Carrie Underwood’s Live Sound of Music — Dec 5

Posted on December 2, 2013 at 8:00 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaNEZkv87FI

Carrie Underwood stars as Maria von Trapp in NBC’s live broadcast of “The Sound of Music” on December 5. Stephen Moyer of “True Blood” plays the Captain, “Smash’s” Christian Borle plays Max, and, thrillingly, Tony winner Audra McDonald plays the Mother Abbess. This is a good time for families to try out the old-fashioned concept of watching everything together in the same room at the same time while it is actually being broadcast. Enjoy!

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Musical Television

Happy Birthday, Maria Von Trapp

Posted on January 26, 2013 at 1:45 pm

Julie Andrews, who played Maria Von Trapp in “The Sound of Music,” appears with Maria herself, who was born this day in 1905.

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The Real Story

Interview: Sarah McCarthy of ‘The Sound of Mumbai’

Posted on November 23, 2011 at 12:42 pm

“The Sound of Mumbai,” premiering tonight on HBO2, is a touching documentary about the most unlikely of productions, a concert performance of “The Sound of Music” featuring the “slumdog” children of one of the poorest communities in India. These children have so little contact with the world outside that they had to be shown a photograph of a mountain to understand what “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” was about. But they thrilled to the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein and the opportunity to perform in front of an audience. I spoke to director Sarah McCarthy about making the film and a young singer named Anish whose confidence and spirit are especially endearing.

Does everyone in the audience cry when they see this movie?

Lots of people do. The sniffling in the theater when Ashish sings his solo, and then others hold out until the end.

It was interesting that the conductor was an Austrian. It was a culture shock for him. How did he feel about working with songs set in Austria but written by Americans, about a family that escaped from Austria?

He was invited because of the connection with “The Sound of Music” and he really didn’t know what to expect. He was kind of overwhelmed by the whole experience of the slums and running around with Ashish and seeing how the kids live, about how they sleep on the floor and about how one of them was nearly sold for adoption and he couldn’t really believe it. He’s talking about going back in a year or so. It was an extraordinary and overwhelming experience for him.

I think Austrians have mixed feelings about the show, “The Sound of Music” because they were compliant with the Nazis. The first production they have ever put on in Salzburg is going on at the moment. For a long time they rejected it and it’s only now that the new generation is embracing what is, after all, the biggest musical of all time.

How did you come to this project?

My producer, Joe Walters, sometimes conducts the Bombay Chamber Orchestra and was always at me me to make a film about it and I thought that sounded really boring. He sent me the announcements of the concerts they were doing and one was about children from the slums singing songs from “The Sound of Music.” My ears really pricked up because I thought how strange to hear these iconic songs that make you think of mountains and green space and rivers sung by these kids — that audio/visual disconnect would be quite cool for your brain to try to make sense of. Off we went to India and made a trailer and fell deeply and instantly in love with every one of the kids. We came back to London to try to raise money, failed, and went back anyway, with the tiniest most ridiculous budget, running out of money on the shoot and working off of credit cards. It wasn’t until we showed the film at the Toronto Film Festival and sold it to HBO that I could pay our cameraman.

What is your background?

I’m Australian and went to film school in Australia and then came to London and worked in development at the BBC and an independent channel. I made a movie called “Murderers on the Dance Floor” about the 1500 inmates at the maximum security prison who performed to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and became an internet sensation. The prison governor is really deranged. They practiced 8 or 9 hours a day. He also had them do Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby!” Then I made a film for the BBC about a 77-year-old “killer granny” who killed her husbands for the life insurance money. I’ve just come back from a month-long shoot in Russia and the US about an American family that adopted three Russian children.

How did Ashish become so confident?

It comes from his family unit. He’s genetically engineered to be that way but his mom and dad and brothers and sister are very close-knit. Those places can be dark and dangerous but they all live on top of one another and have to learn to be friends. There’s a real community there and the kids thrive on that. I was blown away by how socially sophisticated these kids were. These kids have a close family but not a safe place to live or enough to eat. The kids in my next film have had a safe place to live but no family ties or community. Ashish’s school is also very encouraging, though they’re not academically rigorous. It’s pretty tough to be on such minimal resources. That is the biggest struggle for us. We’re interested in using the film to further these kids’ education. We’re working with the school to raise funds to put these kids through university but they also need to catch-up support to be able to do the work. We talked about putting him in a different school but decided it would be too tough for him. They don’t have the basics — a quiet place to study, a structured lesson plan, a desk. You can have all the determination and commitment in the world and it is still really hard.

Ashish has moved to a better place. He now lives in an apartment with a door that locks and a tap he shares only with about 30 people instead of 300.

How did you gain the trust of the kids so they could be so candid with you?

I have two younger brothers. And I love kids. I love hanging out with them. Ashsish and I became friends very quickly and played a lot of games. He almost became part of our crew. I’m in touch with him all the time. We Skype at the school principal’s office and I remind him not to show off and brag all the time. But he remembers that concert very clearly. He snuck into his neighbor’s apartment and watched it three times in a row.

HBO’s teachers guide is available for download.

The Sound of Music

Posted on November 8, 2010 at 8:00 am

A+

Lowest Recommended Age:	Kindergarten - 3rd Grade
MPAA Rating:	G
Profanity:	None
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Tension as the family escapes, Nazi threat
Diversity Issues:	A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters:	1965
Date Released to DVD:	November 9, 2010
Amazon.com ASIN:	B003VS0CX8

The Sound of Music is out in a gorgeous new 45th anniversary edition Blu-Ray/DVD combo. The beloved family musical is the fictionalized story of Maria von Trapp (Julie Andrews). It is an outstanding family film, filled with glorious music (“Do Re Me,” “My Favorite Things,” “Eidelweiss,” So Long, Farewell”), a real-life love story right out of Jane Eyre, a courageous moral choice, and a heart-stopping escape.

As a postulant, Maria is “not a credit to the Abbey.” While she means well, she is constantly in trouble. The wise Mother Abbess sends her away to be the governess for the seven children of a stern widower, Captain von Trapp. Obedient to their disciplinarian father, the children are uncooperative with Maria until she wins them over with her own high spirits, as well as her kindness. She also shares her love of music, and her joy in the beauty around them, and they become devoted to each other.

The Captain’s friend Max (Richard Hadyn) hears the children sing, and wants them to perform at the local festival. But the Captain refuses, thinking it is foolish and inappropriate. Meanwhile, the Captain is considering marriage to a titled and wealthy woman, and his oldest daughter, Leisel, is beginning a romance with Rolfe. And as the Nazis threaten control of Austria, the Captain knows that his military skill and experience will lead them to him. He knows that they will ask him to join them, and that they will not accept a negative answer.

Maria, realizing that she has fallen in love with the Captain, runs back to the Abbey. But the Mother Abbess counsels her to follow her heart, and she returns to the children. The Captain realizes that he loves Maria, and they are married in the Abbey. They return from their honeymoon to find that an invitation to join the Nazi navy is waiting.

Max has put the children on the festival program, hoping the Captain would relent. He forbids them to participate and makes plans to escape. But when the Nazis arrive to stop him, he explains that they are just on their way to perform at the festival. The Nazis escort them to the festival, where they win first prize, and use their encore number to camouflage their escape. On their way out of Austria, they are betrayed by Rolfe, now a Nazi, but protected by the nuns in the Abbey, and they leave for Switzerland, over Maria’s beloved mountains.

Discussion: A number of people in this movie must make important choices when they face challenges that are completely unexpected. Maria and the Captain both thought they had established what their lives would be like. Maria planned to be a nun, and to live in the Abbey all her life. The Captain expected to continue with the life he had, a loving but stern father to his children and a respected aristocrat and military leader. His family had always lived in Austria, and he expected his children and grandchildren would live there, too. Maria’s unexpected challenge comes from within herself. She is lucky to have the wise Mother Abbess to help her examine her heart to learn that she is better suited for a life outside the Abbey.

The Captain is used to being in control. It may be that his regimental approach to the children is as much prompted by a need to feel in greater control following the loss of his wife as it is by his military training. His original inclination to marry the Baroness seems to be led by his head rather than his heart; it feels more like an alliance than a romance. But he finds that he cannot resist Maria’s warm and loving heart.

Just as all of this is happening, every aspect of the life they had known in Austria is challenged by the Nazis. Unlike his friends, the Captain does not have the option of making a slight accommodation to the Nazis. He must fight for them, if he wants to keep his home. He gives up every material possession he has to get away, preserving freedom for himself and his family.

Everyone in Austria has to make a choice when the Nazis arrive. Rolfe becomes so committed to the Nazis that he is willing to betray the young woman he cared for. Even the nuns in the Abbey must make a choice. They decide to protect the Von Trapps and impede the Nazis, risking their own freedom. Children, especially young children, will need some background to understand what these choices involved and what the risks were. It is also worthwhile to discuss with them the sweet song that the Captain sings to Maria, telling her that he must have done something good in his past to deserve her love and the happiness she has given him.

Questions for Kids:

· Why does Maria have a problem fitting in at the Abbey?

· What does the Captain learn from Maria?

· The same people wrote the song about “My Favorite Things” and “Whistle a Happy Tune” in “The King and I.” How are they alike? (Think about when it is that Maria sings the song.) If you were going to write the song, what would be on your list of favorite things?

· What is the difference between the way the Captain, Max, and Rolfe react to the Nazis?

· What does the song, “Climb Every Mountain” mean?

Connections: Sister Sophia is played by Marni Nixon, a rare onscreen appearance by the off-screen singing voice from “My Fair Lady,” “West Side Story” and “The King and I.”

Activities: Kids who enjoy this movie can read more about the real-life family in one of the books written by Maria von Trapp, and can visit the Trapp family’s lodge in Stowe, Vermont. Find Austria, Germany, and Switzerland on a map but do not try to trace the family’s escape route. If they had climbed over the mountains they took in the movie, they would have ended up in Germany.