The Sound of Music is a very popular Broadway musical based on the book by Maria Augusta von Trapp “The Story of Trapp Family Singers” in 1949. Its first musical introduction was in 1959 with the music written by Rodgers together with Hammerstein and the lyrics is written by Hammerstein. Mary Martin and Theodore Bickel were the original cast for this Broadway musical. The story is gloriously written and performed with funniest humour and most touching scenes, making this musical to be the best family show to watch.
The musical then was adapted into a legendary award winning musical in 1965 starring by Julie Andrews as Maria and Christopher Plummer as Captain von Trapp. There are more romance in the movie compared to the Broadway version and some scenes have been adapted to suit the screen version.
The story of The Sound of Music goes like this. There is a little girl named Maria who wants to become a nun for her love to God. Later, she finally makes it into an abbey as a novice. However, she and the elder nuns realize that the abbey life does not suit her. She loves to sing and a very expressive girl while the life in the abbey is full of strict rules and respect solemnity. Her convent then decides to send her to Captain von Trapp’s house to work as a governess to see if she really does not belong to the abbey life.
The von Trapp family turns out to be the weirdest family she’s ever seen. The father raises his seven children as if they are in the navy. At first, the children try to send her away by playing tricks on her, but they slowly begin to like her after they find out that Maria is different than any other governesses which were sent to take care of them.
One day, Captain von Trapp leaves the house to visit his fiance, Baroness Schreder. During his absence, Maria gets a little freedom to teach the children to sing and take them to picnic. When the Captain returns, he is very upset at first finding her children singing and playing “wildly” in the yard and the lake. However, he realizes that it is not a bad thing and start to join the singing.
The Captain then holds a party for the Baroness that night. During the party, the Captain realizes that he has fallen in love with Maria. Baroness knows this and talks Maria to leave the house for good and back to the abbey. However, the elder sister in the abbey asks Maria to return to the Captain’s house because she left for the wrong reason. When Maria returns to the von Trapp’s house, the Captain breaks his engagement with the Baroness and marries Maria instead.
The new couple then go on their honey moon. When they return, the Nazis already occupy the town so that they have to leave or to be arrested. They then escape to Switzerland through the hills.
There are many great songs in this musical. Some of them are Do-Re-Mi, Climb Every Mountain, Edelweiss, and My Favorite Things. To me, The Sound of Music is the best musical ever and everyone should at least see it once in their lifetime.