My Favorite Things!

      Finally the day arrived and it was time for Alex and I to go into London to see THE SOUND OF MUSIC at Regent's Park Open Air Theater! We got up and hopped onto the X90 (note: if you ever need a Oxford to London bus, take the Oxford Tube cause X90 was not as nice, made more stops and was then more complicated to catch on the way back). Because of a triathalon going on in the center of London we couldn't get off at Baker Street, so we rode all the way to Victoria Central and took the Tube (with lots of help from a kind Londoner behind us in line who helped us know which zones we needed). We took the Victoria Line to Oxford Circus then switched on to Bakerloo to get to the Regent's Park stop, easy as pie!
       After a lovely walk through the park we arrived at the Box Office and effortlessly got our tickets. We had time to go back to a cafe a little outside Queen Mary's Gardens for a very affordable and yummy lunch of tomato soup and toast!

      The weather was cool and cloudy but we had very little rain all day (Alex and I both wore a t-shirt, sweatshirt and raincoast so we were READY). We got back to the Theater about 15 minutes before the show and took a sneaky picture of the set which is copyrighted but I did it nonetheless mwahahaha. I had hoped for some Sound of Music merch but there wasn't much out. Our seats were PERFECT (row E seats 9 and 10). Honestly they could not have been more perfect.

       From the second the show started on I was grinning constantly. Maria came in from the top of the arena singing "The Sound of Music" and I pretty much wanted to bawl. The nuns were perfection with some really interesting harmonies that made their singing more interesting than in the film. The choreography was really great too, especially with the children in "Do Re Mi." Captain Von Trapp (Michael Xavier) was incredibly tall and have a very luxurious beard. He was very in touch with his feelings and made for an interesting deviation from Christopher Plummer. My favorite Von Trapp child in this production was Kurt because he was adorable and a really strong soprano. Liesel was not quite as coy, sassy and wonderful as in the movie, but really, how could she be? The Reverand Mother was sooo good--really solid singer and such a warm relationship with Maria that you don't get in the film, probably because "My Favorite Things" actually happens between the two of them at the Abbey in the musical and "The Lonely Goatherd" is the one Maria sings to make the children feel better in the storm. Baroness Schrader was a much less complex character on the stage--much more evil and less graceful and sly. She and Max had two songs that aren't in the movie!
        Overall Alex and I decided that the tone of the film is more serious and grand while the actors in the musical had to have a lot more energy in their acting to put across the story (the cameras and setting are a huge advantage to the film). The cast overall seemed much younger, especially Maria. She was a really amazing singer and a fiery, cute personality, but she had a lot to live up to. Julie Andrews is the only Maria that will ever be canon for me, but I enjoyed this take on her! The biggest difference: RALPH DID THE RIGHT THING!! After all these years he finally didn't betray them! Instead of Captain Von Trapp playing that weird mind game, Liesel just looked at him and he told the lieutenant he didn't find them. Yay Ralph!

        At the end we all jumped up and gave the longest standing ovation I have ever participated in. The actors took 4 bows and were visibly pleased, especially Von Trapp and the Reverend Mother. It was the matinee on their very last day of performing so I'm sure it was a fairly emotional moment for them--who am I kidding, it was a pretty emotional moment for me!
      After the show I had post-Disney Blues (that's where you did something so wonderful that the rest of your life momentarily feels meaningless) so we walked aimlessly until we took the Tube to Leicester Square for some fish and chips which were deeee-licious.

     I tried to persuade Alex for us to get some discount tickets to another West End Show but she was smarter and said no, so we Tubed to Westminster to look at the Abbey and Big Ben before we began the arduous journey back to Oxford.

Basically it was THE BEST DAY EVERRRR.