The Sound of Music & You Can't Go Home Again

Although I must say I didn't watch it all, I was curious to see Carrie Underwood's live theater version of The Sound of Music last night. There's no doubt, Carrie has a beautiful voice; but in my opinion, the entire performance just came off a bit flat.  For those who have never seen the original movie with Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, I'm sure you were impressed with the elaborate set designs and musical talent of all the players. But for me it paled in comparison with the original Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. Yes, I know it was theater, not a remake of the movie. And, yes, it's impressive that it was performed live.  But you just can't improve on perfection...or my perception of perfection from a long-ago memory.

It was 1965 and I was in elementary school...days when people dressed up to go shopping or to the movies. Dad and Mom took my best friend, Pam, and me to see The Sound of Music at the Carolina Theater in downtown Charlotte.  It must have been near Christmas, because Pam and I wore matching outfits...red corduroy skirts and jackets, white blouses with a Peter Pan collars, and gold circle pins. Just so you know...my memory is good, but a photograph captured it in time. It was my best outfit and I wore it for my school picture that year.  In its day, the Carolina Theater was the most elaborate movie house in all of Charlotte, maybe in the entire state of North Carolina.  So, going there was a big deal for me. There were ushers in matching uniforms, lush carpets and seats, swagged velvet curtains, soaring ceilings, painted murals, and ornate fixtures.  It was a day I will never forget.

As the velvet curtains separate, the movie begins from the perspective of a bird soaring over the mountain peaks and valleys of Austria.  And then...there she is..arms outstretched to the heavens with the voice of an angel.. singing, "The hills are alive with the sound of music.  With songs they have sung for a thousand years!" It still gives me goosebumps.

The movie was extremely popular, so the songs were taught to school children everywhere.  In junior high chorus we performed Climb Every Mountain at our spring concert.  If you lived in that era, you probably know the lyrics to every single song.  I've sung Favorite Things and the Do Ra Mi song to my grandchildren.  So...you see, the Sound of Music and I have a history.

Sadly, Julie Andrews can no longer sing after a botched operation to remove nodules from her vocal chords. The Carolina Theater, burned out, empty, and sitting derelict since the 1970's, still waits for funds for restoration to her former glory. I am no longer a wide-eyed preteen, with a world of possibilities ahead of me.  I am now a wife, mother, and grandmother.  I know, as did Thomas Wolfe, "you can never go home again".  But I am okay with that.  I am satisfied with my memories.  So...don't mess with them!

Copyright 2013  Laney's Musings