JULIE ANDREWS ON MY LAWN
I’ve been thinking a lot about what made me fall in love with musical theater in the first place. I have a flood of memories from my childhood, and I think each of them played a part in sparking my passion. This was one of the earliest.
Our family was dressed in our Sunday best – it was probably a Sunday afternoon after church – we went with Grandma and Grandpa to the brand new Briggsmore Theater in Modesto, where the premiere movie showing to celebrate the opening of the state-of-the-art theater was The Sound of Music. As it probably happened all over the country, the initial booking of the movie was extended to a 17 week engagement, as the citizens of our Central Valley agricultural community couldn’t get enough of this beautiful movie musical. I was 8 years old, and I loved it. I was enthralled with the music, especially with the children singing songs with Maria.
That December, the movie soundtrack album was a gift under our Christmas tree, and I played that vinyl album over and over and over again. I acted out every one of the little girls' choreography for "Do Re Mi," and I would sit on the edge of my bed, pretending to be little Gretl sitting on the steps during "So Long, Farewell." For months (years?) afterward, I would spend hours out on the lawn, running and twirling around with my arms spread wide open, singing what in my mind sounded exactly like Julie Andrews’ rendition of the opening song. We had birch trees on our lawn which reminded me of the trees Maria walked around, and I loved to wander and spin my way through our little birch trees just as she did.
It was still a few years later before I saw a musical performed live on stage. And when I did, it was that moment which fully ignited the passion I still have today – a passion for live theater which uses songs and dialog and other theatrical magic to tell great stories. But that passion had begun with a spark years earlier – the moment when Julie Andrews ran up that mountain, swung her arms wide open, and there in the grandeur of the Austrian Alps, in the glamorous Briggsmore Theater, she opened her mouth and sang:
The hills are alive with the sound of music
With songs they have sung for a thousand years
The hills fill my heart with the sound of music
My heart wants to sing every song it hears
... Oscar Hammerstein
And ever since that day, my heart still wants to sing every song it hears. What about you? What was the earliest moment when you discovered musical theater?