The Sound of Music Cast Reunion
Well, ooh-la-la. Today is the first reunion of the cast in 45 years. Forty-five years! When Oprah announces that the cast, including Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, will be on the show the audience screams with glee. Lovely.
In a clip, we learn that The Sound of Music began with an autobiography written in 1949 written by the real Maria von Trapp. It turned into a Broadway musical , and then became a movie. At the time, Christopher Plummer, who played Captain von Trapp, was a Hollywood bad boy who reluctantly took the role. Julie Andrews was fresh off of her role as Mary Poppins and considered perfect for the role.
Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer
Oprah welcomes Julie and Christopher into the studio, and the happiness is infectious. Oprah asks if the movie means as much to them as it has to the rest of us, and both Julie and Christopher say yes. Oprah asks about their chemistry, and Julie says she was very intimidated by him, and he says he'd had a crush on her since seeing her on Broadway in My Fair Lady. He says it was a bit of a tease, because Julie, then 28, had just had a child and he had to stay far away from her.
We see the famous clip from the movie in which we meet the children, in which the captain whistles them into the room, and Oprah asks Christopher to do the honors. He quips that it's been sterilized in whiskey and then whistles the actors who played the children onto the stage. [For a full cast list, go here]
Julie Andrews & Oprah: One on One
The world first heard Julie Andrews at 13, singing in London. By 19 she was on Broadway, and in 1964 she won the Academy Award for her title role in Mary Poppins. After 3 decades in movies and on stage, she had to have throat surgery in 1997, permanently losing her singing voice.
Oprah asks about the iconic opening scene in which Julie is singing on a mountaintop about the hills being alive. Julie remembers it vividly, and we learn that they did several takes of her doing the twirl; each time, a jet helicopter would circle around her and the sheer force of the wind gust would knock her to the ground. She had mud and hay in her mouth and would try to stay on her feet but then, again, blam, to the ground she'd go! It makes me want to watch the movie and see if her dress looks dirty :)
Next, Oprah inquires about Julie's singing voice. She says that she had a "freak" voice, was a bit of a child prodigy as young as age 7, but quickly realized that her voice was a gift because it gave her an identity. When asked about the surgery in 1997, Julie tells us that she developed a muscular striation on her vocal chords. The surgery to have the tissue removed wasn't successful and her voice didn't return. Oprah asks about the loss, and Julie says that she was in denial for about a year, thinking she was healing slowly. There is no cure, and though she can sing a few low notes--she jests with Oprah that she can "sing the hell out of Old Man River if you really want me to"--her upper registry sounds like nails on a chalkboard.
Upon being asked if it was the greatest loss of her life, Julie replies that it was certainly a great loss and she went into a long decline. The miracle, though, she says is that just as Maria says in the movie, "When God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window." That was when she began writing children's books with her daughter Emma, and their books are very successful. Her daughter said to her that she re-found her voice.
Christopher Plummer
Having been called one of the greatest actors ever, Christopher Plummer has been in more than 100 films since appearing in The Sound of Music. Much about his life can be read of in his "self-penned memoir" (Oprah's words), In Spite of Myself. At 80, he continues to be "one of the busiest and most sought after actors of our time." He jokes with Oprah that he has avoided ever doing an interview with this group on purpose. He tells Oprah that his role as the captain wasn't exactly Hamlet. Oprah asks if it wasn't deep or provocative enough and he tells her it wasn't human enough, that there wasn't enough humor in it.
Plummer tells Oprah that some of his behavior at the time was unconscionable, and that he went on a three week drinking binge around the Austrian countryside with some of his friends. Upon returning to the set, he was told that they had to let out his costume because he was "fatter than Orson Welles." After the cynicism, though, he was asked to watch the movie some years later with some children, and he says that upon watching it he realized that it's one of the greatest movie musicals ever made.
Ultimate Viewer Testimonies
Oprah has some viewers who love the movie, so we see clips of them. One woman describes singing I Have Confidence before major events, from job interviews to her wedding. Another tells how the movie inspired her to become a nun. A woman born completely deaf describes how, after a cochlear implant operation, the first music she ever heard was Julie Andrews singing The Hills are Alive in The Sound of Music and how music is now her favorite thing and she now works mentoring sign language interpreters in the theater . A man describes being dragged to watch the movie by his wife; after being deployed to Vietnam seven months later, he rewatched the movie 127 times during his year in Vietnam. He said he could go to another world, to the part of him that was free with no worries, woes, or concerns, for 3 hours.
The von Trapp Children
Oprah asks Charmian Carr, who played Liesl, if she was actually 16 going on 17. Carr replies that she was 21, but the best part was that she was an adult and got to stay in the same hotel as Christopher Plummer, to which everyone laughs. Oprah asks if she learned anything from him, and Carr says she learned how to drink. On a more serious note, though he seriously did teach her how to drink, he played piano and sang every night, which she says was wonderful.
We learn that the actress who played Gretl, Kym Karath, couldn't swim and was terrified in the "falling out of the rowboat" scene. Duane Chase, who played Kurt, talks about how wonderful it was for him to be on set and they talk about loving the music themselves. Julie says that they first shot Favorite Things together and everyone seems a bit wistful.
In clips we learn about issues like growth spurts (the boy who played Friedrich, Nicholas Hammond grew 6 inches in 6 months!) and teeth falling out for the littlest girls. In the studio the actors joke about mischief, like switching out people's breakfast orders hanging on their hotel room doors. They became like a real family after spending 9 months together and all still keep in touch to this day.
Life After The Sound of Music
The children each went different ways; Angela Cartwright, who played Briggita, went on to star in Lost in Space, a popular television show in the 60s. Heather Menzies-Urich, who played Louisa, tried to "shake-off" her squeaky clean image and did a Playboy centerfold, a ploy which she says didn't work. We learn that the actors and actresses who played the von Trapp children have a "treasure trove" of memorabilia that they've held onto and so they are writing a book, The Seven Children, that they plan to release next year. The plan is to address the many questions they've been asked for 45 years about what it was like to be on the movie.
Real von Trapp Children Singers
After a final break, we see a clip from 1973 in which the real Maria von Trapp appeared on a show called The Julie Andrews Hour and they sang Edelweiss together. Today, the real great-grandchildren of Maria and the captain are still singing together, and Oprah welcomes 19-year-old Amanda, 22-year-old Sophia, 20-year-old Melanie, and 16-year-old Justin to the stage. They perform Edelweiss to a montage of clips from the movie interspersed with home video clips from the set playing behind them.
Oprah thanks them and the cast, announces that a special Blu-ray edition of The Sound of Music is being released on November 2 and we're done!
Gospel Filter Review
This is such a great opportunity to point out why I am doing a blog like this. The whole point is to look at what culture pumps out, to filter it through the Gospel, and pick out redemptive themes. For one, as I've said before, it's inspiring to see people whom God has gifted and they are great at something. Even if they don't use their talent for Jesus' glory, nor ascribe credit to Him, we can still enjoy their craft and admire the God who has given us such beauty in the world around us.
The talent in the singing and dancing, the masterful story telling, the inspiration of storyline itself, and the beauty of the natural creation combine to make The Sound of Music a classic piece of art that millions have enjoyed. It's a great opportunity, too, for parents to talk to their children (or for people to pray through themselves!) about what they might do in the face of evil and what it looks like right now to ask Jesus to reveal hatred in our heart toward others, so we can repent and love others with His love.
Doing this blog is also a good reality check, a reminder about the depravity of man. It was sad to hear that the actress who played Liesl, who seemed so innocent and sweet in the movie, drank and basically lusted after an older Hollywood bad boy. And Plummer himself seemed like such a virtuous man, someone maybe many young girls wish their own father had been like, in the role of Captain von Trapp. To hear of his binge drinking, and likely promiscuity (in other words, using women for pleasure and not loving them as daughters created in the image of their Father God), just made me sad. It's a reminder to all of us to never put our hopes in humans, but to remember that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, even celebrities who on screen seem like such great role models.
Our hope lies in the verses linked above that precede the one I quoted, which I'll post here as a reminder of how to pray. If you don't know Jesus, then receive His blood shed on the cross, forgiving your sins and restoring you to relationship with God, as a free gift of grace. If you do know Jesus, ask Him to show you sin you need to repent of, particularly where you might either be idolizing created things (including people, movies, culture, etc) or, on the other end, constantly criticizing and condemning the world and not seeking His redemption as He's woven it all around us. And pray for those who don't know Him, that these verses might become joy and life written on their hearts!
...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Romans 3:23-26
Up Tomorrow
Well, ooh-la-la. Today is the first reunion of the cast in 45 years. Forty-five years! When Oprah announces that the cast, including Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, will be on the show the audience screams with glee. Lovely.
In a clip, we learn that The Sound of Music began with an autobiography written in 1949 written by the real Maria von Trapp. It turned into a Broadway musical , and then became a movie. At the time, Christopher Plummer, who played Captain von Trapp, was a Hollywood bad boy who reluctantly took the role. Julie Andrews was fresh off of her role as Mary Poppins and considered perfect for the role.
Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer
Oprah welcomes Julie and Christopher into the studio, and the happiness is infectious. Oprah asks if the movie means as much to them as it has to the rest of us, and both Julie and Christopher say yes. Oprah asks about their chemistry, and Julie says she was very intimidated by him, and he says he'd had a crush on her since seeing her on Broadway in My Fair Lady. He says it was a bit of a tease, because Julie, then 28, had just had a child and he had to stay far away from her.
We see the famous clip from the movie in which we meet the children, in which the captain whistles them into the room, and Oprah asks Christopher to do the honors. He quips that it's been sterilized in whiskey and then whistles the actors who played the children onto the stage. [For a full cast list, go here]
Julie Andrews & Oprah: One on One
The world first heard Julie Andrews at 13, singing in London. By 19 she was on Broadway, and in 1964 she won the Academy Award for her title role in Mary Poppins. After 3 decades in movies and on stage, she had to have throat surgery in 1997, permanently losing her singing voice.
Oprah asks about the iconic opening scene in which Julie is singing on a mountaintop about the hills being alive. Julie remembers it vividly, and we learn that they did several takes of her doing the twirl; each time, a jet helicopter would circle around her and the sheer force of the wind gust would knock her to the ground. She had mud and hay in her mouth and would try to stay on her feet but then, again, blam, to the ground she'd go! It makes me want to watch the movie and see if her dress looks dirty :)
Next, Oprah inquires about Julie's singing voice. She says that she had a "freak" voice, was a bit of a child prodigy as young as age 7, but quickly realized that her voice was a gift because it gave her an identity. When asked about the surgery in 1997, Julie tells us that she developed a muscular striation on her vocal chords. The surgery to have the tissue removed wasn't successful and her voice didn't return. Oprah asks about the loss, and Julie says that she was in denial for about a year, thinking she was healing slowly. There is no cure, and though she can sing a few low notes--she jests with Oprah that she can "sing the hell out of Old Man River if you really want me to"--her upper registry sounds like nails on a chalkboard.
Upon being asked if it was the greatest loss of her life, Julie replies that it was certainly a great loss and she went into a long decline. The miracle, though, she says is that just as Maria says in the movie, "When God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window." That was when she began writing children's books with her daughter Emma, and their books are very successful. Her daughter said to her that she re-found her voice.
Christopher Plummer
Having been called one of the greatest actors ever, Christopher Plummer has been in more than 100 films since appearing in The Sound of Music. Much about his life can be read of in his "self-penned memoir" (Oprah's words), In Spite of Myself. At 80, he continues to be "one of the busiest and most sought after actors of our time." He jokes with Oprah that he has avoided ever doing an interview with this group on purpose. He tells Oprah that his role as the captain wasn't exactly Hamlet. Oprah asks if it wasn't deep or provocative enough and he tells her it wasn't human enough, that there wasn't enough humor in it.
Plummer tells Oprah that some of his behavior at the time was unconscionable, and that he went on a three week drinking binge around the Austrian countryside with some of his friends. Upon returning to the set, he was told that they had to let out his costume because he was "fatter than Orson Welles." After the cynicism, though, he was asked to watch the movie some years later with some children, and he says that upon watching it he realized that it's one of the greatest movie musicals ever made.
Ultimate Viewer Testimonies
Oprah has some viewers who love the movie, so we see clips of them. One woman describes singing I Have Confidence before major events, from job interviews to her wedding. Another tells how the movie inspired her to become a nun. A woman born completely deaf describes how, after a cochlear implant operation, the first music she ever heard was Julie Andrews singing The Hills are Alive in The Sound of Music and how music is now her favorite thing and she now works mentoring sign language interpreters in the theater . A man describes being dragged to watch the movie by his wife; after being deployed to Vietnam seven months later, he rewatched the movie 127 times during his year in Vietnam. He said he could go to another world, to the part of him that was free with no worries, woes, or concerns, for 3 hours.
The von Trapp Children
Oprah asks Charmian Carr, who played Liesl, if she was actually 16 going on 17. Carr replies that she was 21, but the best part was that she was an adult and got to stay in the same hotel as Christopher Plummer, to which everyone laughs. Oprah asks if she learned anything from him, and Carr says she learned how to drink. On a more serious note, though he seriously did teach her how to drink, he played piano and sang every night, which she says was wonderful.
We learn that the actress who played Gretl, Kym Karath, couldn't swim and was terrified in the "falling out of the rowboat" scene. Duane Chase, who played Kurt, talks about how wonderful it was for him to be on set and they talk about loving the music themselves. Julie says that they first shot Favorite Things together and everyone seems a bit wistful.
In clips we learn about issues like growth spurts (the boy who played Friedrich, Nicholas Hammond grew 6 inches in 6 months!) and teeth falling out for the littlest girls. In the studio the actors joke about mischief, like switching out people's breakfast orders hanging on their hotel room doors. They became like a real family after spending 9 months together and all still keep in touch to this day.
Life After The Sound of Music
The children each went different ways; Angela Cartwright, who played Briggita, went on to star in Lost in Space, a popular television show in the 60s. Heather Menzies-Urich, who played Louisa, tried to "shake-off" her squeaky clean image and did a Playboy centerfold, a ploy which she says didn't work. We learn that the actors and actresses who played the von Trapp children have a "treasure trove" of memorabilia that they've held onto and so they are writing a book, The Seven Children, that they plan to release next year. The plan is to address the many questions they've been asked for 45 years about what it was like to be on the movie.
Real von Trapp Children Singers
After a final break, we see a clip from 1973 in which the real Maria von Trapp appeared on a show called The Julie Andrews Hour and they sang Edelweiss together. Today, the real great-grandchildren of Maria and the captain are still singing together, and Oprah welcomes 19-year-old Amanda, 22-year-old Sophia, 20-year-old Melanie, and 16-year-old Justin to the stage. They perform Edelweiss to a montage of clips from the movie interspersed with home video clips from the set playing behind them.
Oprah thanks them and the cast, announces that a special Blu-ray edition of The Sound of Music is being released on November 2 and we're done!
Gospel Filter Review
This is such a great opportunity to point out why I am doing a blog like this. The whole point is to look at what culture pumps out, to filter it through the Gospel, and pick out redemptive themes. For one, as I've said before, it's inspiring to see people whom God has gifted and they are great at something. Even if they don't use their talent for Jesus' glory, nor ascribe credit to Him, we can still enjoy their craft and admire the God who has given us such beauty in the world around us.
The talent in the singing and dancing, the masterful story telling, the inspiration of storyline itself, and the beauty of the natural creation combine to make The Sound of Music a classic piece of art that millions have enjoyed. It's a great opportunity, too, for parents to talk to their children (or for people to pray through themselves!) about what they might do in the face of evil and what it looks like right now to ask Jesus to reveal hatred in our heart toward others, so we can repent and love others with His love.
Doing this blog is also a good reality check, a reminder about the depravity of man. It was sad to hear that the actress who played Liesl, who seemed so innocent and sweet in the movie, drank and basically lusted after an older Hollywood bad boy. And Plummer himself seemed like such a virtuous man, someone maybe many young girls wish their own father had been like, in the role of Captain von Trapp. To hear of his binge drinking, and likely promiscuity (in other words, using women for pleasure and not loving them as daughters created in the image of their Father God), just made me sad. It's a reminder to all of us to never put our hopes in humans, but to remember that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, even celebrities who on screen seem like such great role models.
Our hope lies in the verses linked above that precede the one I quoted, which I'll post here as a reminder of how to pray. If you don't know Jesus, then receive His blood shed on the cross, forgiving your sins and restoring you to relationship with God, as a free gift of grace. If you do know Jesus, ask Him to show you sin you need to repent of, particularly where you might either be idolizing created things (including people, movies, culture, etc) or, on the other end, constantly criticizing and condemning the world and not seeking His redemption as He's woven it all around us. And pray for those who don't know Him, that these verses might become joy and life written on their hearts!
...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Romans 3:23-26
Up Tomorrow
Oprah and Gayle's Big Yosemite Camping Adventure: Part 1
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