The series scheduled to be aired next year is expected to be a runaway hit with the audience, many of who grew up with Do a deer, a female deer, Re a drop of golden sun, Mi a name I call myself, ringing in their ears. If she can play her part in the series, which I am pinning my hopes on, and if the direction is even passable, NBCs got my couch-time booked, at least for this serial.
Back from reminiscing my childhood and to the present news – the new TV adaptation of Sound of Music is being produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, the same team that had produced Smash for NBC, and have also led the movie versions of Chicago and Hairspray. If their experience and success is anything to go by, we can expect some great entertainment.
It’s definitely difficult to outdo Julie Andrews, but for those who don’t know, but do care, the original Broadway show that premiered in 1959 was based on the true story of the von Trapp family. Georg von Trapp was an Austrian Naval commander who fled the Nazis with his children.
The original film adaptation of the Broadway show had Julie playing the role of Maria, who wanted to become a nun, but became a governess to the seven children of a widowed Georg von Trapp. Inevitably, Maria fell in love with Georg, and her career plan of becoming a nun was lost in her affection for the children, who needed her care.
The real-life Maria von Trapp died in 1987, and all the adaptations of Sound of Music are based on her 1949 memoir, “The Story of the Trapp Family Singers.” The book tells of the performing years of the family, their flight from Nazi-occupied Austria, and immigration to USA.