The Sound of Music Live!
My brother and I never had proper grandparents like most do. We had a great Aunt and Uncle. She was 61 and he was 65 when I was born and though we called them Aunt and Uncle, in every sense of the word they were our grandparents. They doted on us like grandparents, he played with me and did puzzles with me like a grandfather. She shopped for me, worried about my education, and fed me like a grandmother. I swear, that woman could whip up a 7 course meal of mouthwatering delights in 15 minutes!!! I don't know how she did it. And you could never say or be a 'little bit hungry'. That might cause a smorgasbord. Holidays, forget about it!! It was a buffet!!
We all went home with a box of foil wrapped pieces of love and with every bite you knew that she made that for HER family....for YOU. She knew all our favourites and she made all of them, even if we all had a different favourite dessert, she didn't care, she'd make six!! But she loved it. She loved showing us HER love by cooking for us, buying us new clothes or shoes, driving us to extra-curricular activities. And I was in all state chorus, I had this practice, that play, this rehearsal and she would come back if it was a few hours, but if it was a two hour rehearsal, she'd bring a Redbook magazine and WAIT for me in the car!! At 10 you don't think "I have a sweet little petite, five foot nothing, 71 year old women waiting for me in a cold or hot car, just so I get my 'Alto One' parts -perfect-." Singing scales or learning new sheet music in the car on the ride back. Using her back yard to practice dance or gymnastics. You just think of yourself at that age. And she let you.
As I grew up and was 20, 21, 22, I had professions that required me to have a toned and good figure. So even though we lost my Uncle a few years before, I would drive to her house, park, jog around her nice neighborhood and she'd watch me doing laps from her porch and would come out with lemonade, hand me the glass, I would down it, she'd wave me on and go back inside to make us a salad for when my work out was over. I would eat a meal with her 4 or so nights a week and shower there then go to work. I knew she looked forward to it but....so did I. If a grandmother/grandparent is unconditional love, loyalty, standing up for you, defending you when you are defenseless and trying to shield you from the bad in the world and make sure you saw the good... My Great Aunt and Uncle were our Grandparents. She passed away right before I turned 25 and I still miss them both VERY, VERY much. Their house, for my brother and I, was stability, warmth, love, and 'home'. I know we have never been the same.
How does this connect me to "The Sound of Music"??
Being in their 70's, they didn't have many movies. I think my father probably bought them their VCR and starter movie, "Gone with the Wind". But my brother, the film nut and later film-maker (if you have worked out who my brother is by now, good for you) would always give them a movie for their birthdays, anniversaries, or Christmas. So they only had the 15 or so he got them that were family safe, nothing that would freak out a couple married since the Depression. I don't know who got them "The Sound of Music", but that was one of their 15 (maybe 18) movies.
I spent many weeks in the summer there, spring-break, and holiday breaks. But I would also eventually land on their couch when I got the flu. When sick, I needed constant care and with parents working, I had to be somewhere and she often insisted it be at her house. There she could feed a cold (and a fever LOL), give me medicine, keep me comfortable, and watch over me.
I was a reader, so I often had books, but with EVERY illness, she would bring out either 'Gone with the Wind' or 'The Sound of Music', because those were the only two movies that were so long that they took up two VHS tapes and would keep me entertained 3 or 4 hours instead of 90 minutes. So -now-, once every few years, I will come across one or the other on Telly and I have to stop and watch it. I can always picture the trash-bin on the floor beside the couch in case I got sick, the tissue box on my tummy, the cups of tea or hot cocoa she would bring me with toast if my stomach was bad and leave on a little tray beside me and it's a comforting memory. I can feel her bringing in a cool wash-cloth for my forehead if I had a bad fever or more blankets if I was cold. And on the TV it was ALWAYS either 1860 something in Georgia or 1930 something in Austria.
So I was already -thinking- of watching it when it was being teased or trailers would come on. I am not an American Idol fan, Carrie Underwood, or Country-Western fan. And though I LOVE musicals, this isn't one of my favourites for the songs, it's the *memories* that go with it that I love. THEN I discovered that 'Vampire Bill' from True Blood (we have the last two episodes to watch of Season Two, so you will get a review of that soon, don't worry) was playing Captain Von Trapp, so I just HAD to see it.
I was AMAZED that he looked YOUNGER last week by a decade than he did in the FIRST Season of True Blood which was what, 5 or 6 years ago?? We didn't know if that was by design..since 'Confederate Soldiers' aged prematurely and that's when Bill Compton became a Vampire...oh my goodness, I just realized that I watched either The Sound of Music -or- Gone with the Wind when sick at my Aunties...and now I am talking about a version of 'The Sound of Music' in which the male lead is USUALLY the male lead in a show where he is a VAMPIRE that was 'embraced' when he was a CONFEDERATE soldier. OMG, that is too funny!!
Also, I just watched 'American Masters' on Margaret Mitchell and discovered that for about a decade, until she died, she secretly gave out 25 scholarships a year at Houseman collage for black medical students... another review for another time, I guess.
Anyway, I realize this wasn't really a review. What I really wanted to know is if anyone else saw it and what were their thoughts on it plus, explain what drew me to see it as well. I liked that it wasn't a remake of the movie, it was the PLAY version, with the songs back in that were in the Play and taken out of the film version. (IIRC "I have Confidence" is the only song ADDED to the film. Sadly, the very last song Oscar Hammerstein EVER wrote was 'Edelweiss'. So that makes me tear up. The fact that he wrote that now iconic song and died, never seeing T.S.O.M. on stage with Mary Martin as Maria.)
Anyway, did anyone else watch it and if so what were your thoughts?
Zuz