Growing up, there was very little we were permitted to watch on TV. Love Boat, Joker's Wild, soap operas - anything like that was strictly prohibited. The TV was never, I mean NEVER on on Sundays -- even if you were sick. But come to think of it, Dad *did* allow me to watch Wonder Woman and Dukes of Hazzard. It wasn't until I was grown that I realized why. "That Linda Carter is SO TALENTED", he said when he saw her singing on a variety show. Crack me up! (My husband loves to bust me about that.) The record player was more commonly used than the TV when I was young. Well, that and the 8-track player. And The Sound of Music LP played and played and played until it gave out. And back then, remember when the anticipation of your favorite movie coming on around Christmastime practically killed you? And when it finally aired, everyone was glued to the set and mom would graciously let me stay up a little late that night to see it. (Incidentally, have you ever noticed how infrequently you want to watch your favorite movie when you own it on DVD??) We would wait all year for The Wizard of Oz, The Sound of Music and countless holiday Peanuts cartoons. But still, our family's love of The Sound of Music greatly outweighed that of Charlie Brown and his cronies because, let's face it, we were musical. My Pop-Pop was a drummer (turned preacher) and my mother was a self-taught organist/pianist. (She still is, by the way. Every Sunday since she was a teen.) So of course I grew up around music. I cut my teeth on Bill & Gloria Gaither's records, The Hawaiians, Evie and of course the nerve-wracking shrills of Vestal Goodman. (Sorry, Vesty.) In hopes of grooming me for performances at The Academy of Music and later study at Carnegie Mellon, mom guided me to flute lessons (which I quit), piano lessons (couldn't stand them) and lastly - trying to unleash my inner rocker, guitar lessons (dropped out). But I never gave up singing. My parents plopped me on the fireplace hearth, gave me a hairbrush (as my mic) and had me practice for anyone that would listen. I sang often at church and even got my start in weddings when I was just 4. So when I had the chance to audition for The Sound of Music play at my [very small] school in 8th grade (was it 8th?), boy was my heart broken when I didn't make the cut. Really? Not even a nun??? Hmph!! Fast forward to modern day... Our honeymoon in 2000. What a thrill to be able to see exactly where The Sound of Music was filmed while we visited Salzburg, Austria and took the Salzburg tour. What a fantastic experience! We boarded a little van with "Hans" as our guide. We were excited to meet the one other family of four that was with us on the tour. How fun to meet people from all over the world when you travel. (Yeah. So much for that. They were our neighbors from Valley Forge.) Hans played the (cassette) movie soundtrack as we tooled through the moutains of Austria and I finally had my chance to belt out ♪ ♫ "The hills are aliiiivvveee, with the sound of muuuuuuuusic...." ♪ ♫ for a captive - VERY captive - audience. We went inside the church where the Captain and Maria were married. And looky here! I was able to find this fun photo of me and my husband in front of the gazebo where Rolf & Liesl sang and danced to "I am 16". Since we're not good at throwing things out at our house (ahem!) my husband was able to unearth the VHS version of the movie so my boys could decide whether they liked it enough to go see it live at our school. You see, the same school that robbed me of my dream of ever performing in a costume made out of recycled curtains is the same school where we send our boys today. The (very gifted) High School drama department is now running The Sound of Music play and our boys want to go. I'm planning to obnoxiously sing every song word-for-word from my seat to finally get my long awaited revenge. I do find it very sweet to hear my 4 year old singing "My favorite things" under his breath while he zooms his racecars around the family room floor. And both boys have been enjoying watching the Von Trapp children sing and dance. They giggle when they see adults dressed up in "married clothes" (tuxedos and fancy gowns) floating around the dance floor to the Austrian Waltz. What a delight and what a fine tradition. ♪ ♫ "The sun has gone to bed and so must I. Goodbye....goodbye...goodbye!!!!" ♪ ♫ COME SEE DC'S THE SOUND OF MUSIC. SHOW TIMES AND TICKETS HERE: https://www.dccs.org/pagecalpop.cfm?p=1&verbose=29605&LockSSL=true
Thursday, February 28, 2013
My Sound of Music Revenge
Growing up, there was very little we were permitted to watch on TV. Love Boat, Joker's Wild, soap operas - anything like that was strictly prohibited. The TV was never, I mean NEVER on on Sundays -- even if you were sick. But come to think of it, Dad *did* allow me to watch Wonder Woman and Dukes of Hazzard. It wasn't until I was grown that I realized why. "That Linda Carter is SO TALENTED", he said when he saw her singing on a variety show. Crack me up! (My husband loves to bust me about that.) The record player was more commonly used than the TV when I was young. Well, that and the 8-track player. And The Sound of Music LP played and played and played until it gave out. And back then, remember when the anticipation of your favorite movie coming on around Christmastime practically killed you? And when it finally aired, everyone was glued to the set and mom would graciously let me stay up a little late that night to see it. (Incidentally, have you ever noticed how infrequently you want to watch your favorite movie when you own it on DVD??) We would wait all year for The Wizard of Oz, The Sound of Music and countless holiday Peanuts cartoons. But still, our family's love of The Sound of Music greatly outweighed that of Charlie Brown and his cronies because, let's face it, we were musical. My Pop-Pop was a drummer (turned preacher) and my mother was a self-taught organist/pianist. (She still is, by the way. Every Sunday since she was a teen.) So of course I grew up around music. I cut my teeth on Bill & Gloria Gaither's records, The Hawaiians, Evie and of course the nerve-wracking shrills of Vestal Goodman. (Sorry, Vesty.) In hopes of grooming me for performances at The Academy of Music and later study at Carnegie Mellon, mom guided me to flute lessons (which I quit), piano lessons (couldn't stand them) and lastly - trying to unleash my inner rocker, guitar lessons (dropped out). But I never gave up singing. My parents plopped me on the fireplace hearth, gave me a hairbrush (as my mic) and had me practice for anyone that would listen. I sang often at church and even got my start in weddings when I was just 4. So when I had the chance to audition for The Sound of Music play at my [very small] school in 8th grade (was it 8th?), boy was my heart broken when I didn't make the cut. Really? Not even a nun??? Hmph!! Fast forward to modern day... Our honeymoon in 2000. What a thrill to be able to see exactly where The Sound of Music was filmed while we visited Salzburg, Austria and took the Salzburg tour. What a fantastic experience! We boarded a little van with "Hans" as our guide. We were excited to meet the one other family of four that was with us on the tour. How fun to meet people from all over the world when you travel. (Yeah. So much for that. They were our neighbors from Valley Forge.) Hans played the (cassette) movie soundtrack as we tooled through the moutains of Austria and I finally had my chance to belt out ♪ ♫ "The hills are aliiiivvveee, with the sound of muuuuuuuusic...." ♪ ♫ for a captive - VERY captive - audience. We went inside the church where the Captain and Maria were married. And looky here! I was able to find this fun photo of me and my husband in front of the gazebo where Rolf & Liesl sang and danced to "I am 16". Since we're not good at throwing things out at our house (ahem!) my husband was able to unearth the VHS version of the movie so my boys could decide whether they liked it enough to go see it live at our school. You see, the same school that robbed me of my dream of ever performing in a costume made out of recycled curtains is the same school where we send our boys today. The (very gifted) High School drama department is now running The Sound of Music play and our boys want to go. I'm planning to obnoxiously sing every song word-for-word from my seat to finally get my long awaited revenge. I do find it very sweet to hear my 4 year old singing "My favorite things" under his breath while he zooms his racecars around the family room floor. And both boys have been enjoying watching the Von Trapp children sing and dance. They giggle when they see adults dressed up in "married clothes" (tuxedos and fancy gowns) floating around the dance floor to the Austrian Waltz. What a delight and what a fine tradition. ♪ ♫ "The sun has gone to bed and so must I. Goodbye....goodbye...goodbye!!!!" ♪ ♫ COME SEE DC'S THE SOUND OF MUSIC. SHOW TIMES AND TICKETS HERE: https://www.dccs.org/pagecalpop.cfm?p=1&verbose=29605&LockSSL=true
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I would love to hear your one-woman "Sound of Music" show ...I would even pay for it!
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