Singalong-a-Christmas with The Sound of Music
Kara Tointon plays Maria in TV's first-ever live musical - here's your essential cheat sheet for the show...
Grab those warm woollen mittens and brown-paper packages tied up with strings and prepare to sing along with Kara Tointon in British TV’s first-ever live musical, The Sound of Music. This Christmas, television is losing itself in a cavalcade of song and dance.
And after Tointon trills her way through Do-Re-Mi, BBC4 is showing the London revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Gypsy, featuring a sensational turn from Imelda Staunton (Sun 27 Dec). On Sky1, The Big Movie Singalong (Christmas Eve) is encouraging sofa sopranos to perform numbers from Disney classics as a bouncing ball picks out the lyrics.
Tointon has the daunting task of following Julie Andrews. “She is my absolute idol,” she says. “It’s a musical I love. I never dreamt I’d get the part.”
So brush away the crumbs and give full voice to your basso profundo... Here’s how to sing along to The Sound of Music in your sitting room...
ACT ONE, SCENE ONE
Essentially the nuns warming up. A moment to slide the nuts nearer to your end of the table.
SCENE TWO
Bang, we’re off with The Sound of Music. Uncle Vince may be dressed as Maria, but this is one for everyone to join in and set the sofa alight – not literally, though, as you’ll need it for...
SCENE THREE
If you’ve dressed as a nun this is your moment as Mother Abbess and Sisters Berthe, Sophia and Margaretta deliver the lilting masterpiece that is Maria. But don’t sit down as we’re straight into My Favourite Things. Scene four is for aficionados only. Take a break...
SCENE FIVE
Quick! Back to the sitting room, it’s Do-Re-Mi...
SCENE SIX
You might want to grab a helping of pud or a mince pie before a double-whammy of Sixteen Going on Seventeen and...
SCENE SEVEN
The Lonely Goatherd. Time for what tennis umpires call “a comfort break”.
SCENE TEN
Nearly there: So Long, Farewell. All join in for this welcome intimation of the coming end.
SCENE 12
Climb Ev’ry Mountain... at last, it’s Gran’s solo!
ACT TWO, SCENE SIX
It’s been a long wait, about three turkey sandwiches, a slice of ham and that last stuffing ball, but finally it’s time for Edelweiss.
SCENE SEVEN: THE FINALE
By this time you’re in Alpine overload – aim high, a big finish... collapse with a glass of the Christmas punch.
The Sound of Music Live! is on Sunday 20th December at 7:30pm on ITV
