Sound of Music Sing-Along
We popped out into the sun-bleached streets, and there beside us were Corrin and Dafne, rising up the BART escalator. “Hey! You dressed up!” Corrin lit up and Dafne ducked behind him.
With eight minutes to curtain, we walked briskly in the summer breeze. Kerstin nearly started skipping, a will-o’-the-wisp headed for Davies Symphony Hall.
“Hey! You dressed up?” Diego and Jackie were waiting for us halfway up the steps.
We had. Kerstin read the program, and the Sound of Music Sing-Along included a costume contest. She wore a long dress and a straw hat, carrying a guitar. I wore the Tyrolean hat we would eventually give my dad for Christmas, hiking pants, flannel shirt and a vest.
The pace of the afternoon was much more sing-along than symphony. No rush. We ordered some rosé and lined seven seats in the balcony.
It was Dafne's birthday, the Sound of Music was her favorite movie, and Corrin had suggested we all do this family outing with the orchestra. Except there was no orchestra. Two spunky theater gals MC’ed the costume contest.
(It's San Francisco, so adults vaingloriously outmatched kids in dressing up.)
Lederhosen… goat herds… a lot of Baronesses, of various genders, strode out in white gloves to be hissed at by the audience. Kerstin and I waited our turn on stage. She swung her guitar and clicked her heels. I shrugged.
Then the MCs explained our “magic moment fun pack.”
“See this little square of cloth? Kinda of an ugly green pattern? You all need to remind Maria, when she’s trying to make the children play clothes. So when we get to that scene, I need you all to wave that fabric swatch and shout, The curtains, Maria! The curtains!”
Hiss at the Baroness, boo the Nazis, wave a white plastic flower when Georg sings “Edelweiss.” The goodie bags also contained an invitation to Captain von Trapp’s ball and a party popper for when he and Maria finally kiss.
Then they played the movie. The whole movie, with an intermission. We were there over four hours, and really missed the orchestra. But the kids never got bored. Until last year, the Sound of Music was a blind spot for me, which is funny only because Corrin, in his dad role, had seen it dozens and dozens of times.
Seeing me run around the Alps (shortly before buying the Tyrolean hiking hat) Kerstin finally sat me down and made me watch the movie. It’s the best.
We were hungry, though, so Diego and Jackie invited us over, and ordered pizza. That might have been Dafne’s favorite part of her birthday — the pizza party with daddy’s friends.
