Media Training Question #35 – How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?

Oct. 29, 2010 - PRLog -- If you’re wondering why I’m writing about the Oprah Winfrey show today and what that has to do with this Blog and Media Training, it’s a fair question.  Furthermore, if you are curious what The Sound of Music has to do with the Blog as well, well that’s a legitimate curiosity, too.  But please indulge me and maybe you’ll figure it out as we go along.

I received a call late in the afternoon on Wednesday from my sister Marion that Oprah was going to be having the entire cast of the 1965 smash Academy Award winning move The Sound of Music on her show on Thursday.  I am a huge fan of this movie and musical and have been for years.  Celebrating the 45th anniversary of the release of the movie that to this day is considered the most successful Broadway musical to make it to the silver screen, and for good reason, Oprah Winfrey not only gave us the entire cast but the great grandchildren of Maria Von Trapp, the woman who wrote the book that became the blockbuster Broadway musical.  It was pretty special.

Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer and the rest of the cast regaled us with inside stories and remembrances that were warm and sweet.  It was a lovely reunion and it is nice to learn that this cast became one big family that to this day is close.

There were a few astounding moments in the show for me that prodded me to write this today.  One was a segment where fans of the movie talked about what the movie had meant to them.  People talked about how the movie lifted them, gave them confidence, gave them hope and allowed them to escape the traps of their daily lives.  It movie was for these people what some songs do for others.  It was also a great demonstration of how even 45 years later the message this movie shared is still fresh and new.  It is for me anyway.

In another segment, Oprah and Julie Andrews talked about the horrific surgery that stole Andrews’ vice some years back forever depriving us from ever hearing her sing live again, and honestly, the only thing that could have made yesterday’s show any better was if she would have, could have sung.  

If you look at the list of songs from The Sound of Music, there is clearly no one who reads this that doesn’t know at least one of the numbers, AT LEAST one.  Songs like the title song itself, The Sound of Music, which opens the movie and has become as memorable an opening to any move ever made and is stunning.  Songs like Do Re Mi, and I Have Confidence.  Songs like Maria, So Long, Farewell, My Favorite Things and Climb Every Mountain are important songs to the great American songbook.  But there is one song, so sweet and tender, so patriotic and heartfelt, that is was forever burned into my memory the very firs time I heard it.  That song is Edelweiss.  I have posted the video for your listening pleasure.  It is the song I used when I would sing by babies to sleep.  It is the song in the movie that bridges the family from the tortured past to a brighter future.  It holds many messages and that brings to me to my point today: messages.

I am a message guy and we are all motivated and inspired by all types of things.  I am moved by writing, movies and songs.  I am open and sensitive to the gifts of others so much more talented than I am and I am more than willing to allow myself to be persuaded by their gifts and messages.  It is in the quiet moments of my life that great self discovery comes.  And this is no different when I am working with new clients; I have to find a connection to them and their message.  I spend a great deal of time trying to find inspiration in their work and I rely on the skills and intuition I have learned by being shaped and moved by the muses in my life like The Sound of Music.  

Julie Andrews shared a story about deciding to write children’s books with her daughter Emma.  Julie, obviously devastated by the surgery that took her singing voice, was feeling very down.  She remembered the line from the movie where she states, “When God closed one door, He opens a window”.  For her that was true as her publishing company has been wildly successful and many of her children’s books have ended on the best seller lists, and as her daughter pointed out to Julie Andrews one day that although she no longer had her singing voice, she had learned to use her voice in another way.  That did bring her comfort.

There is a lot of noise in our lives and maybe the reason we sometimes have difficulty trying to find our own messages is that we have forgotten what move us.  Maybe we have forgotten what led us to who we are and where we are right now.  Maybe for you it was a mentor, an experience, or an ideal that led you to your life.  For me it was the arts in many forms and The Sound of Music is a profound part of my experience.  I make no apologies for my muses, and neither should you.

Oh, and to answer the question as to how do we solve a problem like Maria?  We don’t, she was never really a problem at all!

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Tony has spent the better part of the past two decades in and around the media. As the host of his own nationally syndicated radio programs for 15 years, Tony has interviewed over 25,000 guests and appeared as a guest on over 800 radio and national television shows. He founded of his own public relations firm and he went on to author two books and became a “go to” authority on a myriad of issues from weight loss to self empowerment; from politics to pop culture. Tony’s list of media training clients number over 2000, many of them well known celebrities and authors. He often works under confidentially agreements and enjoys of the challenge of helping people discover their voice.
Tony is respected and well known for his honesty and willingness to do what it takes to get to a core message. He works tirelessly with his clients and advocates for his clients in finding the most passionate and profound tenets of their message and then giving them the tools to deliver that message.