to be a mountain was just ugly.
The London Palladium is terribly uncomfortable. This is a problem in many West End (and Broadway) theatres. They were built a long time ago when people must have had much shorter legs. Also, the “cheap” seats (not really cheap) in the upper circle gave me the sense that I was watching the Sound of Music being performed outside an airplane window — while I was flying at 37,000 feet. I don’t have a problem with heights in general, but even before the play started I was beginning to feel quite dizzy. Luckily, there were empty seats in the front row of the upper circle so I moved down.
Finally, the major problem with the play is that it didn’t feel like a play in its own right, but tried to coast by on the audience’s love and knowledge of the film. Mary Poppins was far from perfect, but it felt like a real play, not a Cliff Notes version of the movie. In the Sound of Music, some of this couldn’t be helped — the film features Salzburg in all its Alpine glory and the play cannot reproduce this. Still, part of this is the fault of the writers and producers, who spent no time on character development. It seemed that Captain von Trapp fell in love with Maria after meeting her once or twice. There were big leaps. The best parts of the play by far took place in the cloistered world of the convent with Maria and the nuns, who were all fabulous singers.
One thing I liked more about the play was the increased focus on the Nazi occupation and the political component. From the Guardian: “It is easy to sneer at the incorporation of the anschluss into a show about nuns and children but, in fact, the Nazi occupation dominates the second half…it is a reminder of the opposition to any form of oppression that runs through all Rodgers and Hammerstein’s work.”
It was startling to see swastika flags suddenly swinging from the rafters in the theatre towards the end of the show, but most people seemed to enjoy booing the Nazi stormtroopers. In the play, Captain von Trapp breaks up with his fianceé because of her views towards the Nazis; in the movie (if memory serves), Baroness Schraeder left Georg because she could tell he was in love with Maria (and she also hated the kids in a perfect movie villain way). I prefer the way it unfolded in the play.
I’ve probably given the impression that I didn’t like the show, but I did. I just had big expectations, particularly given that Andrew Lloyd Webber is involved. I might give it another chance. You can get day tickets — front row seats for £20. This requires lining up outside the theatre on the day of the show at 8:00 a.m. and waiting for hours, which may just be the ultimate in SoM devotion.
Tags: The Sound of Music
Anglofille said @ 1:47 pm | arts & leisure |
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Rebecca Says:
October 1st, 2007 at 11:04 pmI am sure you would die to know… I have *never* seen Sound of Music.
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Me either!
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I’M SPEECHLESS!
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LOL! (You- speechless???)
So when we see one another during the holidays, you’ll have to introduce me to this wonderful film!
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Rebecca Says:
October 2nd, 2007 at 10:08 amI’m glad I’m not the only one then! I’ve gotten a lot of flack for it over the years, but the movie has never looked interesting to me. I am really not fond of the older musicals, so I think I just all out avoided it from the start.
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Gadfleye Says:
October 2nd, 2007 at 3:32 pmEver see the now defunct television show The Nanny? It was a spoof of Sound of Music.
Anyhow, there is a famous scene which was cut from the original version of Sound of Music (I think it’s been restored in the 40th Anniversary Director’s Cut) where little Friedrich, tormented by his father’s Nazi Party connections, deems himself The Angel of Purification and goes on a murderous shooting spree massacring the entire Von Trap family in a finale for the ages. Apparently the scene was replaced with the “happy” ending because the studio felt it would be less disturbing to chilren.
Hope I didn’t spoil the ending for anyone.
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Oh Gadfleye, you know I love your dark side!
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Now that I know the ending, I guess I don’t have to see this musical after all!!!
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Anita Says:
October 2nd, 2007 at 9:36 pmI’m shocked that the Sound of Music wasn’t a staple in your households. Like the Wizard of Oz, there are some things that you just must revisit annually.
