The Sound of Music is always talked about as one of the world’s great musicals but the importance of the show is the constant reminder of the atrocities of Nazi Germany.
While The Sound of Music entertains with its cute kids, singing nuns and state-of-the-art set design what it is really saying is that history can repeat and the past will be the present again if we are not careful.
It is interesting to see The Sound of Music is an election year where people are being asked to put their values to the vote. Both in Australia and America, the ‘Feed The Rich’ and ‘Born To Rule’ from the conservative side of politics makes you wonder if by making wrong choices, the world of the Von Trapp family is not all that far removed from what Australia or the US could become.
I talked to Nicholas Hammond yesterday. He played Friedrich is he 1964 ‘The Sound of Music’ movie. He was telling me that when they were making the movie in Austria in the early 60s there was hesitation in Vienna as many felt it was too soon to be telling the story so soon after the war. World War II had ended up 19 years earlier. The horror of Nazi Germany was still fresh in people’s minds. For the wholesomeness the musical is thought of today, it its day it was controversial.
For the latest Australian production producer Max Finbow and director Gavin Mitford under the direction of John Frost have assembled world class stars. Cameron Daddo is Captain Von Trapp. Amy Lehpamer is Maria, Marina Prior is stunning as Baroness SChraeder, Jacqueline Dark is Mother Abbess, Australia’s superstar of TV Lorraine Bayly is Frau Schmidt and David James plays Max Detweiler.
The seven von Trapp children were even harder to cast. 21 children make up the seven von Trapps. Three children are required for each character.
The songs you know my heart. The Sound of Music was such an institutional movie seen by just about everyone on the planet that every song is now evergreen.
The Sound of Music will be the biggest stage event in Australia for 2016. That’s not bad for a story that is now more than 50 years old.
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