The Sound of Music
For the film of the same name, see The Sound of Music (film)The Sound of Music is a
Broadway musical and
film based on the book
The Von Trapp Family Singers by
Maria von Trapp. It contains many hit songs, including "
Edelweiss", "
My Favorite Things", "
Climb Ev'ry Mountain", "
Do-Re-Mi", "
Sixteen Going On Seventeen" and "
The Lonely Goatherd", as well as the title song. The
film version was one of the biggest box office hits in cinema history.
The music was written by
Richard Rodgers and the lyrics by
Oscar Hammerstein II. The book was written by the writing team of
Howard Lindsay and
Russel Crouse, based on the book
The Trapp Family Singers by
Maria von Trapp.It was the final musical written by the successful team of Rodgers and Hammerstein.
Oscar Hammerstein II would die of cancer just nine months after the opening.
After screening a documentary on the von Trapp family, stage director
Vincent J. Donehue began shopping the project around before it was picked up by Broadway producers
Leland Hayward and
Richard Halliday, husband of star
Mary Martin. It was originally envisioned to be a non-musical play to be written by
Howard Lindsay and
Russel Crouse with authentic Austrian music. Then it was decided to add an original song or two, perhaps by Rodgers and Hammerstein. However, it was soon agreed that the project should feature all new songs and be a musical rather than a play.
Part I:In
Salzburg,
Austria,
Maria, a woman studying to become a
nun, is sent from her convent to be the
governess to seven children of
Captain Georg Ritter von Trapp, a widower and a decorated commander in the former
Austro-Hungarian Navy. The children, initially hostile and mischievous, come to like her, and she finds herself falling in love with the captain. He was soon to be married to
Baroness Elsa Schraeder but marries Maria instead. Maria teaches the children to sing.
Part II:The
Nazis take power in
Austria as part of the
Anschluss, and attempt to force Captain von Trapp back in service. However, during a singing performance in a guarded theater, the whole family flees and walks over the mountains to
Switzerland.
It should be noted that details of the von Trapp story were altered for the play and the film. The Captain's eldest child was a boy, not a girl, and the names of the children were changed (at least partly to avoid confusion, as the Captain's second-eldest daughter was also called Maria). The repertoire of the Trapp Family Singers was entirely classical, with a special focus on early motets. The von Trapps spent some years in Austria after Maria and the Captain had married (in 1927) â€" they did not have to flee right away â€" and when they did it was to Italy, not Switzerland, via train, not foot.
Early films
Two
German/
Austrian films,
Die Trapp-Familie (
The Trapp Family,
1956) and a
sequel,
Die Trapp-Familie in Amerika (
1958), were written by
Herbert Reinecker and directed by
Wolfgang Liebeneiner.
Ruth Leuwerik played Maria,
Hans Holt was von Trapp.
1959 Broadway musical
The Sound of Music, with music by
Richard Rodgers, lyrics by
Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by
Howard Lindsay and
Russel Crouse, opened on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on
November 16,
1959, and starred
Mary Martin as Maria and
Theodore Bikel as Captain Georg von Trapp. The original Broadway production cast album on the Columbia label (3 million copies), and ran for 1,443 performances.
Original opening night cast:
*
Mary Martin as Maria
*
Theodore Bikel as Captain von Trapp
*
Patricia Neway as Mother Abbess
*
Kurt Kasznar as Max Detweiler
*
Marion Marlowe as Elsa Schraeder
*
Brian Davies as Rolfe
*
Lauri Peters as Liesl
The production shared the
Tony Award for Best Musical, with
Fiorello!. It also won for Best Actress in a Musical (
Mary Martin), Best Featured Actress in a Musical (
Patricia Neway), Best Scenic Design of a Musical (
Oliver Smith) and Best Musical Direction. It was also nominated for Best Featured Actor in a Musical (both
Theodore Bikel and
Kurt Kasznar), Best Director of a Musical (
Vincent J. Donehue) and oddly enough, the entire children's cast was nominated for Best Featured Actress category as a single nominee despite the fact that two of them were boys.
The choreographer was
Joe Layton.
Martha Wright,
Jeannie Carson and
Nancy Dussault starred as Maria, as the show went on to have 1,443 performances.
Florence Henderson headlined the national tour.
Jon Voight was a replacement, for the part of Rolfe, and he latter married costar
Lauri Peters.
1961 London production
The
London production opened at the
Palace Theatre on
May 18,
1961 and ran for 2,385 performances. It was directed by
Jerome Whyte. With the original New York choreography supervised by
Joe Layton and the original New York sets designed by
Oliver Smith.
Cast:
*
Jean Bayless as Maria
*
Roger Dann as Captain von Trapp
*
Constance Shacklock as Mother Abbess
*
Eunice Gayson as Elsa Schraeder
*
Harold Kasket as Max Detweiler
*
Barbara Brown as Liesl
*
Nicholas Bennett as Rolfe
1981 London revival
In
1981, at producer Ross Taylor's urging,
Petula Clark signed to star in a revival of the show at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in
London's
West End. Despite her misgivings that at age 51 she was too old to play the role convincingly, Clark opened to unanimous rave reviews (and the largest advance sale in the history of British theatre at that time). Maria von Trapp herself, present at the opening night performance, described her as "the best" Maria ever. Due to an unprecedented demand for tickets, Clark extended her initial six-month contract to thirteen months. Playing to 101% of
seating capacity, the show set the highest attendance figure for a single week (October 26–31, 1981) of any British musical production in history, as chronicled by
The Guinness Book of Theatre. This was the first stage production to incorporate the two additional songs that
Richard Rodgers had composed for the film version. The cast recording of this production was the first to be recorded digitally, but the recording has never been released on compact disc.
The 1987 Telarc studio cast recording
The
Telarc label made a studio cast recording of The Sound of Music with the
Cincinnati Pops Orchestra conducted by
Erich Kunzel, casting opera stars in the lead roles.
Frederica von Stade sang the role of Maria opposite Hakan Hagegard's Captain von Trapp and
Eileen Farrell as the Mother Abbess. Kunzel cast children from the Cincinnati School for the Creative and Performing Arts to sing the children's parts. This all-digital recording combined the songs of both the stage and screen versions, and included sections of music that had been recorded for the first time.
The 1988 Takarazuka version
In 1988, the Snow Troupe of
Takarazuka Revue performed the musical at the Bow Hall, starring Harukaze Hitomi and Gou Mayuka.
1990 New York City Opera production
In 1990, the
New York City Opera production was directed by
Oscar Hammerstein II's son, James. It featured
Debby Boone as Maria;
Laurence Guittard as Captain von Trapp;
Werner Klemperer as Max Detweiler; and
Claudia Cummings as Mother Abbess.
The 1991 Japanese Animation version
In 1991,
Nippon Animation produced a series of animation with 40 episodes according to the life of the Trappe family, and was broadcasted by
Fuji TV. This series had been broadcast in Italy, Hong Kong, Germany, France, Poland etc.
The 1998 revival
In 1998, director
Susan Schulman staged the first Broadway revival of
The Sound of Music, with
Rebecca Luker as Maria and
Michael Siberry as Captain von Trapp. It also featured
Patti Cohenour as Mother Abbess,
Jan Maxwell as Elsa Schrader,
Fred Applegate as Max Detweiler, and
Laura Benati in her Broadway debut. Later, Luker and Siberry were replaced by
Richard Chamberlain as the Captain and Benati as Maria.
Lou Taylor Pucci made his Broadway debut as the understudy for Kurt von Trapp. This revival opened on
March 12,
1998 at the Martin Beck Theatre where it ran for 15 months, then went on to tour in North America. This production was nominated for a
Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.
The Australian production
The
Australian production of The Sound of Music opened in the Lyric Theatre, in
Sydney,
New South Wales, with the star of the popular Australian drama
Blue Heelers,
Lisa McCune, playing the role of Maria von Trapp, TV personality Bert Newton as Max and
John Waters as Captain von Trapp. The von Trapp Children were played by two casts of children, alternating performances. One of these casts included Pia Morley, Christopher Nolan, Stephanie Martonhelyi, Mathew Gammel,
Nikki Webster, Rachel Marley and Lauren Vartanian. This production was based on the 1998 Broadway revival staging, directed by
Susan Schulman. The show was produced by the Gordon Frost Organisation and Sports and Entertainment Limited.
Other cities the production toured were
Melbourne,
Victoria, and
Brisbane,
Queensland.
The show also was also performed in Perth, Western Australia, with Rachael Beck replacing Lisa McCune as Maria, and Rob Guest assuming the role of Captain von Trapp.
2005 Vienna production
In
February 2005, the musical premiered at the
Volksoper in
Vienna. This was the first ever production in Austria. This production starred Austro-Australian actress
Sandra Pires as Maria and opera singer
Michael Kraus as Captain von Trapp. The production was directed by Renaud Doucet and designed by André Barbe. Erich Kunzel conducted.
2006 London revival
Andrew Lloyd Webber's plans to reopen the musical in London's
West End from late 2006 are progressing well. The
London Palladium has now been confirmed as the potential venue and Live Nation's David Ian will co-produce with Jeremy Sans at the helm. Already names potentially linked with the new show include
Lesley Garrett and
Robert Lindsay, while
John Barrowman has been confirmed as the role of Captain Von Trapp. The role of Maria will be found on a search across the talent of the UK in a new reality TV show,
How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?, produced by and starring Lloyd Webber as well as comedian
Graham Norton to find the new star. The show will begin previews from November 24, 2006 and will have its opening night on December 5, 2006. The show is initially booking until April 14, 2007 and it is thought that tickets will go on sale sometime in June.
*The Sound of Music (Maria singing in the opening scene)
*Maria (performed by the Nuns)
*I Have Confidence (Maria)
*
Sixteen Going On Seventeen (Rolf and Liesl)
*
My Favourite Things (Maria)
*
Do-Re-Mi (Maria and the Children)
*The Lonely Goatherd (Maria and the Children)
*So Long, Farewell (The Children)
*Climb Ev'ry Mountain (Mother Abbess)
*Something Good (Maria and the Captain)
*Edelweiss (The Captain)
*Laendler
*Sixteen Going On Seventeen Reprise (Maria and Liesl)
*Many people believe "
Edelweiss" to be a traditional Austrian song, or even the national anthem. In fact the song was written for the musical and is little known in Austria. And, contrary to the impression created by the lyric "Bless my homeland forever", the
edelweiss is the national flower of Switzerland, not Austria.
*The musical itself is virtually unknown in the country, except in backpacker's hostels in Salzburg, where the film is screened daily on DVD.
*Details of the touring singalong version of the movie
*The Sound Of Music Kids - Where are they now
*The Real Story of the Von Trapp Family (from the US National Archives)
*The Sound of Music - Ever wondered where it was filmed?
