Cream-coloured ponies and crisp apple strudels. Doorbells and sleighbells and schnitzel with noodles… A few of your favourite things, are they? Really?
Whoever listed doorbells as one of their favourite things has quite clearly never sat through the abominable temp job I once had of simply buzzing people into a building, (the button was too far away from the phone for the receptionist to reach without missing a call. Stupid). And sleighbells? Please. They only come about once every year…. every November, right after Halloween. And by the time Christmas Day is upon us we’re so sick of sleighbells we want to pour petrol over the nearest jingling mode of transport and set it ablaze via a beer fart and a blowtorch. And don’t even get me started on ponies, cream-coloured or otherwise. I was never allowed one and I still haven’t forgiven my daddy.
Anyway, I suppose in spite of its dated absurdity, The Sound of Music is and always will be one of those things that surpasses the ridiculous metaphors which make up its soundtrack, and renders you revelling only in a feeling of joy. It’s the story as much as the songs, of course – when the hills were alive and the nuns got the guys, and seven children, when placed in one room, did not feel the urge to bind, torment and torture a power figure with a fork and a homemade shoe bomb. Those were the days.
In the latest adaptation, now showing at the London Palladium, we’re treated to the talented, if a little earnest Connie Fisher, who “solved a problem like Maria” in a televised, nationwide search for a brand new lead. During the TV contest, Connie tugged at our heartstrings with tear-stained cheeks and close up shots of her beloved grandma, who first introduced Miss Fisher to the movie when she was little and has long since dreamed of seeing her perform it on stage. (I wonder if I put my gran 
on the telly and got her to tell everyone how I’d run naked round the garden until I was given a chocolate biscuit, Nestle would sponsor all my dreams, too?) Still, talent show winner or not, it does seem as though Connie’s got what it takes. She performs the role as effortlessly as someone who’s watched the film every day for 20 years should perform it, really. In fact, so identical is her act,… so alike are her vocals, that she probably eats Julie Andrews pills for breakfast and dances her way barefoot up every hill she encounters. (Annoying cow).
Although surpassed by Grease in the realms of musical greatness, The Sound of Music, when released in 1965, became the most successful Hollywood musical of all time. So it’s no surprise here that the cast chosen to bring the legend to life in London’s most famous theatre are top notch performers. Sir Webber would have it no other way. Even the kids, although screaming “STAGE SCHOOL!!!” are a joy to watch, with their endearing enthusiasm for every over-acted, unnecessarily embellished sentence. Of course, powerhouse Lesley Garrett is immaculate as Mother Abbess, and even if you’re a kid who’s never seen the film and doesn’t know the story, you couldn’t fail to be touched when she belts out ‘Climb every Mountain’ with all the muscle one would expect from a sexually repressed nun with no other outlet. Incredible.
The Sound of Music will undoubtedly bring the house down and Connie Fisher will deservedly springboard from her BBC beginnings, all the way to Broadway. When it comes to crowd pleasing, with lavish sets, a sing-along soundtrack and enough dark habits to make Kate Moss look like an angel, this is one West End show “I have confidence” in completely. - Becky Wicks
What an absolute treat. Went with my wife for her birthdfay and was expecting it to be average, but was absolutely blown away by Connie and the cast. would definately go again. Fantastic.
Posted by: stephen macdonald | 03/04/2007 at 11:06 AM
Just read Becky Wicks review of the show. Overbearingly self-satisfied and poorly written, full of irrelevant and nonsensical 'humour' - 'she probably eats Julie Andrews pills for breakfast and dances her way barefoot up every hill she encounters. (Annoying cow).'
Maybe you should employ an adult to write your reviews in future? Last Minute is a fabulous site. It deserves better.
Posted by: dan brown | 11/07/2007 at 12:24 PM