Richard Rodgers’ Sound of Music Echoing Through Tehran Theater

TEHRAN. (Iranart) – An Iranian troupe is currently performing a stage adaptation of American composer Richard Rodgers’ musical The Sound of Music at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall.

Hadi Qozzat is the director of the troupe, which will stage the musical until August 22.

A choir composed of 80 vocalists, 50 musicians and 20 actor-singers under the baton of conductor Nassir Heidarian are collaborating on the project.

The Sound of Music tells the story of Maria, who takes a job as governess to a large family in Austria while she decides whether to become a nun. 

She falls in love with the children, and eventually their widowed father, Captain von Trapp, who is ordered to accept a commission in the German navy, but he opposes the Nazis. 

Maria, who brings love and music into the lives of the family, marries the captain, and together with the children, they decide on a plan to flee Austria and find a way to survive the loss of their homeland to the Nazis.

American filmmaker Robert Wise made a screen adaptation of the musical with the same name in 1965, starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer.

The film received Academy Awards in five categories, including best film and best director, as well as the Golden Globe Awards for best motion picture and best actress. 

It also received the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement, and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Musical. 

In 1998, the American Film Institute (AFI) listed The Sound of Music as the fifty-fifth greatest American movie of all time, and the fourth greatest musical movie.

Source: Tehran Times