Sixteen Going on Seventeen

I'd always wanted to see this delightful scene from The Sound of Music played by a couple of gay men - and whaddaya know, somebody else finally had the same thought.  Here are Andrew Keenan-Bolger and Jay Armstrong Johnson flawlessly performing the scene at the Broadway Backwards benefit in 2017.  Both were about 30 at the time.  Johnson, the taller one, is a Texas native and rather studly, too.  Enjoy.

For comparison, here's the lovely 1965 original, played by Charmian Carr and Daniel Truhitte:

What I Say:  The lyrics don't quite work between two boys, though it's all in good fun.  But I dare say, they wouldn't work between a boy and a girl either, in this modern age.  For a couple of generations now, girls have been raised to be as tough and indpendent as boys.  How well that has succeeded, others may judge.

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Sunday Drive: Delibes, Flower Duet

The lovely duet from Lakmé, as performed at the Philharmonie de Paris in 2023 by Nadine Sierra and Pretty Yende; this piece is a great favorite of M.P.'s, who is much more au fait with grand opera than your Head Trucker.

 

A recent video about Ms. Yende's remarkable journey from a childhood in apartheid-era South Africa to the heights of the operatic world:

And here is a 2017 interview with the American-born Ms. Sierra on French television (in English):

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Sunday Drive: Offenbach, "Belle Nuit"

Description:

Montserrat Caballé and Marilyn Horne in concert singing the duet "Belle Nuit", also known as Barcarolle from Les Contes d'Hoffmann by Offenbach. Munich, 1990.