Saturday, November 20, 2010

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?



15 comments:

CDoart said...

I just came over to your blog to thank you for discovering and commenting on mine.
But with "The Sound of Music" you really opened my heart. Your lovely and funny comparisons are great!
I did not know the story and the film when I was young. But my choir teacher once came to me and asked me to accompany the choir on the piano for this musical. It was a revelation for me and I still hold very fond memories. Thank you for reawakening them with your lovely post.

Phylly3 said...

@CDoart--Glad you came to visit! I have been meaning to publish this post for quite awhile now, but with all the developments on Spooks, I kept putting it off. The Sound of Music certainly brings back fond memories for me, I'm so pleased it did for you too!

Charleybrown said...

That's an interesting proposal to have Amy and RA pair up for the remake! I do like Amy and I'm enchanted by Enchanted! It goes without saying that Richard would be charming in absolutely any role (although I have to say that I'm less than thrilled about the Hobbit film).
It's great to hear that you have such fond memories of The Sound of Music and that your little guy put you in the same league with Dame Julie Andrews! Sing on!

Phylly3 said...

@Charleybrown--Ohhh, you like? Well, I just get these ideas, and had to put it out there... But really, any kind of musical with those two as the stars would be wonderful!
I'm not sure my son (who is no longer a "little" guy) would agree with his younger self **shrugs** but that won't stop me from singing! :O

Charlotte H. said...

I first watched "The Sound of Music" when I was about six years old. It's been my one of my favorite movies ever since, and I've seen it so many times I can recite it word for word.

I think I might go watch it right now...thanks for bringing back the memories!

Phylly3 said...

@Sarah P. - You can recite it? And I can sing it word for word! Sounds like we'd be a good team! LOL! You should check out Charleybrown's blog (the links are embedded) for some really great interviews and updates on the actors and real life people! Or...like you said, let's watch the movie! :)

Avalon said...

Momma has been ill and we watched the Sound of Music the other day, such special moments.

mulubinba said...

Loved the Sound of Music!! My OH and I met on stage singing the 16 going on 17 song ....lol!!! (Embarrassing now when I come to think of it). RA as Captain Von Trapp? Wow, I love the photos of RA as Captain Von Trapp :)

Traxy said...

Hey, RA as Captain von Trapp ... Now that would be pretty darn sweet! :D

Have a nice weekend!

RAFrenzy said...

Phylly, you are great. These two would make an excellent pair! I love the Sound of Music!!! I love Amy Adams too. And those manipulations are fantastic.

Did I ever tell you that I know the von Trapp family personally? Some of them anyway. Some of them live near me and some in Montana that I know. Seriously. But in particular, one of the children of Maria and the Captain (yeah, they had three children together) is a good friend of mine. She lives up in Vermont. She's old enough to be my mother. Actually, she's older than my mother, but she's one cool lady. If you have the 40th anniversary DVD, she's on there with her husband.

Phylly3 said...

@Avalon--So sorry to hear about your Mom being under the weather, but how sweet that you enjoyed watching this movie together. :)
@mulubinba--That is soo romantic!! I want to read the whole story behind that fateful meeting! I have always loved that song too! (Of course I can't sing it anymore unless I change the lyrics drastically!):)
@Traxy--It would very very sweet indeed!
@Frenz--Wow! A Von Trapp connection (for real) in RA land!! That is fascinating! I'd love to read an interview with her! Why don't we collect questions that you could ask her?! Amazing! :O

RAFrenzy said...

Well, I will do it, but not on RAFrenzy. She's very religious and would be horrified at being on that blog. LOL!

Anonymous said...

I love Sound of Music,and the original german version had a sequel with the family living in USA.They could made it back then,I don't know why they didn't since the movie was a sucess.They could make their lives now in america,I would LOVE having Amy Adams as Maria,she have that sweet and motherly look and can sing very very well.I don't know about the other characters,I always had a crush on Nicholas Hammond as Friedrich(he was cute and then turned handsome as a men)so I don't know if I can picture anyone but him as Friedrich.Elle Fanning would be great as Louisa,she and Heather Menzies have similar faces,what do you think?
Great post.

Anonymous said...

Oh and about the age,Amy will play the chick from Superman,that supposed to be way younger then her.She looks like in her 20s,I don't think age should be a problem since she look very young,even Charmian Carr was 21 and played the 16 year old Liesl haha

Anonymous said...

Was clicking around and found this. I think it would be great to have a remake of Sound of Music as you cast it! I love that movie, too, and grew up listening to the album and dancing around the living room.