Arts Centre Melbourne Presents SING-A-LONG-A SOUND OF MUSIC, July 20-21 - Hosted by Chelsea Plumley

Sing-A-Long-A Sound of Music returns to Arts Centre Melbourne, State Theatre for three performances, tonight 20 & Saturday 21 July, 2012 7:30pm and a family friendly Matinee on Saturday 21 July at 1pm. The effervescent Chelsea Plumley returns to hosting duties to guide the audience through an interactive experience and tribute to the very unique film The Sound of Music.

See the classic movie on the big screen, re-mastered to its original cinematic glory. Admit it, you know the words – and if you don’t there are song-sub-titles so EVERYONE can sing a-long! Sing-A-Long –A Sound of Music is an audience participation event where the host Chelsea Plumley leads a vocal warm-up, gives a guide to the use of the interactive fun pack and accompanying actions and (with a little help from the audience) judges the Costume Parade - a highlight of the night that separates the die-hards from the dabblers!

An overwhelming force takes over, as delirious fans cheer on Julie Andrews, wolf-whistle Christopher Plummer, hiss the Baroness and boo the Nazis! And who could forget the glorious moment when Maria and the Captain finally kiss? Not to mention the experience of 2000 party poppers going off simultaneously as their lips touch!

The costumes are truly inspiring. A sea of black and white floods the foyer of the State Theatre year after year as fans eagerly dressed as nuns gather for the show and sing a few of their favourite songs. Audience members have dressed as anything and everything from the movie.... Maria, girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes, Plumbers (Christopher Plummers!) the Alps, brown paper packages tied up with string, goats (with or without lonely goatherds), larks that are learning to pray – the possibilities are endless..... limited only by your imagination.

So what are you waiting for? Frock up for the ultimate musical affirmation; a celebration of nature, spirituality, love, family, patriotism, and goodness, combined with perfectly pitched songs, and the screen presence of feisty, Julie Andrews.

Round up your favourite friends, take your vows, and tear down the curtains, clear your throats, fill your lungs and take your seats to become stars of the world’s favourite musical.

The Sound of Music is the most successful movie musical of all time and the number one family film. It features the most irresistible score in movie history. Released in 1965 by 20th Century Fox - written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein and directed by Robert Wise the film was shot in the Austrian Alps of Salzburg; and is based on the true story of Austrian singing family "von Trapp", who became famous and toured the States in the 1940s. When The Sound of Music screened in Germany, the film was cut after the wedding, shedding a third of the movie’s length and nearly all of the anti Nazi content. When Fox got wind and demanded the footage be reinstated the film bombed badly. In the year the film was made, 2 million additional tourists visited Salzburg, Austria.

The first Sing-A-Long- A Sound of Music was held in the UK in 1999 as a one-off event. Producers Ben Freedman and US partners Tom Lightburn and Bill Soady formed Singalonga Productions to roll out the event worldwide with new prints of the film subtitled with the song lyrics. Sing-A-Long- A Sound of Music has toured more than 120 Centres in the United Kingdom to over 1,000,000 people. The sing-a-long version then swept America after a first screening in Texas in July 2000, where all 1300 seats sold out; then New York, Amsterdam, Dublin, St Louis, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Toronto, Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Oslo, Stockholm and many other major cities around the globe. Many celebrity faces have been spotted under their wimples at Sing-A-Long-A Sound of Music including Sir Elton John and partner David Furnish, Lulu, Neil Tennant of The Pet Shop Boys, Hugh Grant, Dan Achroyd and Joan Collins. Sing-A-Long- A Sound of Music was first staged in Australia in 2001 Ten years on, the phenomenal global success of Sing-A-Long - A Sound of Music is testament to the fun and memorable evening the show always delivers.

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