Von Trapps Reunite!

By Stephen M. Silverman

07/30/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

New York's cavernous Ziegfeld Theater was alive with "The Sound of Music" last night, as the sing-along version of the 1965 Julie Andrews movie (which has captivated the U.K. over the past year) arrived on America shores, to coincide with the release of the film's special-edition DVD. The premiere festivities, which all but shut down West 54th Street, included the arrival of two of the flick's Von Trapps -- the eldest, Liesl (Charmain Carr), and the youngest, Gretl (Kym Karath). Also on hand were the actor who played telegram boy Rolf (Daniel Truhitte) and an veritable army of drag queens dressed as nuns, as well as girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes and others dressed as characters in the movie. The winner of the $1,000 best costume prize went to a guy attached to a portable gazebo and dressed half as Rolf and half as Liesl. He sang "Sixteen, Going on Seventeen" for the capacity crowd. As for the nuns, they genuflected in the aisles during the movie's musical numbers.