The Sound of Music new tour highlights the true story of the von Trapp family with modern adaptations

A story with 67 years of fun, heartache, love and resilience, The Sound of Music draws from the true story of the von Trapp family and their nun-turned-governess, Maria Rainer, as they find each other and eventually escape Nazi-occupied Austria.

Returning to Columbus in late February after 10 years, once again under the direction of three-time Tony Award-winning and returning tour director Jack O’Brien, the music is alive with everything from updated looks of iconic characters to original songs taking on a new tune.

At the very beginning

Jeremy Daniel

Throughout the rehearsal process, actors read from the original script, as well as the texts behind the script, including Maria von Trapp’s memoir.

During their weeks-long run in Washington, D.C., the cast and crew were invited to the Library of Congress to see the original writings and correspondence related to the show, including letters between Maria and the writers of the musical, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and seeing the writers’ notes about the songs and script.

Reading the correspondence also informed the characters, particularly Maria and the family patriarch, Captain Georg von Trapp.

“We got to read their work, which was really special because I don’t think a lot of people who do The Sound of Music read the actual writings of Rodgers and Hammerstein and their process,” says Kevin Earley, who plays Georg. “That shaped things a little later in our process and deepened things so that we can tell a full, rounded story to the audience.”

From this focus on history, the show also shines a light on the geopolitical climate at the time, with the Nazis marching toward the Anschluss – the annexation of Austria – which the von Trapps try to escape in the musical’s climax.

Jeremy Daniel

Songs they have sung (and will sing once more)

In addition to songs from the original Broadway musical, such as “My Favorite Things” and “Edelweiss,” the touring production features an original from the film, as well as some lyrical adjustments.

One noticeable change is “Something Good,” a duet between Maria and Georg that replaced the original musical’s duet, “The Ordinary Couple.”

Viewers may also notice a slight wording change to modernize the lyrics of the reprise of “Sixteen Going on Seventeen,” in which Maria is singing with the oldest von Trapp child, Liesl.

These changes to the original lyrics were approved by the von Trapp family’s estate, as they help enhance the equal partnership between Maria and Georg. This was a change Maria herself advocated for in the musical’s beginning writing stages, to better reflect her husband’s loving and kind nature, which helped inform Earley’s choices, especially.

Jeremy Daniel

Strands of difference

While movie connoisseurs are used to the blond bob of Julie Andrews’ Maria, they may be surprised to learn that the original Maria von Trapp was a brunette, and was portrayed as such in the original Broadway musical.

During the filming of The Sound of Music, Andrews – a natural brunette – was fresh off the set of Mary Poppins, where she kept her hair short for wigs. In addition, a hair dyeing mistake turned her hair orange. The crew, wanting to lighten her natural hair for the camera, decided to cut off the orange strands and dye her hair completely blond.

Over the years, portrayals of Maria and her hair have changed, with many stage renditions favoring performers’ natural hair colors and textures.

For the current North American tour, Capaldi worked with O’Brien and the creative team, particularly longtime Broadway veteran and tour hair designer Tom Watson, to create a wig that resembled her own brunette curls.

“I think curls suit (Maria),” Capaldi says. “It sort of expresses this unbound, free, untamable nature of Maria, and not even a wimple, (or) even a wedding veil, can contain that. She is always unapologetically herself.”

Read All About It

Read more about how some of the actors brought the characters and time period to life in our Q&A with leads Cayleigh Capaldi (Maria) and Kevin Earley (Georg), HERE.