Less than an hour after returning home from the 90+ km bike ride on Sunday, I had to turn around and head out with Tawn for an evening social event.  One of Tawn’s childhood friends is the director of Satit Bilingual School of Rangsit University, located north of the old Don Meaung Airport in Pathumthani Province.

As part of the school’s emphasis on an international, Thai-English education, this is the second year they’ve mounted a production of an English language musical.  This production, into which a great effort was put, was of “The Sound of Music”.  Running multiple days and featuring the university’s orchestra and a cast of primary and secondary school students, this special event was attended by Her Royal Highness Princess Soamsavoli Kitiyakara, the former wife of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and mother of the first grandchild of Their Majesties the Kign and Queen.

First we stopped to pick up another of Tawn’s childhood friends, Mon, who looked stunning in her outfit. 

We got a little lost in finding the school but had left home plenty early, so arrived with an hour to spare before curtain.  There were police everywhere – I’d imagine 200 or more officers are used whenever a member of the Royal Family goes to some event – but fortunately as friends of the school’s director, the guard pointed us to what he called the “IP” parking.  I guess we didn’t make “Very” status, only “Important” status!

Pim and her daughter Tara greeted us.  Tara had a special responsibility along with another young girl: to give a present to the Princess.  Kind of like the role of a flower girl in a wedding, she was all dressed up (as a princess, no less!) and when the time came to curtsey then walk up to the Princess, Tara and her friend needed a lot of guidance from one of the Naval Protocol Officers.

There was a large reception in the administration building.  We were upstairs in a secondary reception area – the IP area, I guess.  Notice the red carpet in the picture below.  This was set up for the Princess and students were sitting the full length of it, neatly dressed, awaiting her arrival.

We entered the auditorium about twenty minutes before show time.  Oddly, the chairs were set some distance back from the stage and orchestra.  You’ll notice the raised platform and special chair set up for the Princess.  We’ve been many arts events where a member of the Royal Family has attended and I always think they must get a bit lonely because even if they attend with friends or family members, the highest ranking person is always set on a pedestal, away from all the other seats.

The show itself was interesting: they removed almost all of the dialogue between the musical numbers, so the entire show was done in less than ninety minutes, compared to the usual three hours.  If you weren’t familiar with the story, though, you could easily have become lost.  Who is this person delivering mail?  Why is Maria going back to the abbey?  Who is the Baronness?

How was the singing?  Well, Maria and Captain Von Trapp were not the strongest singers.  Some problems with the microphones and amplification made the situation even worse, rendering their high notes nearly inaudible.  The girl who played Liesl, though, had a lovely voice and her duet with the boy playing Rolf (“Sixteen Going on Seventeen”) was one of the high points of the show.

The biggest thing that tickled me was the accents.  I know, I shouldn’t laugh at this, but it was so cute as many of the students are Thai and some of them speak English with a strong Thai accent.  Especially the boy playing Captain Von Trapp.  When he spoke, I couldn’t help but think of Yul Brenner saying “etcetera, etcetera, etcetera” in The King and I.  Awful thing to say, huh?

After the show we stood as Her Royal Highness departed to the playing of her own anthem, and then took some more pictures before heading home.  Needless to say, I slept very well Sunday night after a bike ride, a drive all the way to Rangsit, and then an exciting musical performance.