The Story

• The Sound of Music is loosely based on The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, written in 1949 by Maria, the main character in the musical.

• Some things in the musical didnot actually happen (like the escape from the Nazis) but the main characters really did live mostly as shown in the musical.

• The book inspired a pair of German movie in 1956 and 1958, which then inspired the Broadway musical in 1959.

The Music

• Richard Rodgers was an American composer who wrote music for many successful musicals in the 1920’s-50’s. (43 musicals, 900+ songs total)

• He worked with three famous lyricists: Lorenz Hart, Stephen Sondheim and Oscar Hammerstein II (who wrote thewords for The Sound of Music).

• Among their famous most musicals are: Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King & I, Cinderella and The Sound of Music.

About the Musical

• The Sound of Music first opened on Broadway in 1959 and ran 1,443 performances. It won a number of awards and tied for the year’s Tony award for best musical.

• The musical has been revived a number of times on Broadway, West End, and around the world.

• The musical was made into a popular movie in 1965 starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. It wasremade in 2013 starring Carrie Underwood.

Plot

• The Sound of Music follows Maria Rainer from a postulant (nun in training) in a convent to governess of the widowed Captain von Trapp’s children, to marrying the captain and becoming the children’s mother. She overcomes many challenges including the children’s nasty tricks and the captain’s rigid rules by her optimism and songs. She turns the family into a singing group.

• The early events of WWII are going on during this story, and halfway through the musical the Nazi’s take over Austria. Since Captain von Trapp and Maria do not support Hitler and the Nazi’s, they escape over the tall Alps mountains and eventually come to America.

“Edelweiss” & “So Long, Farewell”

• Capitan von Trapp gets in trouble with the local Nazi government because he refuses to fly a Nazi flag and work for them. He and Maria make a daring escape plan. The family will all perform in the famous Kaltzberg Festival and then sneak away while the judges are making their decision.

• After an extended version of “Do-Re-Mi,” the captain pulls out his guitar to sing and play an old Austrian song “Edelweiss.” Tears come to his eyes as he thinks of the freedom his country has lost to the Nazi’s. In a show of defiance, other Austrians in the audience begin singing the song as well. Then, the family performs “So Long, Farewell” a fun song that features every child in the family. Unbeknownst to the crowd and the Nazi’s, the family sneaks off one by one to escape.

• DVD 2:29-2:44 (2:34-2:41) or• http://youtu.be/8bL2BCiFkTk and • http://youtu.be/Qy9_lfjQopU