HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOUND OF MUSIC

On this day in 1959, the Sound of Music opened on Broadway at the Lunt Fontaine Theatre and played there for 1,443 performances. It was the last collaboration of Rodgers and Hammerstein as Oscar Hammerstein died of cancer, nine short months after it's premiere. The production featured Mary Martin as Maria and Theodore Bikell as Captain Von Trapp. Within the first year, a very young Jon Voight replaced Brian Davies as Rolfe and subsequently married Lauri Peters who was playing Liesel at the time. Patricia Newley played the Mother Abbess. The production shared the Best Musical Tony Award with "Fiorello!!" It also won a Tony award for Mary Martin. The choreographer was Broadway legend Joe Layton. The show enjoyed revivals in 1961, 1981, 1987, 1998 and now the current production in London being produced by Andrew Llloyd Webber. Many people believe that "Edelweiss" to be a traditional Austrian song or even their national anthem. Not so! "Edelweiss" was actually the very last song that Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote together and was actually added to the score in tryouts prior to coming to New York. One of the big misconceptions derived from both the play (and most especially from the 1965 hit movie was that pre-war Austria was a peaceful, idyllic place to live. Not so! Poor Austria in the 1930's had suffered through a great civil war and a major depression, only to fall under the spell of Hitler, a right wing oligarchy. Fact #2: Expressions of Austrian nationalism were by no means forbidden-- they were actually mandatory. Fact # 3: All titles of nobility in Austria had been cancelled. The word "Von" was a title of nobility-- so in actuality, the family would have been known simply as "The Trapp Family" Believe or not, the real Maria sold the rights to her story for a mere $10,000-- so the Von Trapp family did not benefit greatly from the musical's enormous success throughout the years. Imagine that! Another writer cheated! The stage version differs greatly from the movie version, (with two of the stage version's songs cut) however the current London production incorporates the two songs that Richard Rodgers wrote solo for the motion picture version in 1965. One is "I Have Confidence In Me! and the other is the hauntingly beautiful "Something Good" which Maria sings to the Captain once he tells her that he loves her. I have always loved "The Sound of Music". It is simply a perfect musical and so well structured that it perhaps all other R&H shows will remain in performance forever! Mary Poppins makes her official opening tonight at the New Amsterdam theatre. "Break a leg!" to everyone involved. It's a different show than the movie, but still wonderful. The Sherman Brothers songs still shine and always will! Keep up on those prayers for me that I can get this accident thing behind me! Well until another day!