A Favorite Thing: 50 years later, fans still captivated by 'The Sound of Music'

Julie Andrews performs in "The Sound of Music."

Maria (played by Julie Andrews, at top) spins atop an Austrian hillside in the intro sequence to "The Sound of Music," which turns 50 today. Above: The Von Trapp children — Liesl (Charmian Carr), Friedrich (Nicholas Hammond), Louisa (Heather Menzies), Kurt (Duane Chase), Brigitta (Angela Cartwright), Marta (Debbie Turner) and Gretl (Kym Karath) — line up in formation for their father, Capt. Georg Von Trapp (Christopher Plummer).

[<b>* "I will always cry when the captain first sings 'Edelweiss.' As a dad, it became my kids' most requested nighttime lullaby." </b>, <p><i>- Greg Howard </i> <p><b>* "Saw it for the first time in D.C. when it first came out. Loved it then and ever since. Every time I watch it, my husband says I react and enjoy it like it's the first time I've ever seen it." </b> <p><i>- Carolyn Massoud </i> <p><b>* "My grandmother would rent this from the local video store for me often when I would have sleepovers at her house as a child. I've seen the movie many times and almost every time was with her. She's gone now, so this movie brings back many wonderful memories for me." </b> <p><i>- Chastity Ward Davis </i> <p><b>* "My 8-year-old has known the words to most of the songs since she was barely old enough to sing. We sing together all the time, and it's just so much fun!" </b> <p><i>- Marissa Monroe McCauley</i></p></p></p></p></p></p></p>, <i>- Greg Howard </i>, <p><b>* "Saw it for the first time in D.C. when it first came out. Loved it then and ever since. Every time I watch it, my husband says I react and enjoy it like it's the first time I've ever seen it." </b> <p><i>- Carolyn Massoud </i> <p><b>* "My grandmother would rent this from the local video store for me often when I would have sleepovers at her house as a child. I've seen the movie many times and almost every time was with her. She's gone now, so this movie brings back many wonderful memories for me." </b> <p><i>- Chastity Ward Davis </i> <p><b>* "My 8-year-old has known the words to most of the songs since she was barely old enough to sing. We sing together all the time, and it's just so much fun!" </b> <p><i>- Marissa Monroe McCauley</i></p></p></p></p></p></p>, <b>* "Saw it for the first time in D.C. when it first came out. Loved it then and ever since. Every time I watch it, my husband says I react and enjoy it like it's the first time I've ever seen it." </b>, <p><i>- Carolyn Massoud </i> <p><b>* "My grandmother would rent this from the local video store for me often when I would have sleepovers at her house as a child. I've seen the movie many times and almost every time was with her. She's gone now, so this movie brings back many wonderful memories for me." </b> <p><i>- Chastity Ward Davis </i> <p><b>* "My 8-year-old has known the words to most of the songs since she was barely old enough to sing. We sing together all the time, and it's just so much fun!" </b> <p><i>- Marissa Monroe McCauley</i></p></p></p></p></p>, <i>- Carolyn Massoud </i>, <p><b>* "My grandmother would rent this from the local video store for me often when I would have sleepovers at her house as a child. I've seen the movie many times and almost every time was with her. She's gone now, so this movie brings back many wonderful memories for me." </b> <p><i>- Chastity Ward Davis </i> <p><b>* "My 8-year-old has known the words to most of the songs since she was barely old enough to sing. We sing together all the time, and it's just so much fun!" </b> <p><i>- Marissa Monroe McCauley</i></p></p></p></p>, <b>* "My grandmother would rent this from the local video store for me often when I would have sleepovers at her house as a child. I've seen the movie many times and almost every time was with her. She's gone now, so this movie brings back many wonderful memories for me." </b>, <p><i>- Chastity Ward Davis </i> <p><b>* "My 8-year-old has known the words to most of the songs since she was barely old enough to sing. We sing together all the time, and it's just so much fun!" </b> <p><i>- Marissa Monroe McCauley</i></p></p></p>, <i>- Chastity Ward Davis </i>, <p><b>* "My 8-year-old has known the words to most of the songs since she was barely old enough to sing. We sing together all the time, and it's just so much fun!" </b> <p><i>- Marissa Monroe McCauley</i></p></p>, <b>* "My 8-year-old has known the words to most of the songs since she was barely old enough to sing. We sing together all the time, and it's just so much fun!" </b>, <p><i>- Marissa Monroe McCauley</i></p>, <i>- Marissa Monroe McCauley</i>]

Even under optimal conditions, an echo usually fades away after just a few seconds. Yet somehow, fans say "The Sound of Music" resonates as strongly today as it did 50 years ago when Julie Andrews' first pirouetted on a hill, joyously belting out a song into the Austrian countryside.

"This is a movie that just makes you feel good inside," says Brian Foster, 42, of Chattanooga. "It's one thing to be well-entertained, [but] some movies have the rare ability to fill the human heart. This is one of those movies."

The movie is based on Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein's Broadway musical, which was adapted from a memoir by Maria von Trapp, aka "How do you solve a problem like "

"The Sound of Music" debuted in theaters on March 2, 1965, and plowed through the 1966 Academy Awards, winning five of its 10 nominated categories, including Best Picture and Best Director for Robert Wise. Alas, Andrews, who was nominated for Best Actress, lost to Julie Christie in "Darling."

The "Sound of Music" story is a somewhat fictionalized account of a good-natured Austrian governess (Andrews), her romance with her charges' stern, militaristic father (Christopher Plummer) and the family's subsequent escape from the Nazi regime.

Rossville resident Leigh Wattenbarger, 23, first saw "The Sound of Music" when she was in elementary school. Since then, she's seen the film "at least 100" times.

"I would spend hours singing the music and dreaming of being Maria one day," she says. "When I hear the swell of the music for the opening song my heart skips a beat, and I fall in love all over again. I get that feeling every single time, without fail."

Basing the story on real-life events gives it a greater emotional resonance, Foster says. He grew up watching older films with his mother and sister on TV but didn't see "The Sound of Music" until he was about 20. By that age, he says, he was familiar with the historical context and was able to look beyond the music and empathize with the trials of the Von Trapp family.

"To a lot of young viewers, it was probably just a movie," he says. "To me, this was the story of these people's lives, and it made me care for them very much. I would occasionally follow news stories about the Von Trapp family and was sad when I learned that the last Von Trapp sibling died last year at age 99."

Chattanoogan Meghan O'Dea, 28, first saw "The Sound of Music" when her mother popped the tape into the VCR when she was 4. She remembers being entranced by the costuming, but the moment that really stuck with her was the "little-kid history lesson" her mother gave her when she asked about "the spider flags" that kept popping up. (They were swastikas.)

"My mom told me it wasn't a spider but a symbol that very bad people used," O'Dea says. "I think what 'The Sound of Music' does well is distill a lot of political and cultural complexity into an easily digestible pop format. It captures this tense moment of change and political turmoil into a far more intimate, personal tale that still resonates.

"A lot of films try to do that, and few succeed as well as this one. There's a reason it's a classic."

Sixteen going on 70

Although it is decades old and recounts events that are even older, the film's appeal is decidedly cross-generational.

On Feb. 22, 28-year-old pop artist Lady Gaga honored the film's 50th anniversary by singing a musical medley during the 87th Academy Awards ceremony. Gaga's tribute was the evening's most-talked-about moment, with more than 200,000 people per minute discussing it on Facebook, according to statistics released by the social network.

Still, though it continues to make new fans, many of "The Sound of Music's" most ardent supporters have been enamored with it since its debut, if not longer.

When he was growing up outside New York City, Mike Dougher's home on Long Island moved to the beat of Broadway musical soundtracks from "West Side Story" and "The Music Man" to "The King and I." When the LP to the Broadway production of "The Sound of Music" crossed his family's threshold, however, it was as if it adhered itself to the turntable.

"That music - I know this sounds like a stretch - was just as important in my house as when The Beatles hit," recalls 63-year-old Dougher. "The songs are awesome."

When the film hit theaters a few years later, Dougher says he was blown away by Andrews' performance.

"When you have her, you've got it," he says. "Stay as true as you can to the story with an immense talent like her, and I think it's hard to miss."

When "The Sound of Music" made its way to Chattanooga in 1965, Debbie Cole Wells went to see it on a date at the Tivoli Theatre. The date didn't go anywhere - although they eventually went to senior prom together, she says - but the movie has stuck with her ever since.

"The Tivoli Theatre always seems to make an event out of even an ordinary movie. So to see and hear the incredible scenery and music of 'The Sound of Music' there provided a lifetime memory for me," Wells says. "There is something extraordinary about [Julie Andrews] and that movie that reminds me of my happy childhood and happy endings."

A joy like Maria

For many fans, there is no other Maria than Andrews. Not Mary Martin, who originated the role on Broadway, and certainly not Carrie Underwood, who portrayed the singing governess in a live show broadcast by NBC in 2013.

After seeing "The Sound of Music" at the now-defunct Brainerd Theater in 1965, Janet Reeve was entranced by Andrews' performance. An active participant in Chattanooga's theater scene for years, Reeve went to New York City in the late 1970s to study at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy and Maria was on her bucket list of dream roles. After graduating from the academy, she stayed in New York to pursue a career as a professional actress. Despite auditioning for parts in "The Sound of Music" with several companies, she was never cast.

She returned to the Scenic City in 1983 and ,four years later, she trod the boards once more as Eliza Doolittle - another dream role - in a production of "My Fair Lady" at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre, then known as the Little Theatre. Two years later, however, Reeve finally got the chance to check Maria off her list when the Little Theatre announced plans to present "The Sound of Music." She was 43 when she was cast, which was older than Julie Andrews - who was 30 during filming - but slightly younger than Martin, who was 46 when she began the role on Broadway.

The Little Theatre show proved so popular among Chattanooga's theatergoers, its run was extended to 20 performances, well beyond the typical production lifespan of 12.

"We just had a wonderful time," Reeve says. "People kept asking to see it. They had to turn people away."

And when the time came for the curtain to close on the Von Trapps for the last time, Reeve says it was especially hard to bid farewell - auf wiedersehen and adieu - to the role of a lifetime.

"It's such a sweet play that appeals to the best that's in us," she says. "It was a hard one to let go; it really was. I really count it as a blessing to be able to do that role."

Contact Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6205. Follow him on Twitter at @PhillipsCTFP.

Maria (Julie Andrews) teaches the Von Trapp children, from left — Gretl (Kym Karath), Liesl (Charmian Carr), Brigitta (Angela Cartwright), Friedrich (Nicholas Hammond), Louisa (Heather Menzies), Marta (Debbie Turner) and Kurt (Duane Chase) — to sing in "The Sound of Music." Andrews was cast in the musical the year after starring in Disney's "Mary Poppins."