Musical Guide - Review Of The Sound Of Music
In this article we're going to review one of the great musicals
of our time, which is actually a true story, The Sound Of Music.
The Sound Of Music is based on a very true a heroic story about
the Von Trapp family. Briefly, since this article is really
about music and not history, the Von Trapp family lived in
Austria just prior to World War II. As Hitler took control of
the country the family, totally against Hitler's annexation,
fled the country and eventually settled in the United States.
They were able to do this from the money they made as the Trapp
Family Singers, and thus the focus of the musical.
Before The Sound Of Music hit Broadway with Mary Martin in the
lead role that was made popular by Julie Andrews, it was first
made into a very lavish movie in 1965. Julie Andrews had earlier
gained her fame as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady and was a
natural for the part of Maria in this musical.
The words and music were written by the one and only team of
Rogers and Hammerstein. The music in this production is some of
the most popular music ever written for a musical. During the
period when the movie was released there probably wasn't one
school spring concert production that didn't feature songs from
the movie.
The great music may have, in a sense, done the story a
disservice. The truth is, the story is indeed a great one in
itself, one of a family's fight for freedom. And in most cases a
movie based on this theme would have been able to stand on its
own merits. But the music was so fantastic that, in a sense, it
overshadowed the story.
And if you want to take irony to an even higher level, the
actual true musical highlight of The Sound Of Music was not even
a song sung by Andrews or The Von Trapp Family themselves. It
was a tune called "Climb Every Mountain" which was sung by the
Mother Superior of the Convent that Maria came from. This song
itself was probably one of the greatest pieces of music ever
written, sung by a character who was hardly seen.
Yes, the story of how Maria wormed her way into the hearts of
the family, especially the Baron, played brilliantly by
Christopher Plummer, was beautiful and heartwarming. To see a
man who was so against music in his home, because of the death
of his first wife, transform into a man who made music and Maria
his life was enough to bring out the tissues all by itself. Add
to that the children who so grew to love Maria for giving them a
reason to smile again and you have a story that you'd have to
have the heart of a tree sloth not to love.
Oh and yes, there are the great tunes like the title track, "My
Favorite Things," "Do-Re-Mi," and of course the tear jerker
"Edelweiss" which when the Baron tried to sing at the family's
farewell concert just before they defected, got all choked up
and Maria had to help him get through it. Yeah, you had to be
there.
If you haven't seen this great movie, please rent the DVD for a
weekend and watch it. Really watch it. It's one of those rare
treats that won't disappoint.