[The Duchess of Mint]

Dear Musicals.Net Posters,

I thought that I was annoyed by some of the overly-dramatic word pronunciations on the OBCR of West Side Story, but that was back when I didn't own the OBCR of The Sound of Music!

I very recently acquired the aforementioned soundtrack c.d., and all that I can say is that I am totally annoyed by Laurie Peters' pronunciations of various words.

I take that back! I am totally annoyed by the way in which she sings ALL of the songs that she sings! I mean, the girl is sliding notes in order to stay in tune. She sounds awkward, slightly breathless, warbly at times,etc., and on top of all of that, she sings her part in Sixteen Going on Seventeen like such a major dork that I am really repelled by her version of the song.

Let me explain why I feel the way that I do about Laurie Peters' singing.

Laurie a-n-n-u-n-c-i-a-t-e-s as though she's afraid to relax for even a moment! I mean, the poor girl sings her lines in 16 Going on 17 as though she's either a precise student or a manikin! She makes all of her vowels sound very proper, but she also distorts them sooo badly that she sounds ridiculous.

Examples of Laurie Peters' too-classically-trained pronunciations include...

Words that end with the "oh" sound are kinda overly annunciated with regards to that sound

Laurie overly annunciates the word "innocent" by overly-pronouncing the "o"

She overly annunciates the word "bachelor", too.

Laurie Peters reminds us that we're definitely not in Kansas by pronouncing the word "totally" like the name of a certain black terrier who starred alongside Judy Garland in a very famous movie. For pity's sake, Laurie should have avoided doing that!


I will give her props for sort of pronouncing the word "ken" well enough so that it doesn't sound like the word "kin".

Yet, I still contend that overall, Laurie Peters does not sound like a good singer.

I know that old Broadway trained its singers to over-anunciate, and to over-pronnounce certain words so that EVERYONE could hear what was being sung; yet, does the song "Sixteen Going On Seventeen" really, really need to be sung by someone who sounds like an awkward teenager who is too scared of "things beyond her ken" to give her rendition of the song any character?

Thanks in advance for your similar or different opinions about what I've just posted.

[The Very Angry Woman]

*enunciate

[Azaelia]

[BroadwayBaby0202]

I agree with the person who posted right above me. Her character was trained to sound like that.

[demon_baker]

I'm not actually familiar with "The Sound of Music" (okay, don't all kill me at once) but I'm pretty sure the line includes "things beyond my ken", right? Well I remember reading (in Terry Pratchett's "Hat Full of Sky") that ken is slang for "know" as in: I dinna ken -- I don't know. So I think the line is things beyond my *know*, though I could be wrong.