Brian Hughes: The Sound of Music Sing Along comes to New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS – It took London, New York and the Hollywood Bowl by storm.

Many in the audience, though, looked a bit, umm, odd.

For starters, there were an abnormally large number of nuns. Some of the people had snowflakes that stayed on their nose and eyelashes. Others had brown paper packages tied up with strings.

Those were just a few of their favorite things.

The reason for the buzz – and the interesting attire – was “The Sound of Music,” the classic, much beloved 1965 multi-Oscar winner, but with a twist. This time the lyrics to the memorable Rodgers and Hammerstein tunes were projected right up on the screen.

Screenings generated a following akin to those of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” albeit less raunchy and more family-friendly. Friends and neighbors attended dressed as the whole von Trapp family. A 6-foot-tall, decided butch Gretl with leg hair might be at first a bit disconcerting, but it was all a good-natured poke at a film favorite.

At last “The Sound of Music Sing Along” is coming (somewhat) close to home. It’ll screen in New Orleans on Saturday as part of the National World War II Museum’s “Real to Reel: Hollywood and World War II” exhibit.

The film has been trimmed from its three-plus-hour running time to a bit under two hours, but all those hummable tunes will be included (“plus reprises,” assured the museum’s P.R. manager Casey Hill).