The Sound of Music

Warning: Wikipedia contains spoilers

In Salzburg (Austria) Maria, a woman studying to be a nun is sent from her convent to be the governess of the seven children of a widowed naval captain, Captain von Trapp. The children, initially hostile and mischievous, come to like her, and the woman finds herself falling in love with the captain. He was soon to be married to a baroness but he marries Maria instead. Maria teaches the children singing. Meanwhile, the Nazis take power in Austria and want Captain von Trapp back in service. However, during a singing performance in a theater, although they are guarded, the whole family manages to flee, and walk over the mountains to Switzerland.

It should be noted that some details of the von Trapp story were altered for the play and the film. The real Maria was sent to be nurse to one of the children, not governess to all of them. The Captain's eldest child was a boy, not a girl, and the names of the children were changed (at least partly to avoid confusion, as the Captain's eldest daughter was also called Maria). The von Trapps spent some years in Austria after Maria and the Captain married - they did not have to flee right away; and they fled to Italy, not to Switzerland.

The Sound of Music, with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse, opened on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on November 16, 1959, and starred Mary Martin as Maria and Theodore Bikel as Captain von Trapp.

The film, which was released in 1965, was based on the Broadway musical. Robert Wise won an Academy Award for Directing for the film, which stars Julie Andrews as Maria and Christopher Plummer as Captain von Trapp. Hammerstein died before the film was made, and two of the numbers added to the score were written solely by Rodgers: "I Have Confidence" and "Something Good".

The musical has created a few misconceptions about Austria. Many people believe "Edelweiss" to be national anthem - in fact, this song is nearly unknown in Austria. Austrians rarely eat "Schnitzels with Noodles", (but they do like "Crisp Applestrudels"). The Ländler dance that Maria and the Captain shared was not performed the traditional way it is done in Austria.

In some publicity shots for the film, a noteworthy error can be seen in a market scene immediately preceding the "Do-Re-Mi" number: an orange crate is marked 'Made in Israel'; however, Israel did not exist in the 1930s. This error cannot be seen in the film itself.

In 2001 the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.

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