The Hills are Alive

Went down to the Castro Theater last night to participate in the Sound of Music Sing-a-long. One thing's for sure... I'll be making this an annual event! What a hoot.

The event was planned by the music teachers that are coordinating the trip to Salzburg this coming summer. They thought it would be grand to get all the kids there to see where they were going. A nifty note is that the "house" that is used for the front of the VonTrapp home is now the Orff institute where the festival will be held. Pretty cool.

And although the evening was planned for the kids, I have to admit that I think that the adults has a much better time! It was a like Rocky Horror Picture Show meets The Sounds of Music meets the eclectic and wildly create Castro District. How would this get any better?

There were many nuns, a woman holding a "moon beam in her hand", lots of dirndls, and one lonely goat"her". We got goody bags when we went in the door. They included:

• A piece of drapery fabric (so you could shout - "THE DRAPES!! USE THE DRAPES!")
• A small sprig of fake edelweiss (you know what that's for and you got to use it TWICE!)
• An invitation to the VonTrapp party so we could all waive it in their air while we joined in the final "goooood niiiiiight"
• A party popper to pop when Maria and Cpt. smooched for the first time (although this was used by many throughout the film whenever there was sexual tension - - and geeze if there wasn't a plethora of it in the film? Who knew?)
• A couple o' cards to help up remember the work flibberty gibbet and will o' the wisp.

There was MUCH audience participation. I wish I would have written down some of the stuff that was shouted out - but let's just say most of it went over the kids heads but was ridiculously funny. And, best of all - you could sing! Every word, every part, every song! Not only could you sing - but you were encouraged to sing. Loudly. With Gusto. Even when you were way out of your range! Loved it. I swam around in a big pool of happy singing.

Best thing of all? The words were right there for you to see. A bouncing ball above the words would have been cool, but even the Latin words for the nuns during the first abbey scene were up there. Cool beans. And yet, since I have seen TSOM about...hmmm....as many times as Joan Rivers has had plastic surgery - - my secret goal was to sing all the words without looking at them on the screen -- sort of like going to a foreign language film where you know the language so you don't need to read the subtitles. And, (sniff/nose wipe) if I don't say so myself, I am DAMN proficient in that arena. I exceeded my personal expectations. My weakest moment was the goat herder song - - but beyond the yodeling who really can say they know all the words to that one. The fun is in the yodeling, right?

And guess what? Turns out that there's more of these bad johnnies coming up in the next year: West Side Story, Mama Mia and Hairspray. Me thinks I'm going to be a regular. Next time calls for costumes and cocktails! The hills are alive!!!!