Who is The Sound Of Music

Background
After viewing Die Trapp-Familie (The Trapp Family), a 1956 German film about the von Trapp family, and its 1958 sequel, Die Trapp-Familie in Amerika (The Trapp Family in America), stage director Vincent J. Donehue thought that the project would be perfect for his friend Mary Martin; Broadway producers Leland Hayward and Richard Halliday (Martin's husband) agreed. The producers originally envisioned a nonmusical play that would be written by Lindsay and Crouse and that would feature songs from the repertoire of the Trapp Family Singers. Then they decided to add an original song or two, perhaps by Rodgers and Hammerstein. But it was soon agreed that the project should feature all new songs and be a musical rather than a play.

Details of the history of the von Trapp family were altered for the musical. Georg Ritter von Trapp lived with his family in a villa in Aigen, a suburb of Salzburg. The real Maria was sent to be a nurse to one of the children, not a governess to all of them. The Captain's oldest child was a boy, not a girl, and the names of the children were changed (at least partly to avoid confusion: the Captain's eldest daughter was also called Maria). The von Trapps spent some years in Austria after Maria and the Captain married -- they did not have to flee right away -- and they fled to Italy, not Switzerland. Maria von Trapp is said to have enjoyed the stage show but to have hated the movie: her standard response to praise was, "it's a nice story, but it's not my story."

Martin called the show a "triumph of audiences over critics," since the show was not well reviewed in New York. Walter Kerr famously called it a "great step backward" for Rodgers and Hammerstein, but it nevertheless enjoyed a long and profitable run.

During the Cold War, BBC planned to broadcast The Sound of Music on radio in the event of a nuclear strike on the United Kingdom. The broadcast would be part of an emergency timetable of programs designed to "reassure" the public in the aftermath of the attack. BBC officials didn't realize that a television broadcast would not be possible, because television sets would be rendered inoperable by the electromagnetic pulse effect.

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Synopsis
The action takes place in the town of Salzburg in Austria, just before World War II.

Maria, a woman studying for the Roman Catholic sisterhood in an abbey who has begun to doubt her calling, is sent out to be a governess to the seven children of Captain Georg Ritter von Trapp, a widower and a decorated World War I captain of the Austro-Hungarian Navy ("Maria"). Von Trapp is an Austrian patriot at a time when it would be safer to be friendly to the ascendant Nazi regime. The Captain is raising his children in a strict and militaristic manner that Maria immediately disagrees with. The children, initially hostile and mischievous, soon come to like the courageous Maria ("My Favorite Things"), as she works to loosen the Captain's strict policies and brings warmth -- including the joy of singing ("Do-Re-Mi") -- back into the household. She finds herself falling in love with the stern Captain but tries to suppress her feelings, since he is engaged to be married to Baroness Elsa Schräder. He too finds himself warming to the unconventional governess. Meanwhile, the eldest girl, Liesl, and a messenger of the Nazi officials, Rolfe, are attracted to each other and meet secretly ("Sixteen Going On Seventeen").

The Baroness fosters some misunderstandings, and Maria returns to the abbey; but the children implore her to return. After some soul-searching, Maria leaves the abbey and marries the Captain. Soon the Captain is called to duty in the Kriegsmarine of the Third Reich, but Maria and the Captain arrange for the family to leave the country. Following a family concert that features the Captain's singing "Edelweiss", they sing their final song, "So Long, Farewell", as they escape through the convent and travel over the mountains to Switzerland.

Musical numbers in the original production (with annotations)
Act I
Praeludium - The Nuns
The Sound of Music - Maria
Maria - The Nuns
My Favorite Things - Maria and the Mother Abbess
Do-Re-Mi - Maria and the Children
Sixteen Going On Seventeen - Rolf and Liesl
The Lonely Goatherd - Maria and the Children
How Can Love Survive - Max and Elsa
The Sound of Music (Reprise) - Maria, the Captain and the Children
Laendler
So Long, Farewell - The Children
Climb Ev'ry Mountain - Mother Abbess
Act II
No Way to Stop It - Max, the Captain and Elsa
An Ordinary Couple - Maria and the Captain%u2020
Processional - The Nuns
Sixteen Going On Seventeen (Reprise) - Maria and Liesl
Do-Re-Mi (Reprise) - Maria, the Captain and the Children%u2021
Edelweiss - The Captain, Maria and the Children
So Long, Farewell (Reprise) - Maria, the Captain and the Children
Finale - The Nuns

NOTES:

%u2020Sometimes replaced by Something Good
%u2021Replaced by The Lonely Goatherd in the 1998 revival.
In some productions, My Favorite Things follows Sixteen Going on Seventeen in the thunderstorm scene, while The Lonely Goatherd is shifted to another scene.
Many stage revivals have also included "I Have Confidence" and "Something Good", which were written for the film version by Richard Rodgers.
Many people believe "Edelweiss" to be a traditional Austrian song, or even a national anthem. In fact the song was written for the musical and is little known in Austria.
The Ländler dance as performed by Maria and the Captain during the party is only loosely based on the traditional Austrian dance of the same name.

1959 Broadway production
The Sound of Music opened on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on November 16, 1959, and ran for 1,443 performances. The director was Vincent J. Donehue and the choreographer Joe Layton. The original cast included Mary Martin as Maria, Theodore Bikel as Captain Georg von Trapp, Patricia Neway as Mother Abbess, Kurt Kasznar as Max Detweiler, Marion Marlowe as Elsa Schraeder, Brian Davies as Rolfe, and 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. And it was nominated for Best Featured Actor in a Musical (both Theodore Bikel and Kurt Kasznar) and Best Director of a Musical (Vincent J. Donehue). The entire children's cast was nominated for Best Featured Actress category as a single nominee, even though two children were boys.

Jeannie Carson and Nancy Dussault also played Maria during the run. Jon Voight, who eventually married co-star Lauri Peters, was a replacement for Rolfe's part. The national tour starred Florence Henderson.

The original Broadway cast album sold three million copies.

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 and used the original New York choreography supervised by Joe Layton and the original New York sets designed by Oliver Smith. The cast included 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, and Nicholas Bennett as Rolfe.

1961 Australian production
The Australian Production opened at Melbourne's Princess Theatre in 1961 and ran for 3 years. It then toured Australia for many years, with Vanessa Lee (Peter Graves' wife) taking the role of Maria. The production was directed by Charles Hickman, with musical numbers staged by Ernest Parham. The cast included June Bronhill as Maria, Peter Graves as Captain von Trapp, Rosina Raisbeck as Mother Abbess, Lola Brooks as Elsa Schraeder, Eric Reiman as Max Detweiler, Julie Day as Liesl, and Tony Jenkins as Rolfe.

A recording was made in 1961. It was the first time a major overseas production featuring Australian artists was transferred to disc .

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. Michael Jayston played Captain von Trapp and Honor Blackman was the Baroness. Despite Clark's 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 Clark as "the best" Maria ever. Clark extended her initial six-month contract to thirteen months. Playing to 101 percent 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 recorded in The Guinness Book of Theatre). This was the first stage production to incorporate the two additional songs that Richard Rodgers composed for the film version. The cast recording of this production was the first to be recorded digitally, but the recording has not been released on compact disc.

The 1988 Takarazuka (Japan) version
In 1988, the Snow Troupe of Takarazuka Revue performed the musical at the Bow Hall (Takarazuka, Hy%u014Dgo). Harukaze Hitomi and Gou Mayuka starred.

1990 New York City Opera production
A 1990 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, and Werner Klemperer as Max Detweiler.

1993 Stockholm premiere
In the original Stockholm production, Carola Häggkvist played Maria, Tommy Körberg played Captain Georg von Trapp, Erik Skutnick played Max, and Emilia Brown played Gretl.

1998 Broadway revival
In 1998, director Susan H. 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 Schraeder, Fred Applegate as Max Detweiler, Dashiell Eaves as Rolf, and Laura Benanti, in her Broadway debut, as Luker's standby. Later, Luker and Siberry were replaced by Richard Chamberlain as the Captain and Benanti 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. It then went on tour in North America. This production was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.

The Australian revival

"The Sound of Music" Australian productionThe Australian revival of The Sound of Music opened in the Lyric Theatre, in Sydney, New South Wales. Lisa McCune, the star of the popular Australian drama Blue Heelers, played Maria von Trapp; TV personality Bert Newton was Max; and John Waters was Captain von Trapp. The children's cast 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.

The production also toured Melbourne, Victoria, Brisbane, Queensland, Adelaide and Perth, where Rachael Beck replaced Lisa McCune as Maria and Rob Guest took over as Captain von Trapp.

2006 London revival
An Andrew Lloyd Webber production opened on November 15, 2006, at the London Palladium. Live Nation's David Ian was co-producer with Jeremy Sams.

Following failed negotiations with Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson, the role of Maria was cast through a UK talent search reality TV show called How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?. The talent show was produced by (and starred) Andrew Lloyd Webber, and featured presenter/comedian Graham Norton, and a judging panel of David Ian, John Barrowman and Zoe Tyler. Connie Fisher was selected by public voting as the winner of the show. During February/March of 2007, Fisher suffered with a heavy cold that finally prevented her from performing for two weeks. To prevent this from happening again, an alternate Maria, Aoife Mullholland, a fellow contestant in 'How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?', portrays Maria on Monday evenings and Wednesday matinee performances. Simon Shepherd was originally cast as Captain von Trapp, but after two preview performances he was withdrawn from the production, and Alexander Hanson moved into the role in time for the official opening date along with Lesley Garrett as the Mother Abbess. After Garrett left, Margaret Preece took the role. The cast also featured Lauren Ward as the Baroness, Ian Gelber as Max, Sophie Bould as Liesl, and Neil McDermott as Rolfe. From 24 September, the cast includes Simon Burke as the Captain, Fiona Sinnott as the Baroness, Amy Lennox as Liesl, Paul Grunert as Max and Luke Fredericks as Rolf. Fisher (Maria) and Preece (Mother Abbess) continue their roles.

The show has received excellent reviews, especially for Fisher, Preece, Bould and Garrett. A soundtrack recording of the London Palladium cast was released.

2007 Stockholm revival
A Stockholm revival is scheduled to begin in September 2007 with Pernilla Wahlgren as Maria, Tommy Nilsson as Captain von Trapp, Ulrika Liljeroth and Emmi Christensson as Liesel, Gert Fylking as Franz, Fillie Lyckow as Frau Schmidt, Malena Laszlo as Baroness, Johan Wahlström as Max, Jörgen Olsson as Rolf, and Margareta Dalhamn as Mother Abbess. Some of the characters names were translated into Swedish.

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. The lead roles went to opera stars: Frederica von Stade as Maria, Håkan Hagegård as Captain von Trapp, and Eileen Farrell as the Mother Abbess. Kunzel cast children from the Cincinnati School for the Creative and Performing Arts in the children's parts. This all-digital recording combined the songs of both the stage and the screen versions, and included sections of music that were being recorded for the first time.

Cultural references
Songs from the musical adapted in popular music (for example, Gwen Stefani's 2006 single, "Wind It Up") and pastiched in advertising (TV ads for Skoda Fabia.

Many television shows have featured characters singing songs or pastiches of songs from the musical. The shows include Seinfeld, Will & Grace, The OC (episode 313, "The Pot Stirrer"), The Simpsons, and Family Guy. In other television shows, the musical is merely mentioned (e.g., in the Charmed episode, "The Power of Three Blondes").

In the film Addams Family Values, Pugsly, Wednesday, and Joel are made more "Chippewa" by being forced to watch the The Sound of Music.

An anime version of the show was produced by Nippon Animation as part of its World Masterpiece Theater.