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10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About The Sound of Music
Fun facts and trivia about the hit musical starring Julie Andrews
How do you solve a problem like nostalgia for an all-time favorite family musical? You catch it in theatres, of course.
This month, Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music is coming to Manila (see how you can get discounted tickets here). Watch the story of the von Trapps unfold in the highly anticipated West End production opening September 27 at the Theatre at Solaire.
While you brush up on your “Maria,” “My Favorite Things,” and of course, “The Sound Of Music” lyrics, you can help yourself to these interesting tidbits about the award-winning film that brought the musical to the world stage. Care to take a trip down memory lane? Keep scrolling for fun facts and trivia about The Sound of Music!
The movie was inspired by “The Story of the Trapp Family Singers,” a memoir written by Maria von Trapp in 1949.
Maria was hired as a tutor (not a governess as portrayed in the movie) for one of the von Trapp children and married their father Georg von Trapp in 1927. The book recounts the escape made by the family as Nazis took over Austria. They made their way to Italy and then later traveled to America.
The iconic opening scene had to be reshot several times because Julie Andrews kept falling over.
“That shot was accomplished by my being at one end of a very long field and the helicopter coming down through the trees at the other end of the field,” said Julie Andrew. “The trouble was: this was a jet helicopter. And the downdraft from those jets was so strong that every time I made my turn… the downdraft just flattened me into the grass.”
There were 10 children in the real von Trapp family.
Georg von Trapp had seven children with his first wife, Agathe Whitehead. Georg and Maria had three children together: Rosmarie, Eleonore and Johannes.
Charmian Carr, the actress who played Liesl, admitted to having a crush on Christopher Plummer, who played her father in the movie.
She was 21 and he was 35 when they filmed the movie.
Nicholas Hammond’s growth spurt became an issue.
Hammond, who played Friedrich, grew six inches in the six months The Sound of Music was shot. There were a lot of heel lifts and camera angle adjustments involved—Charmian Carr (Liesl) had to shoot scenes while standing on a box at one point.
Julie Andrews tripping while singing “I Have Confidence” wasn’t part of the scene.
Director Robert Wise decided to include the clip of the accidental trip in the final cut.
Rosemary’s Baby star Mia Farrow auditioned for the role of Liesl.
Sharon Tate and Geraldine Chaplin were also in the running.
Sharon Tate and Geraldine Chaplin were also in the running.
During the filming of the boat scene, Julie Andrews was in charge of catching Kym Karath (Gretl) who couldn’t swim.
The assistant director approached Andrews right before they started filming to warn her that Karath couldn’t swim: “If you can fall forward off the boat and try to be the first to get her, this would be great.”
The gazebo scenes were filmed in Los Angeles.
The gazebo scenes were filmed in Los Angeles.
The real Maria von Trapp appeared in the film.
You can see her walking with two other women in the background as Julie Andrews makes her way through the arch of the building.
Catch the London West End production of The Sound of Music at the Theater at Solaire starting September 27. Tickets are available online at TicketWorld Manila and at TicketWorld outlets nationwide.
Globe customers are entitled to a 10% discount on all tickets (from August 23 until September 23 only) when they use the promo code GLOBELIVESOM. Click here for more details.
