Well, the Colorado Symphony Orchestra’s “The Sound of Music” sing-a-long event on Feb. 5 apparently didn’t make the cut as a favorite thing for everyone in the audience.
“Some people were upset that the orchestra didn’t play throughout the whole movie,” said CSO spokesperson Margaret Williams.
Disgruntled patrons complained Monday that the orchestra only played highlights of the movie’s musical score as a warm-up. When the lights went down and the film began, the symphony musicians had already exited the stage, leaving Maria on her own — with back-up from the audience singing the lyrics superimposed on the screen — to frolic through an Austrian mountain meadow.
“I guess some of our patrons expected more,” Williams said.
She heard complaints from audience members who expected the symphony to back them up when lyrics appeared on the screen during the sing-a-long songs.
Acquiring the rights, and the many instrumental versions of those songs — and there are many songs that flesh out the three-hour movie — would have been expensive and complicated, Williams explained.
So many people were upset that Williams issued a statement on Monday apologizing to disappointed patrons, and offering complimentary seats to a future symphony performance.
Williams didn’t say how many patrons were unhappy. But she did note that “there were not as many people in the audience when the movie ended as there were when it started.”
