An invitation to a pre-Christmas musical arrived through the letterbox and I hesitated. It was for a student production of The Sound of Music. The film was first adapted for the screen sixty years ago, and I already knew every song, every line, every part, as if I had been rehearsing for a thousand years. No, I thought, I wouldn’t go.
It had once been my favourite film, but I had overdosed.
Back in the seventies, one had to wait for favourite movies to appear on television at Christmas. But with the invention of home video and DVD players, there was no limit and some years ago, I hit my wall – vowing never to watch The Sound of Music again!
But how could I turn down such a gracious invitation from St Louise’s Comprehensive College? It was the first show the students had produced in eight years. This, after all, would be a different production, and where else was I going to see singing nuns in full habits being cheered on the Falls Road?
Hearing the joyful harmonies from these young people, I felt like Captain Von Trapp: I too had forgotten the joy of these songs.
And living in a world now threatened by extremes (perhaps more from the far left as from the far right), I soon realised this was a play for our times too. The ugly and menacing Nazi emblem – what little Gretl called the flag with the big spider on it – was not something one could take down or refuse to fly, not without consequences anyway. Isn’t that a feature of modern life today? Things we dare not say? How many of us – faced with flags and ideologies we find objectionable – lack the courage to object?
Depth
St Louise’s production was not just a highly polished production, it was full of beauty, goodness and truth. And it was uplifting because it was truly Catholic, a tale of traditional values: pro-marriage, pro-church and pro-faith.
The lessons of the musical were not lost on the young performers either. “I learned not just how to become a better actor, but a better person,” said Rhiannon Crilly, who was exquisite in the lead role as Fraulein Maria.
She had a great awareness of the depths of the drama. “It sends out the importance of family values,” said Rhiannon, “and the importance of sticking to what you know and standing up for what’s right and that is really relevant today.”
This play is all about family and about embracing who you truly are. It is about faith as well, loving your faith and truly embracing it”
The Reverend Mother speaks wisdom when Maria, who is anxious to do the will of God, is told she must look for her life, discern her true calling. This is the baptismal call. Yet how many of us realise that true happiness lies in the vocation and mission given by God.
Stephen Gibson – who played a Nazi soldier – clearly imbibed the spirit of the musical – “to ford every stream until you find your dream”. He had caught the acting bug.
“This show taught me a lot,” enthused Gavin Boyle, who played two roles, one as a priest and the other as the opportunistic, apolitical impresario, Herr Zeller. “It really helps with your faith, and I think the religious beliefs in this show are very good.”
Naoise Murphy, who had the role of 14-year-old Frederich, was impressed with the experience. “I think this play is all about family and about embracing who you truly are. It is about faith as well, loving your faith and truly embracing it.”
Meaning
The show was a wonderful reminder of the unique religious vocation for women – at a time when people who should know better complain that women have no role in the Church. Even for a few hours, it was great to see young women dressed in habits, a vision now pretty much extinct in Belfast, where there is still a lot of respect for nuns and for faith.
Having asked each of the young people what the season meant to them, I felt better prepared to celebrate the birth of Christ. All spoke of family and friends and tradition, summed up by Tamzin Keenan, who played Frau Schmidt, the Housekeeper. “Christmas means so much to me because I have such a big family, and it just means getting to spend time with each other, and it means love.”
I left St Louise’s singing in the Belfast rain – looking forward to the sell-out Christmas Carol service”
Indeed, Jesus is the love of God, wrapped in a person.
I left St Louise’s singing in the Belfast rain – looking forward to the sell-out Christmas Carol service at another West Belfast Secondary School, St Genevieve’s.
I had fallen off the wagon: The Sound of Music would be echoing once more in my living room this Christmas.
The season of glad songs has truly come!
***
This year marked the 25th anniversary of the death of Charles Schultz – the cartoon genius behind the classic tale, ‘The Grinch Who Stole Christmas’.
I thought of Schultz, who died in his sleep at the age of 77, when I watched the newly released pro-life video, ‘Meet Baby Oliver’ video. Made by Live Action, it is a sequel to the 2021 video ‘Meet Baby Olivia’. Schultz, in his simple tale, Horton Loves a Who, wrote the truth: a person is a person no matter how small.
In ‘Meet Baby Oliver’ we explore this small boy’s journey from conception to birth. Oliver’s cells, even before he begins to grow, determine traits such as the colour of his hair. Oliver develops a spinal cord and outline of a brain before his first heartbeat is detected in week three. Arms and legs begin to grow in week four. By seven weeks Oliver has the hiccups.
This film, not unlike Schultz’s work, is visually appealing and intellectually engaging. I do hope it will be shown in every school before the destruction of the unborn gets any worse in Ireland.
Though Schultz’s work also had a pro-life message, I was sad to read that he encouraged his daughter’s abortion to spare Meredith the life of a single-mother at a time when this circumstance was much less acceptable. Even as we cling to our ideals, St Paul reminds us that all have fallen short of the glory of God.
Schultz had been raised a Lutheran, though described himself as spiritual in later life.
As a child, I played Linus in Schultz’s cartoon character play, ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’. At the time, I was unaware that my lines about Christ’s birth had once caused some angst before the show aired on American television. There was concern that the religious messaging might upset the sponsor. “If we don’t do it, who will?” was Charles Schultz’s position. The sponsor was fine, and so the Linus character declared to millions what Christmas was all about: “…unto us is born this day in the City of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”
We Christians must not only proclaim the Gospel but be a voice for the unborn. A person is a person no matter how small. If we don’t do it – who will?
The season of glad songs has come
An invitation to a pre-Christmas musical arrived through the letterbox and I hesitated. It was for a student production of The Sound of Music. The film was first adapted for the screen sixty years ago, and I already knew every song, every line, every part, as if I had been rehearsing for a thousand years. No, I thought, I wouldn’t go.
It had once been my favourite film, but I had overdosed.
Back in the seventies, one had to wait for favourite movies to appear on television at Christmas. But with the invention of home video and DVD players, there was no limit and some years ago, I hit my wall – vowing never to watch The Sound of Music again!
But how could I turn down such a gracious invitation from St Louise’s Comprehensive College? It was the first show the students had produced in eight years. This, after all, would be a different production, and where else was I going to see singing nuns in full habits being cheered on the Falls Road?
Hearing the joyful harmonies from these young people, I felt like Captain Von Trapp: I too had forgotten the joy of these songs.
And living in a world now threatened by extremes (perhaps more from the far left as from the far right), I soon realised this was a play for our times too. The ugly and menacing Nazi emblem – what little Gretl called the flag with the big spider on it – was not something one could take down or refuse to fly, not without consequences anyway. Isn’t that a feature of modern life today? Things we dare not say? How many of us – faced with flags and ideologies we find objectionable – lack the courage to object?
Depth
St Louise’s production was not just a highly polished production, it was full of beauty, goodness and truth. And it was uplifting because it was truly Catholic, a tale of traditional values: pro-marriage, pro-church and pro-faith.
The lessons of the musical were not lost on the young performers either. “I learned not just how to become a better actor, but a better person,” said Rhiannon Crilly, who was exquisite in the lead role as Fraulein Maria.
She had a great awareness of the depths of the drama. “It sends out the importance of family values,” said Rhiannon, “and the importance of sticking to what you know and standing up for what’s right and that is really relevant today.”
The Reverend Mother speaks wisdom when Maria, who is anxious to do the will of God, is told she must look for her life, discern her true calling. This is the baptismal call. Yet how many of us realise that true happiness lies in the vocation and mission given by God.
Stephen Gibson – who played a Nazi soldier – clearly imbibed the spirit of the musical – “to ford every stream until you find your dream”. He had caught the acting bug.
“This show taught me a lot,” enthused Gavin Boyle, who played two roles, one as a priest and the other as the opportunistic, apolitical impresario, Herr Zeller. “It really helps with your faith, and I think the religious beliefs in this show are very good.”
Naoise Murphy, who had the role of 14-year-old Frederich, was impressed with the experience. “I think this play is all about family and about embracing who you truly are. It is about faith as well, loving your faith and truly embracing it.”
Meaning
The show was a wonderful reminder of the unique religious vocation for women – at a time when people who should know better complain that women have no role in the Church. Even for a few hours, it was great to see young women dressed in habits, a vision now pretty much extinct in Belfast, where there is still a lot of respect for nuns and for faith.
Having asked each of the young people what the season meant to them, I felt better prepared to celebrate the birth of Christ. All spoke of family and friends and tradition, summed up by Tamzin Keenan, who played Frau Schmidt, the Housekeeper. “Christmas means so much to me because I have such a big family, and it just means getting to spend time with each other, and it means love.”
Indeed, Jesus is the love of God, wrapped in a person.
I left St Louise’s singing in the Belfast rain – looking forward to the sell-out Christmas Carol service at another West Belfast Secondary School, St Genevieve’s.
I had fallen off the wagon: The Sound of Music would be echoing once more in my living room this Christmas.
The season of glad songs has truly come!
***
This year marked the 25th anniversary of the death of Charles Schultz – the cartoon genius behind the classic tale, ‘The Grinch Who Stole Christmas’.
I thought of Schultz, who died in his sleep at the age of 77, when I watched the newly released pro-life video, ‘Meet Baby Oliver’ video. Made by Live Action, it is a sequel to the 2021 video ‘Meet Baby Olivia’. Schultz, in his simple tale, Horton Loves a Who, wrote the truth: a person is a person no matter how small.
In ‘Meet Baby Oliver’ we explore this small boy’s journey from conception to birth. Oliver’s cells, even before he begins to grow, determine traits such as the colour of his hair. Oliver develops a spinal cord and outline of a brain before his first heartbeat is detected in week three. Arms and legs begin to grow in week four. By seven weeks Oliver has the hiccups.
This film, not unlike Schultz’s work, is visually appealing and intellectually engaging. I do hope it will be shown in every school before the destruction of the unborn gets any worse in Ireland.
Though Schultz’s work also had a pro-life message, I was sad to read that he encouraged his daughter’s abortion to spare Meredith the life of a single-mother at a time when this circumstance was much less acceptable. Even as we cling to our ideals, St Paul reminds us that all have fallen short of the glory of God.
Schultz had been raised a Lutheran, though described himself as spiritual in later life.
As a child, I played Linus in Schultz’s cartoon character play, ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’. At the time, I was unaware that my lines about Christ’s birth had once caused some angst before the show aired on American television. There was concern that the religious messaging might upset the sponsor. “If we don’t do it, who will?” was Charles Schultz’s position. The sponsor was fine, and so the Linus character declared to millions what Christmas was all about: “…unto us is born this day in the City of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”
We Christians must not only proclaim the Gospel but be a voice for the unborn. A person is a person no matter how small. If we don’t do it – who will?
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