The Sound of Music is undoubtedly one of the most beloved films of all time. But fans sometimes forget that the Academy Award winning film was adapted from a Broadway musical starring Mary Martin. So when you go watch Andrew Lloyd Webber's stage revival of the play, now touring in Australia until August 2016, you may notice some things that are different from the classic film.
1. There are lyrics before the hills come alive.
What film lovers are used to hearing as an overture accompanied by an aerial view of Salzburg's incredible scenery is actually partly sung by Maria in both the 1959 and new stage productions - just right before she breaks into the show's most well-known line, "The hills are alive with the sound of music".
The lyrics goes:
My day in the hills
Has come to an end, I know.
A star has come out
To tell me it's time to go.
But deep in the dark green shadows,
There are voices that urge me to stay.
So I pause and I wait and I listen
For one more sound
For one more lovely thing
That the hills might say.
2. Don't expect Maria to break into song spinning.
3. But you can count on seeing I Have Confidence, albeit a shortened version.
4. Maria introduces herself as Maria Rainer.
5. It won't be My Favorite Things that calms the children during the storm.
As iconic as My Favorite Things was in the film for establishing Maria's relationship with the children (and inspiring her to use the old drapes for play clothes), the current stage production stayed true to its original, where the scene unfolds between Mother Abbess and Maria, right before Maria is sent off to the Von Trapp household.
6. The Lonely Goatherd is just not how you remember it.
7. The Von Trapp children won't be seen in the streets of Salzburg wearing curtains as play clothes.
The Do-Re-Mi sequence was probably what sold Salzburg as a tourist destination to the rest of the world. The city receives 300,000 visitors every year, prancing through the Mirabel Gardens and singing to the top of their lungs. In the stage production, however, Maria gets right into teaching the children about music as soon as she arrives in the Von Trapp villa.
8. There are two songs that you may have never heard of.
9. Something Good is the preferred engagement song.
Instead of reviving An Ordinary Couple from the original Broadway production, the current repertoire gives way to Something Good for Maria and Captain Von Trapp's engagement. The gazebo doesn't make an appearance, however.
10. The costumes are Austrian...sort of.
It was Christopher Plummer, Captain Von Trapp himself, who commented about the lack of regard for traditional Austrian outfits in the film. He then explained in an interview that the costumes were made to appeal to a universal audience. The new production has hints of the Austrian tradition, just like in the original stage show.
11. You'll only hear the captain sing Edelweiss once.
12. Here's the real reason Baroness Shraeder broke off her engagement with the captain.
13. The intermission break, well, it makes more sense.
14. And big, bad Rolf doesn't actually rat out on the family.
