It wasn't quite like the movie, but...

At the time of this post going live, my family and I will be at the beach in North Carolina, enjoying a nice spring break. However, as you may know, this isn't the first exciting trip we've taken recently. My family and I were given the wonderful chance to see The Sound of Music performed by Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. While two or three generations know exactly what to expect when they hear "The Sound of Music"---based on the movie---I thoroughly enjoyed the play, even though it wasn't just like the film.

The first reason that I enjoyed the play so much (the reason that even brought us there in the first place) is a profound respect for the university, and a willingness to love anything they put on. I am homeschooled, and nowhere has my family found greater respect for homeschoolers than at BJU. Two years ago, when they put on The Beauty and the Beast Broadway, we went for free. The reason? Because it was our first event at BJU as a homeschooled family. This time, our tickets were $10 a piece, and we went to a stunning matinée. The reason was the same. BJU is very friendly to homeschoolers. I was ready and excited to cheer on the school.

The second reason was the thrill of a live performance. I have seldom gone to live performances---and when I have, they weren't very good. This was everything I had hoped it would be. A live orchestra, a reacting crowd, and even a q & a with some of the actors afterwards. Because it was a live performance, there was something about knowing that I would never see this same performance again. It made me sit up straighter and pay it all the attention I had. The Sound of Music DVD can be placed in our player at any time, on any occasion, under any circumstances. I will probably not be able to see The Sound of Music performed live again.

Thirdly, I enjoyed it because it was performed by a Christian school, and by Christian actors who were eager to give God the glory for their performance. The air in Rodeheaver Auditorium was wholesome and glorifying to God. There was nothing more thrilling than hearing the producer pray at the opening of the show and finish "In Jesus Name..."

For all these reasons, I could not have enjoyed the show more, even though it was not exactly like the movie. There were several songs added, and a couple of songs rearranged for different scenes. The pacing was different, and a couple of the actors could not have looked less like the ones in the movie. You would think that, with a show "tampering" with one of the most well-known, well-liked movies of the 20th century, I would not have liked it. I'm glad that I was wrong.

Seeing this play was a valuable experience for me. It taught me not to pass something off as not any good when it didn't turn out quite how I expected it. (Sometimes, I have the same problem with books. In my review on The Scarlet Pimpernel movie, I discussed a bit about how the movie had departed so much from the book---and yet how good it still was. The argument "It wasn't like the book!" is overrated.) Though in the future all the positive reasons to like the play probably won't come together perfectly like they did last month, I hope I will still be open-minded about enjoying anything that will not be exactly like its well-known version---whatever the book or movie may be.

I wanted more to share about why I enjoyed this play than discuss exactly why we should give something that alters what we expect a chance, so I didn't spend a lot of time discussing that. But I still do believe that there is no such thing as a single right way to tell a story. In fact, it might be wise to remember---in this specific instance anyway---that The Sound of Music play came first...and then the movie.

In a world where movies dominate and the stage is pretty much a thing of the past, I was so grateful to see a well-done play. And though it wasn't exactly like the movie---something that surprised me a bit---I enjoyed it immensely. I hope that it will be a standing lesson for me that things do not always have to be the same as "the right version" for me to enjoy them. (I'm not saying, however, that there is no reason to not like another version of something. Sometimes, the other versions are just bad.)

What do you think? Have you seen a play---or another version of anything---that altered a story you knew really well? Did it bother you?