Having just finished music directing a production of THE SOUND OF MUSIC you’d think the last thing I’d want to do is watch another production of it, but our Fourth of July dinner guest hipped us to a BBC production that was available through PBS Great Performances. In the spirit of “The Lonely Goatherd,” we watched it last night, with the sound set louder than usual in order to distract my wife and the cats from the illegal fireworks in our neighborhood.
What has this to do with game shows, you ask?
Who turns up as Max Detweiller, the comic-relief talent scout who ends up a Nazi sympathizer? ALEXANDER ARMSTRONG, in a delightful performance not very far removed from his hosting on POINTLESS. And the housekeeper Frau Schmidt seemed awfully familiar but we didn’t recognize her in costume and period hairstyle; it was OG Great British Bake Off presenter Mel Giedroyc (whose sister, it turned out, directed the production).
Although I adored the production I worked on, this film version was kind of perfect. Check it out if this is your cup of tea (with jam and bread with jam with jam with jam and bread!).
