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. |
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