Why We Still Love The Sound of Music

With a new production of The Sound of Music opening, Coral Drouyn explores why the musical holds so much magic for us.

What is it about The Sound of Music that sets it apart from other musicals? Why are we welcoming yet another production, this time the award winning London Palladium production from 2006? After all, the show is 55 years old, so what is its magic appeal?

Certainly Maria Von Trapp couldn’t possibly have imagined, when she, her husband the captain, and the children escaped from Austria in 1938 just after the Anschluss, that nearly eighty years later their story would still be gracing stages around the world, and we would all (well, almost all) be singing “Doh, Re, Me” at the movie singalongs. Only The Rocky Horror Picture Show can compete with those nights, with everyone dressing up in costume and singing along with Julie Andrews or Tim Curry.

There are people who won’t admit they love the show, and those who are unashamed groupies (I have friends who sang “Climb Every Mountain” while ascending Everest). Most of us came to the musical via Julie Andrews and the film, but the stage show came first and originally it wasn’t even intended to be a musical. Vincent J Donehue was a Broadway stage director, and good friends with Mary Martin, the darling of the musical. Strangely enough, he tried to sell her on the idea of a play, with just a few songs from the repertoire of the Von Trapps added. But it soon became apparent that Ms Martin (the mother of “JR” – Larry Hagman) wanted songs more suited to her voice – and her audience. So Rogers and Hammerstein were commissioned by the producers to write a couple of original songs for Martin, and, once they’d been heard, everyone wanted more of that “sound” of music.

Although the show opened in 1959, it didn’t hit the big screen until 1965 – and by that time it was well and truly a favourite on Broadway, the West End, and here in Australia. People think of Julie Andrews as Maria – very prim and proper and young. But apart from Mary Martin (who was 46) and Petula Clark (49), all of the well-known Maria’s have been around 30-35 – though the REAL Maria (who was apparently a very fierce woman and thought Martin and Andrews were “wet” and weak), was only 23. She was apparently quite opinionated and valued her judgement over that of everyone around her, something really unusual in the 1930s….hence the song “How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?” But we’re used to dramatic license being taken in all forms of theatre, as long as we can believe what we’re presented with.

There will be some, like myself, who remember the original Australian production of The Sound of Music, with busty June Bronhill and her marvellous voice as Maria. She was a forceful personality, more like the real Maria. Bronhill was known for her appearances in operettas, and some wondered if she would consider a mere musical beneath her, but Bronhill was far too down to earth to be a snob. The Australasian tour ran for around three years, playing the Princess Theatre in Melbourne and the Tivoli in Sydney, and Patti Newton (yes…Bert’s wife) was one of the Von Trapp children. People didn’t just go to see it once, they went anything up to twenty times. They waited at the stage door for autographs and Bronhill, dressed in her mink coat, would happily oblige. People actually wept when the closing notices went up, such was the power of the show.

Later, in the 1980s, there was a new production with Julie Anthony playing Maria and, in 2000, after coaxing from John Frost, Lisa McCune left Blue Heelers and swapped her Maggie Doyle for Maria Rainer, with John Waters as her Captain. It was the first of her leading lady stage roles, and the part seemed tailor made for her. She and John were genuine television superstars, but also great stage performers with real chemistry. At the time, it seemed there would never need to be another production because we had seen all that it had to offer. But great shows continue to grow, and to find new audiences – they have a degree of immortality encrypted in them which can touch a new generation every fifteen years.

So is it the music, or the story, or the children on stage, or the fact that we’ve known the show since our childhood, that makes it so special to so many of us who love musical theatre? Maybe it’s a combination of all those things. There’s a love story (well…two actually, if you include the star-crossed Liesl and Rolf), a family story, a thriller with a race against time, a triumph over adversity, and all against a background of mountains and the prospect of war at a critical time in world history. And there’s the music, some of the best songs from perhaps the greatest collaborators in Musical Theatre history. You couldn’t invent all that if you tried. Well, actually you could, and the creative team DID…but you have to admit that it’s much more exciting to think the Von Trapps escaped by slipping away one by one in a music festival and then crossing the mountains, than the actuality of them packing up and catching a train to Italy, then a boat to America.

I got to ask two of the stars of the new production what they thought the mystique of the show is, and how they came to be a part of it.

Cameron Daddo, last seen here in Legally Blonde, admits he was gobsmacked when offered the role of the Captain.

“It’s an iconic role, but it’s not one I ever expected to be offered,” he admits. “I wasn’t one of those kids that grew up knowing every word of every song. I hadn’t seen the film all the way through until I became an adult. We weren’t great theatregoers and I was always out playing sports until late, so I didn’t get to stay awake through the whole film because it was very long. I didn’t ever have a ‘that’s a role I have to play’ moment.” He sounds rueful as he explains.

The new Maria, Amy Lehpamer, has played raunchy roles in Rock of Ages and The Rocky Horror Show, and she has the opposite reaction to the show.

“I’ve adored it since I was a very little child. I watched it every time it was on TV and I knew every word of every song, and every move, long before I knew what any of it meant. It was almost like a babysitter for me. My mum knew I wasn’t going anywhere while The Sound of Music was on, and she could get other work done. I just loved all those songs, all the music, so much.”

And the mystique of the show?

“Well, it’s partly nostalgia for most people,” Amy explains. “It’s part of my childhood, it’s how I discovered who I was, just like the Von Trapp children themselves. And Maria, well…she’s like every child’s favourite teacher, or the teacher we wished we’d had. When you’re a child and you’re trying to find out who you are, like all of us when we’re young, you need someone like Maria to guide you.  So yes, it’s the music, and the songs, but it’s part of our history and it’s touched all of us sometime.”

Cameron has a slightly different take. “I think it’s the relevance of the story,” he explains, “and even the core values. Yes, the music is marvellous, but there are a lot of shows with great music. This show has real heart, and nobility, and gravitas. People are surprised…as I was…at just how deep the story goes. It’s about sacrifice too, and giving up everything for your family. They’re important and timeless core values that we mustn’t let die. And it’s also fantastic entertainment. A whole new generation of people will see the show and hopefully they will love it and in 15-20 years they will take their kids to see it. We still see operas and operettas hundreds of years down the track….why not a musical?”

Given that this spectacular production received rave reviews at The Palladium, and it’s taken years of work to get it to Australia, there’s no reason to suppose it will be anything but wonderful.

So the hills are once again alive with The Sound of Music. Whether you love it or hate it, or have simply avoided it for all these years, one thing is certain, it’s a show that cannot be ignored.

Images: Amy Lehpamer in the new production of The Sound of Music (photographer: James Morgan); cover of the Original Australian Cast Recording of The Sound of Music; Cameron Daddo and Amy Lehpamer (photographer: Brian Geach).

Article originally published in the November / December 2015 edition of Stage Whispers

More Sound of Music News

SYDNEY

Capitol Theatre, Sydney


From 13 December 2015


Tickets from $79.90*


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BRISBANE

Venue: Lyric Theatre, QPAC

From 11 March 2016

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Venue: Regent Theatre, Melbourne

From 13 May 2016

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ADELAIDE

Venue: Festival Theatre, Adelaide

Season: From 9 August 2016

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