Sing along to the popular musical on Saturday at the Hollywood Bowl
By Daily Press staff
Pull out your lederhosen, polish the glockenspiel and practice your yodeling. The international sensation “Sing-A-Long Sound of Music” returns to Southern California at the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday at 8 p.m. and will have the audience literally singing in their seats. After two highly successful Hollywood Bowl presentations, the “Sing-A-Long” version of the beloved Twentieth Century Fox classic film hits the historic amphitheater’s stage for a third time for one night only.
“Sing-A-Long Sound of Music,” celebrating the most successful movie musical and the No. 1 family film ever, is a screening of the classic Julie Andrews film musical — the winner of five Academy Awards, including Best Picture — in full-screen Technicolor and six-track digital sound, complete with subtitles.
Twentieth Century Fox and the Academy Film Archive recently completed an eight-month restoration of “The Sound of Music.” The original camera negative and sound materials were meticulously hand-cleaned and processed to replicate the original theatrical presentation, making the film look and sound as much as possible like it did at its original 1965 debut.
Before The Sound of Music screening (pre-show begins at 7 p.m., film begins at 8 p.m.), there will be a vocal warm-up, as well as instructions for audience members about how to use their complimentary Fun Pak. The audience also will hear about the finer points of cheering for Maria, waving Edelweiss and booing the Nazis.
Bowl-goers attending the event are encouraged to dress in costume, perhaps as a Sound of Music character or one of their “Favorite Things.” In years past, audience members came dressed up as anything and everything including nuns, Maria, Kurt, girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes, goats, a range of Alps and even Ray, a drop of Golden Sun.
The Sound of Music continues to be the most popular film musical in history. Based on the 1959 Broadway show, with original songs by Rodgers and Hammerstein, the film, starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, premiered on March 2, 1965, in New York City. Since then, it has earned more than $160 million. For more than four decades, generations of adults and children have enjoyed the timeless story of the governess Maria and the von Trapp family. “Sing-a-Long Sound of Music” is produced with Sing-a-Long Productions by arrangement with Twentieth Century Fox and the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization.
Ticket prices range from $1 to $57. Contact the Hollywood Bowl box office at (323) 850-2000 or online at LAPHIL.com.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 9, 2004. Read the original PDF.