S.F.’s movie singalongs the sound of humanity

There is a jacket at the back of my closet I wear once a year in December. It’s forest green with horn buttons and folkstitching, like you might wear over lederhosen shorts — or when fleeing the Nazis after belting out Rodgers and Hammerstein.

To the readers who guessed that this is the jacket I wear to “The Sound of Music” singalongs at the Castro Theatre, you are a few of my favorite things.

I’ve watched the movie at home plenty of times, but nothing compares to the full sensory experience of participating in a singalong. Like almost everything that happens at the Castro Theatre, it takes an existing cultural landmark like this 1965 Oscarwinning musical into something even more … extra. And it’s not just the goodie bags and overthetop costumes you see at the singalong that expand the film experience. There’s a spirit around the event that embodies something of the San Francisco that still exists in many people’s hopes for the city.

“The Sound of Music,” which is based on the true story of the von

Trapp family singers, features a cast full of gentle nuns and cheerful (but surprisingly not annoying) children. It is set in the green hills and snowcapped mountains of interwar Salzburg. The film’s opening shot of Julie Andrews spinning in a meadow is so famous it’s had an entire cultural life independent of the film as a meme, gif and pop art fixation. Songs like “My Favorite Things” and “DoReMi” are popular favorites, especially during the holidays.

The plot also has a slowsimmering romance between nanny Maria, played by Andrews, and her employer Capt. von Trapp, played by Christopher Plummer, that resolves in a perfect musical culmination. Some find the combination of these ingredients too sweet, but for me, that’s balanced by the last halfhour of the film where the family escapes the Nazis and the movie becomes a war flick before the finale.

With so much to offer, it appeals to many. But the film’s overall message of personal growth, family and saying no to Nazis is one that especially resonates with fans as the year draws to a close and we assess what matters the most in our lives.

Getting together to watch the movie and sing songs from “The Sound of Music” is such a simple and comforting thought that it feels almost like a radical act of personal happiness. Community singing is one of my favorite audience experiences to watch. People usually start out stiff and hesitant, but as the music goes on, you can see their bodies loosen; they become more human. Their faces usually reflect that change, too, from awkward to comfortable to sometimes even selfassured. Few are perfect singers, but that’s not the point. Even with untrained voices unsure of the melody, there’s a kind of verite harmony that eventually settles in the sound.

The Castro is one of many theaters around the world that host singalongs to “The Sound of Music.” Throughout the year, Sara Moore and Laurie Bushman also present singalongs to other films at the Castro, like Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Little Mermaid,” which attract exuberant audiences. But there’s something especially rich about the crosssection of people who come for “The Sound of Music.”

You see different neighborhoods and cities represented — Boomers, Gen X and Millennials taking time off from trading insults on social media. Drag queens are next to church groups — because in San Francisco, the two mix. And musical theater fanatics sit next to people who would never be seen at any musical … except this one. There are also people who probably only ever come to the Castro for this one event a year next to theater regulars. These groups have not only come together, they’ve come together out of a common love (for “The Sound of Music”) and for a common activity (to sing).

That feeling of sharing and experiencing art together is the vision of the city I hold close, no matter what changes disrupt the Bay Area. We’re a melange of humanity, and on our best days, we’re a weird, wonderful mass of people united in a common experience. Some wear costumes, some sing out full and proud, and some just take it all in.

To paraphrase the musical, no matter how wicked and miserable we can be outside the theater, when we sing along, it makes something good.

Sing-Along “The Sound of Music”: 1 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 31. $12-$16. Castro Theatre, 429 Castro St., S.F.www.castro theatre.com