[Bookworm]

Which version do you like better?
In my opinion I like the stage version.. the song between Elsa and Max ("How Can Love Survive?") is really nice.
I also like some of the changes in the script as well.

[degrassifan]

The movie definitely. The stage play is good too, but the movie improved all the kinks that were in the stage show, and the movie "opened" up the story more. But, yet again, there's only so much you could do on stage. But I do find the Book kinda weak, but I'm very impressed with the screenplay.

I do like the song "How Can Love Survive?", and if it was in the movie, then the film would just have been 3 minutes longer. And I know one of their biggest concerns was time.

[Yip1982]

Since I'm probably an unusual case, my answer might be a wee bit difficult:
I do like the stage show but see some broken links in the original script. I like how the film fixes them such that they can benefit the work as a whole. Some of these improvements can be transplanted to the stage version and work effectively there, not just the additional songs but the song placements. I think these changes benefited the work as a whole. As such I would like both the film script that the script of the 1998 Broadway revival production the most.

[Salome]

[Bookworm]

I really do think they should have cut Do Re Mi.. it was just too long. The song is okay the first time but repeating it twice gets a little annoying.

[jackissensational]

It's a bit long, no doubt, but to cut Do Re Mi? That's how I learned to sing, folks!

[Bookworm]

I'm not suggesting they cut the entire song.. but fade to black after they sing it once. It ran a little long for me.

[Salome]

exactly..you dont need 3 verses of a voring inane lyric and trite melody.


actually its too bad r&h couldnt have found another song for that spot.

[Yip1982]

I wouldn't mind the song, because many of us who love this old chestnut can see the growing bond between Maria and the children as they sing it. I would rather that the Festival concert reprise of Do-Re-Mi have been cut and replaced with a reprise of Lonely Goatherd, just like what was done in the 1998 revival. I think this song would show the Austrians' resolve to face up to fascism with all that made them great.

[Salome]

see..the concert reprise to me is at least listenable.

[Snow_White]

I prefer the stage version...

I remember reading somewhere that they cut out "How Can Love Survive" and "No Way to Stop It" from the movie not only for time reasons but also because they did not want the Baroness to sing, incase she came across as too nice or loveable...

I totally agree that they should have cut out another some and at least included No Way to Stop it in the film...

[blueveil]

I prefer the movie version because Julie Andrews seemed to fit the part of Maria better.

[jcstar]

According to Wise's commentary, the songs were cut from the film with Rogers permission. Rogers even thought those songs didn't move the plot forward, anyway.

I agree.

I also like "How Do You Solve A Problem" in the lower key. To me, it sounds better transposed down.

"Something Good" and "Confidence" are good songs and they move the story.

I also like how "Favourite Things" is sung to the children. I cannot understand wht R&H gave it to the Mother Abbess. To me, it doesn't fit her character.

Andy.

[Salome]

Rodgers was merely teh composer its easy for him to cut two of Hammerstiens's best lyrics after the man was dead. He and Okie never got along and Hammerstein was the genius behind their shows. Rodgers never could deal with that.

[fjays]

[jcstar]

I often wonder if the show was written today, how would the characters be written?

From what I've read, Maria Von Trapp wasn't anything like what her character in the show/film. She, according to bios, was not a very nice person.

Andy.

[GungaDin]

[quote="degrassifan"]

I do like the song "How Can Love Survive?", and if it was in the movie, .[/quote]

Part of it was in the film. In the opening scenes of the ball at the von Trapp home when the camera shows the orchestra, it is playing a few bars of "How Can Love Survive"?

[Monsieur D'Arque]

True, I always wondered, even before seeing the movie, WTF is Mama Nun doing singing this song? It's... cute, and nice. Giant Old Nun Lady is supposed to be neither.

[Mark Walton]

I vote for the movie, because that's the version I know best, having seen only one stage production:

1. The movie was filmed in Salzburg, where the real story happened.
2. Julie Andrews carried Maria well, in particular standing up to Captain von Trapp at his supercilious worst (the "straitjacket speech" being the best example; she really laced into him). That was for most of his first 20 minutes or so on camera; Christopher Plummer was priceless in that, and his subsequent mellowing was credible.
3. The kids, and their varying degrees of exuberance, usually high.
4. Most of the other actors and actresses in were good in their respective roles: Mother Abbess and other nuns; Herr Zeller; Rolf.
5. A big one: The orchestra, and Irwin Kostal's keying its power to the kids' varying degrees of exuberance (OK, OK, I'm a partisan of his!). A lot of his work through the 1960s and 70s was musical films that either directly or indirectly involved kids.
6. Robert Wise's direction, pulling it all together.

[cail]

I have seen the musical twice, and the differences from the movie are apparent (such as the song cuts, placement of songs in the show etc) but what I would really like to do is be able to read the script from the musical and see what the changes in the book are. But heaven forbid I ask on this forum for someone to share it.