Julie Andrews returns to Salzburg

The Sound of Music completes 50 years this March. A look at its phenomenal success.

February 28, 2015 03:24 pm | Updated 03:24 pm IST

A still from 'The Sound of Music'.

A still from 'The Sound of Music'.

More years ago than I like admitting to, I heard a yodel. It came off the big screen, framed by the majesty of the Austrian Alps and orchestrated by the chatter of a zillion children’s voices. Or so it felt at a time when counting high meant going all the way to 10 and ‘My favourite things’ was the ultimate in musical achievement. Slowly, as I learned the words and managed to control that childishly wavering treble, I sang along to ‘Edelweiss’, ‘Maria’, ‘So long, farewell’ and ‘I am sixteen’, even though I was a long way away. As it grew to include others, this became an iconic collection of songs, as memorable and classic as the film the tunes came from: The Sound of Music , starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer with a host of younger actors, most of whom were never heard of thereafter. Adapted from a Broadway musical with music by Rodgers and Hammerstein, the Robert Wise-directed film was released in 1965 and told the story of the von Trapp family through the eyes and heart of Maria von Trapp, a young wannabe-nun who is sent to be governess to seven children, falls in love with their widower-father and has many adventures in not just motherhood, but in escaping from the baddies, finding a new country to run to and learning to speak a strange language some call English.

All this was 50 years ago, which is very ageing to some of us who are diligent fans of under-eye cream but don’t find obvious wrinkles even in unforgiving LED lamplight. At the time it was released, The Sound of Music won five Academy Awards and beat Gone With the Wind in the money-made stakes. And it swept a number of trophies up in its triumphant, musical wake, even deemed by the United States Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically and aesthetically significant”. Even today, long after the film was done and dusted and many others made her even more famous, Andrews is still best known for her dirndl skirt, short hairdo and penchant for breaking into a song, whatever the occasion. Not long after, Maria and her Georg were united in holy matrimony and made plans to live happily ever after, the Nazis marched in and von Trapp was commandeered to report for duty as a high-ranking official in the Austrian navy. But, since he was rather outspoken in his antagonism to the German invaders, he decided to take another route to his own destiny. He gathered up his vast family and took off over the mountains to what he fondly believed would be freedom. And eventually it was, once they sorted out immigration formalities, finances, minor issues of home and hearth and the next meal on the rather large table. They set up house in Stowe, Vermont, the U.S., and sang for their suppers, even as they settled into everyday life and more mundane jobs. And word whispered through the clean mountain air that things were not all joy.

Even though the family as a whole was famous the world over, especially after the movie was released, the spotlight was not always the most comfortable place. “I wanted to be more normal,” said Georg’s son Johannes, who called himself John Trapp to escape attention, since his real name “got in the way of friendships”. He took on the onus of stabilising the family’s financial situation, battling the opposition from within rather than from strangers. As he said, “My older brothers and sisters were all raised in this sort of Victorian manner. You didn’t talk about sex and you talked about money less than sex.” His mother Maria insisted, “You are always talking about money. We are here to make people happy.” Eventually, everyone accepted what he suggested and today the von Trapps are well off. And, yes, the grandchildren sing as a group and go on tour fairly often.

But think of this: What if Julie Andrews had not played Maria? Reportedly, Audrey Hepburn was a strong contender for the role, as was Grace Kelly and Shirley Jones. But screenwriter Ernest Lehman had always wanted Andrews and finally managed to get her. Plummer was signed on after Bing Crosby, Yul Brynner, Richard Burton and Sean Connery were passed over. “My name is von Trapp, Georg von Trapp” does not have the right cachet, does it?

To honour the film and its songs, ‘Sing-a-long Sound of Music’ revival screenings were started in London in 1999, when lyrics were shown on the screen and the audience could try their own version of the yodel. Cacophony aside, the collective enthusiasm for the film could not be denied, sort of a la Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge in India. The fever spread to the U.S. and beyond to become an international phenomenon that even infected television.

And now a grand new celebration is being planned for the film’s golden jubilee. On March 10, 2015, a five-disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition Set will be released, which will include a documentary, The Sound of a City: Julie Andrews Returns to Salzburg . Go on, you know you want to buy this one… and maybe learn to yodel?

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