My mother took us to lots of plays and musicals growing up because she thought it would make us cultured. I remember going willingly only sometimes but at the end of the day I'm better off because I have an appreciation and even an affinity for that sort of thing now. (Don't tell my mother I wrote that.) Moreover, Suzanne and I are inclined to take our girls to that sort of thing too.
Audrey, in particular, has shown an appreciation for the arts and, more specifically, the stage. (Grace is still too young.) She has sung in front of a room of more than a hundred people before age 3, has been a standout angel in her school's Christmas pageants and has performed skits from Annie, Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music countless times in front of house guests in our living room.
Speaking of Annie and The Sound of Music, the former was her first live musical and she was treated to the latter last night when the von Trapp children came to sing with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. (The von Trapps are the famous singing family portrayed in The Sound of Music.)
As they performed they shared a bit of family history with the audience, some of which you can find online and some of which you can only find here.
The von Trapp children of today are the great grandchildren of Captain von Trapp, who starred in the musical alongside Julie Andrews, who played Marie. The children's grandfather was portrayed by the young boy in the musical who announced at one point, "I'm Kurt. I'm incorrigible."
The Sound of Music essentially takes you to the point where Captain von Trapp and Marie fall in love but doesn't tell you much about what occurred afterward. It turns out the family managed to escape Austria and the grip of the Nazis in the late 1930s and moved to Vermont, from which point the family toured the world for twenty years, singing and performing. All the family's descendants remain in Vermont today, but for the children's mother and father who live in Montana and who, incidentally, "don't sing at all," as Justin, Amanda, Melanie and Sofia informed us last night.
In fact, their parents really didn't want the children to pursue singing and performing at all initially. But when the four kids persisted, having learned the art of song from their grandfather, their parents permitted it. "Our parents don't sing," we were told, "but our father taught us the value of hard work and our mother taught us to dream big."
It seems the von Trapp children have done pretty well within those broad guidelines - nine years of singing and performing in more than ten countries, appearances on at least eight US television shows and more than 20 foreign shows, print coverage in more than ten national or regional newspapers and magazines as well as a bunch of local ones, and more than six CDs and a DVD. And the oldest (but not the tallest, we were reminded) is now only 21 years old.
The show last night centered songs from The Sound of Music interwoven with Christmas songs and other selections such as the Rwandan national anthem (the group visited Rwanda in April 2008). Audrey appeared nonchalant but no doubt was captivated, particularly when the children sang So Long, Farewell as their encore - this was Audrey's favorite when she first saw the musical and she'd pretend to be Gretel, the youngest girl who sings the final verse.
We were fortunate enough to be able to meet all four of the children back stage at intermission and, while Audrey appeared to be a bit shy, I think she was a little starstruck. After the performance, despite the lengthy line, Audrey insisted that we get her program signed by the performers. She wanted them to sign her own name at first so I had to explain that the point was that Justin, Amanda, Melanie and Sofia would sign their names.
As we were walking out of the concert hall a little girl in a blue coat passed us. She had just had her program signed by the children as well. As they neared the exit we heard her say to her parents, "Mom and dad, this is the best day of my life!" If only all of us could do for our kids something each day that would get them to say that.
