baron-pierreIV Posted June 28, 2006 Report Share Posted June 28, 2006 Austria is finally facing up to its past. OK, there is a Salzburg connection because that city has become famous the world over due to the Hollywood SOUND OF MUSIC film. However, the AUstrians themselves have never really seen or wanted to see the whole von Trapp saga. Austria finally sees THE SOUND OF MUSIC face-to-face Altho this story is about 1 year old, I think it's every relevant about the Austrian character and frame of mind, and will therefore win or lose votes for Salzburg in Guatemala! Maybe the Salzburg group should opt to play the Sing-A-Long SOUND OF MUSIC version in Guatemala, in both Spanish & English next year!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Rols Posted June 28, 2006 Report Share Posted June 28, 2006 When it comes to tourist dollars, though, Salzburg sure embraces TSOM. After Mozart tours, displays, chocolates, t-shirts and the like (and the odd "There are NO Kangaroos in Austria" t-shirts), the next most ubiquitous tourist traps in the city are TSOM tours. I actually did one once with a group of friends. Lonely Planet actually recommended it as a great way to see some great landscapes and historical buildings. That may be true but even for someone who likes the movie like me, four hours of driving around a bus with the soundtrack on loop was a bit much to cope with. Actually we didn't cope. Every stop, instead of following the tour guide ("... and here's the church where the Baron and Maria got married") we just headed for the local bar for a shot of schnapps. We were plastered by the time we got back to the Mirabell Gardens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ryan04 Posted July 13, 2006 Report Share Posted July 13, 2006 If Slazburg gets the games, they better have some "Sound Of Music" in the OC or CC, it does not matter but it is a MUST in the western world for Salzburg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgescuro Posted August 1, 2006 Report Share Posted August 1, 2006 I took the "Sound of Music" tour when I was in Salzburg. It was a load of fun. It wasn't the huge bus tour version of it, but a small van version. The guide made it a lot of fun, plus you got to see a ton of the countryside and see the sights of the musical. Salzburg is an absolutely stunning city. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejaycat Posted August 9, 2006 Report Share Posted August 9, 2006 I took the Sound of Music tour too in Salzburg and I thought it was fun. Hey mgescuro, did you also ride that roller-sled track thingy towards the end of the tour? I did, and I was thinking 'OK, what does this have anything to do with the Sound of Music??' Going back to the "Sound of Music," I know that the film version wasn't really well-received in Austria. In fact, the version that was shown there was drastically cut; it would end at the marriage scene of Maria and Captain Von Trapp. The whole Anschluss (annexation) and the family's escape was totally cut out. But what I think Salzburgers might appreciate about the film is that it totally acts as a tourism promotion for their city. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Rols Posted August 31, 2006 Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 Interesting item on the current doings of the real Von Trapps: By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES, Reuters - Four decades after Julie Andrews climbed every mountain and married a widowed naval captain in The Sound of Music, his real-life great grandchildren are hoping to make movie magic of their own. The four von Trapp family descendants - Sofia, 18, Melanie, 16, Amanda, 15, and Justin, 11 - are taking time off from a world tour as a sibling singing act to star in a Christmas-themed feature film in the works for next year. But compared with the lavish, Oscar-winning 1965 musical that depicted their forebears singing Rodgers & Hammerstein songs as they traipsed through Austria's countryside, the planned movie debut of the latter-day von Trapp children is a product of humbler origins. Budgeted at less than $US4 million ($A5.25 million) - a pittance by Hollywood standards - the project is the brainchild of a North Carolina-based producer who has enlisted a former Star Trek visual effects specialist to direct his film and has cast one-time child star Jerry Mathers of the 1950s TV sitcom Leave It to Beaver in a supporting role. Behind-the-camera talent from several Star Trek TV series and movies were also recruited to serve as cinematographer, production designer and composer. But the unorthodox pedigree of the production has hardly dimmed the enthusiasm of the film's young stars, who have spent four years touring the world in Austrian costumes performing Do-Re-Mi, Favourite Things and The Lonely Goatherd. ``It's something we've never done,'' Melanie said in a recent interview. ``This movie is going to be really different, but we're all so excited for it.'' Sofia, the eldest of the brood, said she and her siblings will be ``pretty much playing ourselves'' and singing in the film, though she added: ``It's not a musical.'' As described by executive producer John Demers, the story is a road trip that unfolds as the four head home from their busy concert schedule for a holiday visit with family, carrying with them a ``very special'' Christmas tree. Along the way, they take a detour that involves attempts by a pair of bumbling bad guys to steal their tree while the kids seek to reunite two lovelorn friends. Mathers co-stars as Mr Spinner, the Christmas tree salesman and narrator of the tale. The screenplay for the film, tentatively titled Von Trapp Children Christmas Movie, was written by Paul Shapiro, whose previous credits include the 1990s road trip films Breaking the Rules and Calendar Girl. Demers, CEO of privately held Studio in the Woods in Durham, North Carolina, lined up his Trek-based creative team through acquaintances made during a former job in state government as a liaison for public events including Star Trek conventions. Demers' ties to the von Trapp clan began, aptly enough, with a regional theatre production of The Sound of Music a few years ago in which they played four of the children and he understudied the part of their father. He also was assigned the unofficial role of adult minder for the youngest, Justin. Once, he pulled a loose tooth out of Justin's mouth moments before one memorable performance. ``They have such unique, honest and sincere personalities,'' Demers said of the youths. ``There's nothing plastic about them. There's no veneer, there are no handlers. What you see is what you get. A real wholesome act.'' The four are the grandchildren of Werner von Trapp, the younger of the two boys - and the fourth of seven children - depicted in The Sound of Music as Kurt (the child Julie Andrews remembers to include in her bedtime prayers with the line, ``God bless Kurt''). The von Trapp youngsters also remain close to grandfather Werner's eldest sister, their great-aunt Agathe - portrayed as Liesl (``I am 16 going on 17'') in the musical. ``Our Opa and Aunt Agathe have taught us the most,'' Sofia said. ``They were our biggest influence.'' Werner, Agathe and sister Maria (the real-life name of the movie's second-oldest daughter, Louisa) are the last surviving members of the original von Trapp Family Singers, who fled Nazi-occupied Austria in the 1930s after their father, a widowed naval officer, married their governess. Three children added to the singing family after Georg and Maria von Trapp were wed are also still alive. Demers said the four grandchildren began rehearsing newly composed songs for his film last week and would start recording in Los Angeles next month. Shooting is set to begin in late December in the singers' home state of Montana, with Demers aiming to get it into theatres in December 2007. REUTERS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted August 31, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 Thanks for the wonderful story, Rol, but you left out their great photo. From left: Amanda, Melanie, Sofia and Justin von Trapp. Where's Benjamin and Fantasia? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgescuro Posted August 31, 2006 Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 I took the Sound of Music tour too in Salzburg and I thought it was fun. Hey mgescuro, did you also ride that roller-sled track thingy towards the end of the tour? I did, and I was thinking 'OK, what does this have anything to do with the Sound of Music??' Going back to the "Sound of Music," I know that the film version wasn't really well-received in Austria. In fact, the version that was shown there was drastically cut; it would end at the marriage scene of Maria and Captain Von Trapp. The whole Anschluss (annexation) and the family's escape was totally cut out. But what I think Salzburgers might appreciate about the film is that it totally acts as a tourism promotion for their city. Yup!! I actually did to that roller-sled thing -- twice. That was a real blast!! The guide worked the tour as a side job. He was a student getting his MBA, which was coincidental, as I was in Europe doing study abroad for my MBA program. And one of the guys on the van tour, knew a guy I used to work with during my dot-com days. The entire tour was a trip. The soudntrack played on the van CD player, but no one sang. HAHAHA That was one of the most fun tours I've ever had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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