LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill.—“The Sound of Music” first played in New Haven, Connecticut, as a pre-Broadway try-out on Oct. 3, 1959. After the show, its composer Richard Rodgers, its lyricist Oscar Hammerstein, and the show’s performers waited for the town’s critical reviews to come in.
When the newspapers came out with bad reviews, everyone was crestfallen believing that, after all their hard work, the show was a flop. Everyone, that is, except for Hammerstein. He dismissed the critics and predicted that the musical would become the biggest hit on Broadway.
Erik Hellman as Captain Von Trapp and Addie Morales as Maria in “The Sound of Music.” (Liz Lauren)
Hammerstein was right. “The Sound of Music,” which opened on Nov. 16, 1959 in New York City, not only became one of the most popular musicals of all time, but followed up the stage production with one of the biggest blockbuster movies ever in 1965.
…