Sound of Music 50th Anniversay – Review and Giveaway

My Favorite Things, Do-Re-Mi and The Sound of Music, these are songs that we all grew up with which continue to hold a special place in our hearts. The Sound of Music first opened on Broadway 50 years ago and quickly became one of the most popular and enduring musicals of all time. In celebration of the 50th Anniversary, Sony Music has released the 50th Anniversary Special Edition of the Original Cast Recording: The Sound Of Music along with Simon & Schuster’s beautiful The Sound of Music: A Classic Collectible Pop-Up.

On November 16, 1959, The Sound of Music – the last musical collaboration of composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II – made history when it opened at Broadway’s Lunt-Fontanne Theater.

While a larger audience came to know The Sound of Music six years later, when the Oscar-winning film version starring Julie Andrews was released, the musical became a major hit of the 1959-60 season, sharing (with Fiorello!) that spring the Tony Award for Best Musical. It ran 1,443 performances on Broadway, toured the U.S. for several seasons and became an even longer-running hit in London when the first British production (1961) ran twice as long as its Broadway counterpart. It continues to be one of the most popular and enduring musicals of all time.

The release of the recording comes just as Simon & Schuster adds to The Sound of Music phenomenon with a collectible pop-up book for every family’s library.  The heartwarming, classic adventure – adapted by Bert Fink from the story of the stage musical – comes alive with paper engineering as unforgettable as each timeless melody.

This Cast Recording and Pop up Book are a great way for you to spend quality time with your child while encouraging their reading skills along the way.  According to the Child Literacy Center reading to your child is the single most valuable thing you can do. Many educational intuitions suggest reading predictable books that children can “read” back to you and sharing music with strong rhythms and songs with rhyming lines. What better way to teach your child to read, than with a story and music that you grew up with and love.  You can use this printable PDF Sing-Along guide along with the book to encourage your child to follow the story with you.

The hills literally come alive in this magnificent pop-up adventure, based on the songs by Rodgers & Hammerstein. Readers are transported to the lush green hills of the von Trapps’ Austria in this heartwarming tale of familial love and growth. With paper engineering and illustrations as unforgettable as each timeless melody, The Sound of Music: A Classic Collectible Pop-Up couples visually stunning pop-ups with words from favorite songs, such as “My Favorite Things” and “Edelweiss.”  It is sure to become one of this season’s favorite things, as well as a phenomenal keepsake to read again-and-again for years to come.

Check out this video of the pop-up book

I had the pleasure of reviewing the  Sound Of Music Original Cast Recording from Sony Music and Sound Of Music pop-up book.  The Sound Of Music Cast Recording is as wonderful as we all remember.  The songs are fun and beautiful and brought back memories of when I was a kid singing to them.  They are classic songs that we as moms can teach to a whole new generation.  Along with the music there is also a printable PDF Sing Along Guide.  It was nice to be able to sit and listen to the songs while following the sing along guide and having my kids be able to interact with the songs by answering questions or enjoying the many other activities in the sing along guide.

The pop-up book is great, very nice.  My kids loved the book.  They haven’t really had many, if any pop up books before so this was a treat for them.  Since it is a pop-up book, to them it felt as though not only the music but the book itself comes alive.   They loved how characters and places from the songs seemed to just jumped right out of the book.  My kids want it read to them, over and over again.

Now for the really good stuff.  I am offering one of my lucky readers a chance to own both the Sound Of Music Original Cast recording cd and the Sound Of Music Pop-up book.

I would love to get this prize to you before Christmas so this contest is going to run from 12/9/09 till 12/17/09 at 11:59pm (CST).  If you win, the sooner you email me back with your address the sooner I can get your prize mailed out and “hopefully” in time for Christmas.  Remember, I am not the U.S. post office so I make NO guarantees. This contest is open to U.S residents only and prize must be claimed with in 48hours of notification or a new winner will be chosen.  Winners will be chosen by Random .org.

Mandatory Entry: Listen to the following song “My Favorite Things” (  Original Broadway Cast Recording MyFavoriteThings ) and leave a comment telling me one (1) of Maria’s favorite things.  If you can’t listen to the song on your computer you can also find the answer in the Sing Along Guide ( page 6 ).

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