The Sofia Opera to present the “The Sound of Music” musical on the 31st of October, the Sofia Opera ensemble announced.
“The Sound of Music” is one of the most awarded musicals; it tells the intriguing story of the Trapp family singers. Recreated by Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II, this family story is being prepared for the stage by an international team.
The last work by the Rogers-Hammerstein creative duo is inspired by the true story depicted by Maria von Trapp in her novel “The Story of the Trapp Family Singers” which was adapted into a West German film back in 1956.
The current production at the Sofia Opera and Ballet is handled by an international team. Director: West Hyler, known to our audience from the “Shrek” musical. Conductor: Igor Bogdanov. Scenography: Jeremy Bartnett. Costumes: Whitney Locker. Artistic lighting: Zack Blayne.
The opera singer Vesela Delcheva will perform as Maria and make captain von Trapp’s children sing along; children from the “Talasamche” vocal formation led by Dimitar Kostantsaliev will perform as Trapp’s offsprings. The captain himself will be portrayed by Alexandar Georgiev.
Expect to see nuns, an abbess, baronesses, a baron, an admiral, a mailman and other pre-WWII characters on stage. Starring: Alexandrina Stoyanova-Andreeva, Sanara Kordova, Silvana Pravcheva, Diana Dimitrova, Rada Toteva, Nikolay Pavlov, Nikolay Voinov, Anton Radev and Plamen Grandzhan. Choreography: Riolina Topalova.
At the Sofia Opera, the musical is performed in Bulgarian, with English subtitles, the production team noted.
The world premiere of “The Sound of Music” happened in 1959. In three years, the musical was performed 1443 times. It received nine “Tony” award nominations of which it won five in the following categories: best musical, best actress, best supporting actress, best scenographer and best conductor and music director.
In 1960, it also won a “Grammy” for the best studio album in the musical category.
Its first production in West End, London, was presented in 1961.
The film adaption from 1965 starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer won five Oscars including one for best film and one for best director.
The songs in this musical have become worldwide hits. The most popular among them are “Do-Re-Mi”, “Edelweiss”, the title song “The Sound of Music”, “My Favorite Things” and “Climb Ev’ry Mountain”.