A little SoM thing

The Sound of Music and me go waaay back. It was the first (non-children's) record album I ever owned, given to me by my maternal grandmother who lived with us until she died just before my seventh birthday.  I remember singing the songs on the bus on my way to school.

I also remember when our local theatre showed the film they had seats roped off at the front for special townspeople. (That was the one and only time I ever saw such a thing!) Of course our town didn't have a theatre for very long after that, but I digress...
You may have also noticed a little reference to one of the songs from the album on my blog.  (On the tag cloud-- the title is: These are a few of my favourite things...

Julie Andrews was also very special to me. The Mary Poppins record was another of my favourites and I knew all the words to sing along. I actually wished to be just like Julie Andrews -- the way she could sing, her way with children, her cheeky, brave charming self -- that was the kind of person I aspired to be!

 I used to sing to my children at bedtime (after the bath and storytime) and my son especially enjoyed it.  The best compliment I have ever received from anyone in my life, was once when my little guy sighed after a particularly good rendition of ...probably "Feed the Birds", or perhaps it was "Stay Awake" and he said "Mom, your name should be Phyllis Andrews!" It still chokes me up! :)

So it was with great interest that I discovered through my blogger buddies that there was going to be a reunion of the complete cast of The Sound of Music for its 45th anniversary on the Oprah show. She was even having some of the actual Von Trapp family to sing on the show. "How exciting!" I thought, "I must remember to watch it!" Well, the show came and went....and I missed it!
Luckily Charleybrown (who is much more on the ball than me) has several wonderful posts all about it. Here is one of her posts over at Enchanted Serenity of Period Films. She even posted the Oprah episode, so now I have watched it too! Thanks Charleybrown!!

It actually occurred to me before I even heard of this milestone reunion, that perhaps The Sound of Music could be remade for the new century. Of course I love the original, but it might be quite exciting to imagine some modern actors in these iconic roles. For Julie's Maria Von Trapp, I could think of no one else but Amy Adams. She is my current favourite singing movie star. I loved her in Enchanted and Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. She has the same fresh faced beauty and joyful, sparkling personality as Julie Andrews and her voice is simply beautiful!
Now I realize that this is just a pipe dream of mine because in reality Amy Adams (born Aug. 20, 1974), and very youthful in appearance, would probably be considered too old for the part of Maria.  But please indulge me anyway...

Julie Andrews as Maria in the Austrian Alps

Amy Adams in Enchanted in Central Park

I can't help but see the similarities here. What do you think, hmmm?

 In Disney's Enchanted, Amy playing the part of Giselle,  begins as a cartoon character searching for her "true love" who is of course, a Prince and very charming.  But after she falls through a hole in her fairytale land, she comes up through a manhole into the middle of modern day New York city.  Her rescuer is an ordinary single parent father (Patrick Dempsey) who has relationship issues with his girlfriend. In this song, Giselle is trying to help him make up with his girlfriend.

What I love about this musical number is how natural Amy makes it seem to just stroll around singing and then get the rest of the world to join in. I have often wished the world would really work like this! Obviously Patrick Dempsey doesn't buy into it at first...love his lines! But by the end of the song, he is enjoying it in spite of himself.


The role of Maria Von Trapp is still a very coveted role as shown by the stiff competition for the stage part in the televised "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?" on BBC in 2006 and three years later in Canada on CBC. Here's the trailer for the British show:

Here's another someone with somewhat of a resemblance to Julie Andrews as Maria. I am not too sure that Danielle Denby-Ashe can warble a tune though!

Margaret Hale with similar hat

Maria with sun hat

You must be wondering by now, who I might pick for the role of Captain Von Trapp? Afterall, Christopher Plummer was just wonderful in this role -- tall, dark and handsome, with a brooding masculine charm, a witty sense of humour and even a nice singing voice! Sound like anyone else you know?


Luckily a very graphically talented blogger friend of mine consented to make me several photo manips that are very cleverly done. 

Christopher Plummer and Julie Andrews

Richard Armitage and Amy Adams

Apparently, according to Christopher Plummer's autobiography, his singing voice was dubbed for the movie, but this video proves that he sings very nicely indeed. If the video does not load properly, you can also watch it if you  click here.

Edelweiss - Sound of Music - Christopher Plummer's own voice from Mark on Vimeo.

Here are a couple more SoM things to think about....

Don't they make a lovely couple!

Even if it's not The Sound of Music, wouldn't these two be great in a musical?