Sing-Along Sophie’s Choice

 

Leah and I attended a sold-out event at the Hollywood Bowl this weekend, a sing-along version of the 1982 film “Sophie’s Choice.” Similar to the Bowl’s annual “Sound of Music” event, there were 18,000 die-hard fans repeating the film’s most memorable lines along with the actors on screen and singing along with Kevin Kline’s Nathan Landau during his musical moments. I saw hundreds of women and Drag Queens dressed as Meryl Streep’s Sophie Zawistoska at many different stages in her life, from her pre-war scenes in Poland, her internment in Auschwitz, and her life in 1947 Brooklyn. There were also a fair amount of Stingos, the young Southern character (based on author William Styron) who came to New York to become a writer and ended up falling in love with the mysterious Sophie. Many of the Stingos were dressed in his seersucker suit (which immigrant Sophie famously called his “cocksucker suit”). 

Actor Peter MacNicol, who played Stingo, hosted the pre-show. He read emails he received from Streep and Kline welcoming everyone to the event, and he introduced other actors from the film to help him judge the costume contest. Greta Turken who played the bawdy Leslie Lapidus was there. Leslie was the object of Stingo’s unbridled lust until he realized that she was “only in the verbalization stage of her analysis.” In other words, as the narrator of the film pointed out, “Leslie Lapidus could say ‘fuck,’ but she could not do it.” MacNicol also brought Josh Mostel to the stage, Zero’s son, who played another resident of the Brooklyn “Pink Palace” where Sophie and Stingo rented rooms. Melanie Pianka, who played little Emmi Hoess in the flashback scenes was also present. Now a grown woman, Melanie talked about how she knew no English at the time but was convinced that Meryl Streep was German, that’s how good her language skills were (the actress knew no German or Polish before she was cast in this film). Pianka loved working with Streep, but admitted that she was slightly fearful of the actor who played her father Rudolph Hoess, the commandant of Auschwitz, and the only real-life historical figure depicted in the film.

 

Here are a few of the people who entered the costume contest. The crowd was not crazy about the woman on the left who wore Nazi-inspired haute couture, and some older patrons around me gasped at the man on the bottom right who came to the Bowl in an actual concentration camp uniform that belonged to his great-grandfather. The couple on the top right won the contest with their dead-on impersonations of tragic lovers, Nathan and Sophie.

During the screening, people pulled out props they brought from home such as bottles of red wine during the scene when Sophie takes her first sip and says to Nathan:

Mmm. You know, when you...when you live a good life...like a saint...and then you die, that must be what they make you to drink in paradise.

That line was repeated word for word by the entire crowd in Streep’s perfect Polish accent. We received goodie bags as we entered the Bowl and held up various items during certain scenes—the label from a can of Spam which we all flung in the air when Stingo knocked down a stack of them in the Brooklyn boarding house, Nazi armbands and Jewish stars which we waved during Sophie’s flashback scenes, and a Brooklyn Bridge button that we held high whenever the camera panned that famous landmark, including when Nathan first read Stingo’s manuscript and climbed up on the bridge to toast him with the following words:

On this bridge on which so many great Americans writers stood and reached out for words to give America its voice...looking toward the land that gave them Whitman…on this span of which Thomas Wolfe and Hart Crane wrote, we welcome Stingo into that pantheon of the Gods...whose words are all we know of immortality. TO STINGO!

Okay…should I stop before I really start offending readers who may believe that this event actually happened? Truth be told, Leah and I DID attend a sing-along at the Hollywood Bowl this weekend with 18,000 other rabid movie fans, but it was for the musical “Grease.” With more and more old films getting new life as community sing-alongs, I found myself saying as we trickled out of the Bowl, “Oy, what’s next…Sophie’s Choice?” and I couldn’t stop myself from ruminating about this fantasy event. My initial thoughts were far more macabre than I dared put in print (especially with some of the bona fide neo-Nazis who regularly troll my site) but thank you for indulging me anyway!

Incidentally, the last film I’d ever want to make fun of is “Sophie’s Choice.” In my opinion, the Alan J. Pakula film deserved all the accolades it received at the time. I saw it on opening day at the Carnegie Theatre in Chicago and I was floored. I think that Meryl Streep’s luminous and heart-wrenching portrayal of Sophie is one of the best performances ever put on film. I remember watching the Oscars in 1983 and preparing to storm the Academy if Streep didn’t win the award for Best Actress. But she did. Years later, when Streep was on “Oprah,” they screened the horrific “choice” scene which takes place at the gates of Auschwitz in the middle of the night. Streep still couldn’t watch it. The scene was so upsetting to her that she uncharacteristically told Pakula that she’d only do one take. He agreed, and that's what we see. I also heard the little girl who played her daughter speak later about how she didn’t really understand what was happening in that scene but how she was utterly terrified when the man playing the Nazi guard ripped her out of Streep’s arms and carried her away. Those were real screams on the part of both the little girl and Meryl Streep.

“Grease” was very fun. The pre-show was hosted by Didi Conn who played Frenchy in the film and she brought out many of her co-stars to help judge the costume contest which was populated by the usual mix of Drag Queens and toddlers dressed as the characters from the film. It’s hard to believe that Conn is almost 60 since she still looks and sounds as cute and youthful as she did in the film. Not that any of the actors were of high school age when they made the musical. Stockard Channing, who played Rizzo, was well into her 30s. Olivia Newton-John was in her late 20s and even John Travolta, who looks impossibly young, was 23 when the film was shot. 

Of course the film is very different from the original play, which premiered at the Kingston Mines Theatre in Chicago in 1971 and was a much tougher look at the working-class kids of the 1950s. The original story was based on Jim Jacobs’ own experience at Taft High School in Chicago. The recent revivals of the play have included songs from the film and are very frothy confections, but next year, the original Kingston Mines production is going to be revived in Chicago for the 40th anniversary. Now that I'd like to see.

Conn and the other cast members walked us through our goodie bags and instructed us what to do during various scenes. I refused to “boo” goody-two-shoes Patty Symcox or trampy Cha Cha DiGrigorio as we were were told to do because I didn’t feel either character deserved the mob attack (I’m usually the only one at the “Sound of Music” sing-alongs who refuses to “boo” Baronness von Schrader). I love the gimmick the film used of casting a bunch of stars from the 1950s in the adult roles. What a treat to see people like Eve Arden, Sid Caesar, Joan Blondell, Edd Byrnes, Alice Ghostley, and Frankie Avalon again. Fannie Flagg played Rydell High's nurse, and Leah and I had to laugh because as we were watching her on the screen, Kendall and her mom were having dinner with her in Santa Barbara.

I’m tempted to end this post with an offensive Grease/Sophie’s Choice mash-up but instead I’ll tempt you with the trailer from the better film: 

As Nathan said to Sophie just before the traumatic ending to the film:

I got chills...they're multiplyin'. And I'm losing control. 'Cause the power you're supplyin'...it's ELECTRIFYING!

Comments

[Erin M]

You TOTALLY had me going! I kept getting more and more weirded out, thinking, "But Danny COULDN'T have sanctioned this! Did he really not see what was wrong with this?! He's lost his mind!!" And then the penny dropped, and I felt like an idiot:( Over the years, people have accused me of being terribly naive, and you know, they may be on to something!...I really liked the book Sophie's Choice more than the movie, but maybe I should watch the movie again and give it another chance.

[Sheila Linderman]

"Sophie's Choice" is one of my favorite films of all time, and I am relieved that it was not turned into a Rocky Horror-type event at the Bowl. I saw the movie with 2 American friends when I was living in France. During the German language parts, they kept asking me for translations, since the sub-titles were in French. I had to go back and see the movie again to actually get the whole thing (good excuse to see it again and affirm how fabulous a movie it was).

[OldOldLady Of The Hills]

Well, Danny, you HAD me...Although, as it went on I DID think--This is too Bizarre. I know "movies" are beloved by many and I know how they have affected my life...But to go this far??? So...I was relieved when you said you made it all up. As to
"GREASE". Hmmmmm. I have nothing to say about it.

As to your Birthday Wishes...I thank you with all my heart.
As to your question about 'the wedding book'...No. I cannot get it back. It belongs to my dear departed siser Robin's children now that she is gone....And it would be GREAT if they could somehow scan in these pictures, BUT, it is a very Big Thick Photo Book, and I'm not sure how they would do that. The pictures were printed on the pages of the book itself.....
Anyway, it was a nice thought, my dear.....

"Ladies Who Lunch" happens Wednesday and then it will take me some days to do what I do. I'm looking forward to it, too. (lol)

[Julie R.]

You fooled me too...although I became suspicious when you mentioned the swastika armbands and yellow stars. I've never seen Sophie's Choice, but I think I have to now that I've read so much about it.

I would love to have gone to the Grease singalong. It sounds great.

[The Pliers]

You had me going too.

It's funny but I frequently think of both the book and the film of "Sophie's Choice." I loved them both and they touched me deeply.

Glad to hear that you and Leah got out for a sing-along in the Hollywood Bowl which I saw in a DVD of Columbo two nights ago with John Cassavettes as a murderous orchestra conductor.

If you come to visit me in central France I promise to make it available to you!

Amitiés,

[Pam P.]

We were there, too. Which is why I caught onto the Sophie's Choice satire much quicker than I would have had I not been there.

I was wondering if you were there and thought to myself, "There's no way Danny would miss this!" But, alas, didn't see you.

[Gordon]

Dear Danny,
Your depiction of the "Sing Along Sophie's Choice" was quite troubling. But, I suppose that's a testament to your great writing talents.
--Gordon

[margalit]

Danny, I have a weak heart. You almost did me in with that Sophie's Choice singalong. I mean it, my heart was pounding and I was gasping for breath. Good lord, only in LA, I thought. Well, phew. Only your nutty imagination could make up something that bizarre. So glad it isn't true. But as a mother of twins, you had me going. You rascal!

[Judy Brodhead]

Wow, I was fooled too...but when you mentioned the concentration camp uniform...I have never heard of anyone keeping one. That was creepy.

[Kirk]

You had me going too. I kept reading it and thinking, "Doesn't he realize what bad taste all this is in?"

[Larry]

Now see? This is disturbing. Not because I believed it too (which I did) but because I was a little disappointed when you pulled the plug. Only in the City of Angels. It's as much a testament to your Cronkite-esque credibility as it is to my Los Angeles bigotry (think 30% Snake Plissken, and 70% Alice in Wonderland - New York City, by the way, has exactly the reversed percentages for me).

[Elise]

You had me going too Danny! It's a bit scary how convincing you were. I kept cringing, thinking, "Oh no, they didn't!" Needless to say, I was relieved to read it was a Grease sing-along. After that, I was much better able to enjoy your post. Whew!

[DebbieW]

Okay, you got me on the Sophie's Choice bit. I , too, remember Streep being unable to watch her own work on Oprah. I've never been able to force myself to see the movie a second time.

As for Grease, I saw it and loved it on Broadway when it first opened and I never could stand the movie.

But really, the reason I'm writing is Fannie Flagg. Her first novel, Daisy Faye and the Miracle Man (aka Coming Attractions) is one of my all time favorite books. That it has never been made into a movie has been something I've never understood. It's an amazing piece of work and a natural for the screen.