SOUNDS GOOD

To celebrate The Sound Of Music’s 50th anniversary, we take a look at the beloved classic that taught generations to sing.

CONSIDERING the impact it had (and still has) in pop culture, The Sound Of Music was a film no one wanted to make. Audrey Hepburn was the first to be considered to play the role of rebellious nun-turned-nanny Maria von Trapp when Paramount Films wanted to tell the story of a musical family in Austria during the Nazi’s regime.

When Hepburn turned it down, Paramount lost interest. Twentieth Century Fox took over and offered it to director Robert Wise, but he said no three times before finally agreeing to helm it.

However, finding the leads proved to be an impossible task. Julie Andrews, fresh from shooting a musical about another nanny Mary Poppins, refused to take on the role of Maria fearing it was too similar to her last character while theatre snob Christopher Plummer felt the whole musical film was beneath him.

But the actors should thank their lucky stars, or agents and managers, for coaxing them to star in The Sound Of Music as it became career-defining roles for them.

The film made so much money worldwide when it was released in March 1965 that it was said to have saved Twentieth Century Fox from bankruptcy after the fiasco that was Cleopatra.

The Sound Of Music is more than a film, it is an institution. It is a film parents show their kids, the soundtrack is well-loved and contains classics that have become a teaching tool ( Do-Re-Mi), it is a Christmas favourite ( My Favorite Things) and pop music sample (Gwen Stefani used Lonely Goatherd in her hit single Wind It Up).

When Carrie Underwood starred in a live TV adaptation of The Sound Of Music two years ago, her portrayal of Maria was panned. When Lady Gaga took to the stage to sing a medley of songs from the soundtrack at the recent Oscars, some (like Shonda Rhimes) weren’t too happy with her rendition.

It is understandable why fans are so passionate about the film – most of us grew up watching it.

The film is still being watched by many (some of us at the office have seen it more than 30 times, but who’s counting) and the soundtrack continues to be reissued time and again. It doesn’t look like The Sound Of Music will stop playing anytime soon.

In conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the beloved classic, Star2 takes a look at 50 bits of trivia on The Sound Of Music.