Well, a double-post of some sort but you know it has to be done
.
We have had in Toronto the Sound of Music musical (as shown in London for the past few years
) for a couple of months. I wasn't too sure I wanted to go and see it for several reasons
- Maria Rainer has always been Julie Andrews for me and I was not sure I would appreciate the new one being biased you know
- the role was cast in an TV show comparable to Pop Idol and again I wasn't too sure... I tend to doubt the "common people" judgment when it comes to voices (although I know they did the same with Oliver earlier this year for the leading female role and the winner had an amazing voice)...
But after a difficult week for me, Tuesday when I got back from my singing lesson, my bf invited me for lunch and gave me an envelope. We were going to that very night show in the first balcony slightly to the right...
Amazing seats, the Royal Alexander Theatre is fantastic a hall and the show was awesome.
Really; amazing voices for all the characters (was moved to tears by the Mother Abbess she was brilliant), fantastic moving from film to stage (well technically it was first a musical then a movie but to me since I first saw the movie
). And I guess that the most amazing was the way they modernized the all thing... Baroness Schreider's role is more of supporting one, not just apparitions... so is that of Von Trapp's friend
... And the thing they did with the decors be it the house, the gardens or the final show was great although it did feel weird to be surrounded by red Swaziskas on the walls of the theatre... Really amazing.
I was at my singing teacher's show last Sunday and some people there said Sound of Music was cheesy and lame compared to the movie but I don't agree although I was biased against the show. And Mr Eari who isn't that fond of musicals really enjoyed the show too so that has to mean something. He found it better than the Lion King (which he loved and even researched on the net for info on costume design, casting...)
An amazing night for me that Tuesday