Posted on 02/27/2005 1:15:20 PM PST by Pharmboy
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - The Nazis are back in Vienna - at least on stage. But this time there's no doubt that they're the bad guys. The latest look at the country's relationship to Hitler is through the melodic looking glass of "The Sound of Music" - the first full staging in Austria of a musical beloved the world over but virtually unknown in the nation it portrays.
After years of denial, official Austria has turned in the past two decades from depicting itself as a victim of Adolf Hitler to acknowledging its key role in the Holocaust.
But some Austrians remain sensitive to the country's Nazi past, and Saturday's premiere - in German, with actors dressed as Nazi storm troopers standing guard in the audience, a theater box filled with mock Nazi dignitaries, and a huge swastika banner draped onstage - dredged up painful memories.
"It's too much, too much," said one elderly woman who refused to give her name as she waited at the coat check Saturday night. "I was 12 the last time I saw such things in any theater."
The melodic adventures of Baron von Trapp, his children and Maria, the governess who becomes von Trapp's wife and mother to the Austrian family before they flee the Nazis, are familiar to untold millions the world over, made famous by the 1965 film version that won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
South Koreans learn the songs as part of their English lessons. Some Dutch newspapers organize readers' tours to show places such as the Bavarian alpine meadow where Julie Andrews sang, "The hills are alive with the sound of music."
Some foreigners think "Edelweiss" - composed for the musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, and never sung by the real-life von Trapps - is Austria's national anthem.
Also, Austrian tourism surveys show that three out of four Americans come to Salzburg, the former home of the real-life von Trapp family, because of the musical.
Once there, many of them ignore Mozart, the city's most famous native son, to take part in "The Sound of Music" tour, complete with singalongs and more information about the musical and its history than most non-fans would want to know.
Despite its world success, the musical's combination of kitsch and its focus on a dark part of Austrian history had kept it away from local stages, except for a brief run of a small theater's parody more than a decade ago.
"I worked in America in the 1960s and was asked constantly about 'Edelweiss' and 'The Sound of Music,' and had no clue what it was about,'" said former Austrian Chancellor Franz Vranitzky, one of those at the premiere at the Volksoper, Vienna's second opera house. "Now I've made up for it."
Vranitzky was chancellor in 1986-1997, a time that saw the first official attempts to come to terms with the country's Nazi past.
The government since has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation claims to Nazi victims or their offspring, and political and church leaders routinely speak out against anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance that fed the rise of Hitler in this country and Germany.
Still, Joerg Haider powered his rightist Freedom Party into the government in 2001 with populist rhetoric sometimes tinged with anti-Semitism. Though he has toned down his comments in recent years and his Freedom Party has lost much of its support, it still has an extreme right-wing element known to admire Hitler.
Last year, a poll showed that more than a third of Austrians believe the Nazi era was in some ways positive.
On Saturday, Vranitzky called the Volksoper staging of the Nazi-era musical "a courageous attempt ... both musically and historically."
The bravos and applause Saturday reflected general approval.
And though some in the audience were overheard complaining of triteness in a city more attuned to opera than lighter fare, most appeared comfortable with the musical reminder that Austrians were not only victims but perpetrators of Nazi atrocities.
"That's the way it was," said Sieglinde Fabigan, a woman in her 60s. "I think it's a very good piece for children and teenagers who did not live through that era."
< Once there, many of them ignore Mozart, the city's most famous native son...>
As a budding (adult) classical violinist, that hurts to read.
But maybe they will be one day, so do not be discouraged! The world needs beautiful music played by dedicated artists...
Right. And the former Hungarian secret police (AVO) headquarters at 60 Andrassy ut in Budapest is now a Wendy's. Hooray for capitalism.
I never saw the play, I'm referring to the 1968 movie with Zero Mostel and Gene wilder. Dick Shawn played the pothead who auditioned for Hitler. Piss-your-pants hilarious.
"Dick Shawn played the pothead who auditioned for Hitler."
Hubby says it is Shawn's finest moment. But for me, nothing can top Gene Wilder's "now I'm wet and hysterical!" line.
National Socialist German Worker's Party
"The Europeans say that the two greatest achievements of Austria are convincing the world that 1) Hitler was German and 2) Beethoven was Austrian."
Yes, but that pales in comparison to the left's achievement in convincing the world that Nazism was right-wing.
Now THAT is brilliant. You will be quoted...
"And I don't have my blue blankie." Which is a catch phrase in my house, whenever something freaks us out or we can't stop laughing over.
"The Europeans say that the two greatest achievements of Austria are convincing the world that 1) Hitler was German and 2) Beethoven was Austrian."
I had always thought that it was convincing the world that the Austrian king saved Europe and Western Civilization by defeating the Islamic armies at the gates of Vienna in 1683.
"...had always thought that it was convincing the world that the Austrian king saved Europe and Western Civilization by defeating the Islamic armies at the gates of Vienna in 1683."
I think that was actually some Polish guy, like the king of Poland, or something.
I stand to be corrected.
The Polish king was Sobieski.
But I have heard that just about every tour guide in Vienna will say "The Austrian King"...and get really pi$$ed if you bring up Sobieski.
Anal Vice
Anal Vice
Got my a-s in viiiiice grip...
BTW: In honor of Sobieski's victory over the Turks, the Jewish community created the bagel. I kid you not.
"FLAUNT IT BABY, FLAUNT IT!"
I think by demystifying the Nutzis and making them characters of ridicule, Mel Brooks' movie does a far better work of destroying the Nazi myth than any other movie except Schindler's list.
In Sao Paulo during Carnaval '99, I saw the Escola De Samba "Vai-Vai" march and their theme was "Nostradamus" and his predictions. In one of the sections of the performance the school had some 100 dancers dressed as "Silver Nazis" in full Nazi regalia (bare midrifs included.) It was really shocking at the time because I was caught off gaurd (you try6 being sober during Carnval.)
Anyway, they caught hell for it but only for a day or so.
I kind of feel a little sick thinking about it to this day.
That's not the same thing -- Mozart's birthplace, a place of culture, the commie police, a place to be reviled
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