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The Sound Of Music

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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.

Contents

Plot outline

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.

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 the woman 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 singing.

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) – they did not have to flee right away – and when they did it was to Italy, not Switzerland, via train,not foot.

Versions

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.

1961 London production

The London production opened at the Palace Theatre on May 18, 1961 and ran for 2,385 performances. Jean Bayless played Maria, Roger Dann played Captain Von Trapp and Constance Shacklock was the Mother Abbess.

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 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 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.

The 1991 Japanese Animation version

In 1991, Nippon Animation produced a series of animation with 40 episodes acording 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. This production later starred Richard Chamberlain as the Captain. 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.

The Australian production

"The Sound of Music" Australian production
Enlarge
"The Sound of Music" 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, whilst the role of Maria will be found on a search across the talent of the UK in a new reality TV show, 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.

List of Soundtracks

Trivia

References

External links

 

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