The Sound of Music
  • Ben_WhitworthBen_Whitworth
    Posts: 90
    And now for something completely different ... one of our excellent local drama groups is putting on Rodgers & Hammerstein's "The Sound of Music" in the Spring, and I've been asked to advise the "nuns" on matters of Latin, sacred music, ceremonial and monastic etiquette. If any one has trodden this path before, I'd be grateful for any tips you might have.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,069
    Well, the abbey in real life was Nonnberg Abbey, a Benedictine abbey, and I would expect had its share of aristocratic and educated women among its members. (Maria herself had been fully educated and graduated from a junior teacher's college by 18.) When it comes to Austrian aristocrats, they tend to take their culture and aristocracy seriously, but with a certain light hand that might might be alien to, say, Brandenburg. (The mid-18th century Austrian court of Maria Theresa was famously more familial and less remote than Versailles of that era, for another contrast.) I think it can be hard for Americans to grasp the subtleties of central European cultures because we're so exposed to the British Isles, France and Italy as our European cultural benchmarks. That's about as much backstory as you'd probably need. Mostly, people will expect the nuns to behave like the nuns in the movie.
    Thanked by 2Ben_Whitworth R J Stove
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,503
    Ben, have you seen the movie Sister Act? I'm sure that would help. A lot.
    Thanked by 3Liam Adam Wood Ben_Whitworth
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,069
    Yes, Mary Wickes - canny nurse to one of the great evil mothers of all movie history in Now Voyager 50 years before this scene - should be the model:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37hkxf5RaXc
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    Ben, I've music directed "Sound" twice, one at Middle School starring Betsy Wolfe (google her and be surprised) and at HS level. The two numbers are gorgeous and quite teachable.
    I don't, ahem, endorse the Sister Act method acting approach. Bad CMAA people, bad.
    Thanked by 1Ben_Whitworth
  • Ben_WhitworthBen_Whitworth
    Posts: 90
    I've never seen Sister Act, but it's clearly worth watching if only for the windows.

    google her and be surprised


    I googled her and am impressed, but why should I be surprised that your Maria has starred on Broadway? I would expect nothing less.
  • RobertRobert
    Posts: 343
    I have trodden this exact path before--been called in to advise the "nuns" in a local production of The Sound of Music. IIRC, they need to sing a few verses of the first psalm for Sunday Vespers (Dixit Dominus) in Mode 1.

    I remember getting them to observe the mediant pause, and on Latin pronunciation. Historical accuracy doesn't seem like the main consideration in this kind of production. I think they ended up processing in with candles in dim lighting while singing the psalm.
  • David Sullivan
    Posts: 355
    Interesting, I heard a story along these lines from the late 50s about the original Broadway production and the old Pius X chant school at Manhattanville College. Apparently, the producers asked the school for chant coaching, which they provided, along the lines described by Robert.

    Beyond that, my advice would be to contact Mother Dolores Hart at Regina Laudis on matters of monastic etiquette and the like. ;-)
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,469
    Just make sure they get the flying right.
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    Ben, Betsy's a class act and a good egg. When one knows you're gifted with a prodigy, you just make sure that whatever direction you provide is for the good of the show, or in our business, for all.
    We have a very nice little performing town. She's not my/our only local hero to make it to the big time. That's what's great about being a teacher.
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