April 1, 2007
Normally, when you go to see a film you sit quietly and concentrate on what’s happening on the screen. Sometimes you laugh, or gasp. Occasionally you are annoyed by the whispering imbeciles in the row behind who are, apparently, unable to watch a film without a stack of nachos and an enormous plastic cup full of sugary gloop. Normally you don’t join in. Out there, however, there are groups of people who go to see a film with the express purpose of joining in. I suppose The Rocky Horror Picture Show was the first, but a close second these days is The Sound of Music.
Normally sane people dressed as nuns, lonely goatherds, brown paper packages tied up with string. Even a couple dressed as an Alp. My favourite was a young girl who had come as a ‘snow goose that flies with the moon on its wing’. You get a goody bag with a piece of curtain material, some Edelweiss and various other props to wave at apposite moments. There are Nazis to boo, the baroness to hiss at and Captain von Trapp to salute. There’s also the compere – Mavis von Trapped, Maria’s unfortunate half-sister – who instructs the singalong virgins in etiquette and helps judge the fancy dress winners.
Best of all you get to watch the film with all the songs subtitled! So you can join in. It’s a scream. I have to admit that I went with a certain degree of cynicism, but thoroughly enjoyed myself; belting out Edelweiss with the best of them, I was! It’s the sort of infectious good fun that smacks of old fashioned holiday camps. Come to think about it – it was a pretty camp evening, what with a middle aged man in full habit and a frankly enormous bloke in a pinafore made from curtain material. There were small children, pensioners and a hen night! I can’t really give a review of the film – it’s a classic. The songs are part of our heritage and joining in for a good old fashioned sing along was bloody good fun! If you see it advertised I’d advise you to give it a whirl – it’s good, honest fun. In the dark. With loads of nuns!
Normally sane people dressed as nuns, lonely goatherds, brown paper packages tied up with string. Even a couple dressed as an Alp. My favourite was a young girl who had come as a ‘snow goose that flies with the moon on its wing’. You get a goody bag with a piece of curtain material, some Edelweiss and various other props to wave at apposite moments. There are Nazis to boo, the baroness to hiss at and Captain von Trapp to salute. There’s also the compere – Mavis von Trapped, Maria’s unfortunate half-sister – who instructs the singalong virgins in etiquette and helps judge the fancy dress winners.
Best of all you get to watch the film with all the songs subtitled! So you can join in. It’s a scream. I have to admit that I went with a certain degree of cynicism, but thoroughly enjoyed myself; belting out Edelweiss with the best of them, I was! It’s the sort of infectious good fun that smacks of old fashioned holiday camps. Come to think about it – it was a pretty camp evening, what with a middle aged man in full habit and a frankly enormous bloke in a pinafore made from curtain material. There were small children, pensioners and a hen night! I can’t really give a review of the film – it’s a classic. The songs are part of our heritage and joining in for a good old fashioned sing along was bloody good fun! If you see it advertised I’d advise you to give it a whirl – it’s good, honest fun. In the dark. With loads of nuns!