Sing With Maria

Lovers of musical theater and movies based on musicals often fight the urge to sing along with the familiar songs from their favorite shows. Singing along during a performance or screening is generally considered to be an impolite disruption. Broadway Centre Cinemas (Salt Lake Film Society) answers this need and gives theater-goers an opportunity to let loose and sing during its annual Sing With Maria event — several showings of The Sound of Music that encourage patrons to dress in costume, sing the songs, and enthusiastically interact with the action of the film. I had been aware that Broadway Centre Cinemas does this each December, so I made a point to go this year. It was a thoroughly delightful experience!

The plot of The Sound of Music and Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer’s iconic performances are well-known, so I won’t summarize or review those here. Instead, I will focus on the sing-along experience that Broadway Centre Cinemas provides.

• This is a family-friendly event in which people of all ages and abilities feel comfortable and included. Grandparents, parents, and young children equally enjoyed actively engaging with the film.
• Dressing in costume is welcome and encouraged. A few people dressed in dirndls, lederhosen, or cozy Alpine sweaters, but most patrons wore regular clothes. I don’t cosplay on a regular basis, and putting together a costume for this would have required more time and energy than I had, so I opted for an appropriately themed T-shirt. Whether you prefer to dress in costume, regular clothes, or somewhere in between, you are at home at this event. The important thing is to go, relax, and enjoy the experience.
• As you enter the theater, you receive a small bag of props to be used at various points in the movie: a bell, feathers, curtain fabric, a white flower, a party invitation, and a confetti popper. Similarly, each theater seat is labeled with one of the musical notes (do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti). Patrons are to hold up their card and sing their note more enthusiastically (loudly) than the others during that song. Being able to engage kinesthetically with the film was a lot of fun!
• These showings provide karaoke-type captions of all of the songs, including the nuns singing in choir (I think this was unexpected as it elicited chuckles from the audience.). The captions make the lyrics accessible and remove any anxiety about knowing all of the words well enough to participate in singing. The audience is free to belt out all of the songs! This, too, was really fun!
• Fully engaging with the film doesn’t end with having props and singing all of the songs. Audience members are invited to respond in specific ways to certain characters: cheering and whistling for Maria and Captain von Trapp, booing the Nazis, and hissing at Baroness Schraeder. The audience understood the assignment and took special pleasure in boisterously booing the Nazis and hissing at the Baroness. This spilled over into the audience spontaneously applauding at the end of key scenes, similar to what one would do at a live performance.
• These showings have a dedicated intermission about two-thirds of the way through the movie. Small cups of apple-spiced tea and Danish butter cookies (“tea with jam and bread”) are available in the theater lobby for patrons to enjoy. This was a very thoughtful touch.

Three worthwhile takeaways stand out from this experience: the value of seeing a movie on the big screen, the advantages of actively engaging with a film through multiple modalities, and the enjoyment of connecting with the community in a different way.

• I have seen The Sound of Music multiple times on television, but this was my first time seeing it on a large screen in a theater. The film was restored and remastered this year for its 60th anniversary. I am not certain if this is the version Broadway Centre Cinemas is using because nothing was said about it in advertising the event, but I suspect it is. The colors are vibrant, and the details are sharp, underscoring the film’s beauty as a whole — its story, its music, and its acting. Every scene is breathtaking, and the film’s artistry is magnified on the larger screen. This reinforces that, to the extent possible, movies are meant to be seen in a theater! Doing so is qualitatively superior to watching them at home.
• I believe that there is a time and place for everything, and I agree with abiding by the usual etiquette of watching a movie or play quietly as a sign of respect. However, that is a passive way to receive the story. Having permission to interact with the film in a variety of ways in real time opens up new layers of understanding and thinking about it. I found that to be really meaningful.
• Joining with others to sing together is a meaningful way to connect with or create community. You have an opportunity to let your guard down, meet new people and generate positive energy around a shared interest. This is a particularly worthwhile thing to do during the holiday season.

Broadway Centre Cinemas has two more opportunities to attend Sing With Maria on Saturday, December 13, 2025. As of this writing, Salt Lake Film Society’s social media pages state that tickets are still available, but they are selling quickly. If this event interests you, act quickly to secure yourself a spot. Definitely keep this event on your radar for next year, and watch for tickets to go on sale in November. Click here for information about this and other Salt Lake Film Society offerings.