Total Pageviews

Sunday, December 22, 2013

12 Blogs of Christmas #2: My Favorite Things

The Sound of Music was on a couple of weeks ago, live not dubbed. It was a ratings winner and you can buy the DVD in Target right now.

Most of my FB friends hated it. They hated the singing, really hated the vampire Captain dude, and posted endlessly about it. I got in on the action too, making a snide comment about Audra's (we all just write her first name as if we know her...) two quarter rests that she took before singing the final note of "Climb Ev'ry Mountain": It went "till, you, find, your, REST REST, dream!" FYI, those two rests aren't in the score.

Audra singing "Climb Ev'ry Mountain"

How DARE she?

I mean, opera singers and classical musicians never, ever, ever, take liberties with the score.

Well, actually, all the really good ones do and the famous ones REALLY take liberties. Some change whole arias (Bartoli in the Met "Nozze"), some improvise ornaments on the spot (Dessay in the Lyric's "Alcina"), and some transpose and/or compose notes and text (it's called LIVE performance...)

I have to confess I have a soft spot for The SOM. I was in a few productions, and conducted it over a dozen times back in the early 90s at Ash Lawn Summer Festival in Charlottesville, Virginia. It's not just a simple score as Do Re Mi, and nothing gets my goat quicker than when classical musicians dismiss it.

So, in honor of The Sound of Music, I offer PatricksFavoriteThings. (Translated for my Canadian readers: So, in honour of The Sound of Music, I offer PatricksFavouriteThings).

Sung to the song, of course:

Fragrance free lotions, massages, long showers;
Sci-Fi TV shows (Star Trek beats out Star Wars)
Choc'laty brownies that melt in my mouth
These are a few of my favorite things.

J.R.R.Tolkien, Red wine and fine bourbon;
Moonstruck and pop songs and paintings by Rubens.
The Lion in Winter and Gene Kelly's moves
These are a few of my favorite things.

When my dog howls, at Beth's students,
When I'm feeling stressed,
I simply eat fromage or stage a new show,
And then I don't feel so bad!

That's all there is... I'm certainly not going to solfege for y'all...



And a great scene from a great movie:




No comments:

Post a Comment