I saw The Sound of Music when I was little. I remember feeling embarrassed for these poor kids, having to sing in front of all these people!
The Sound of Music is a musical for the fallout shelter era, all about joy in the face of dread. (That's most clear in the song "My Favorite Things.") They face the Nazis with music and reassurance, a comforting message for people worried about nuclear warfare and the spread of communism. I think my favorite songs are "The Lonely Goatherd" and "Edelweiss." As Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals go, I prefer Carousel.
The true story of the Von Trapps was a bit different from the musical. The real Captain wasn't the aloof martinet Christopher Plummer played, and he never sang with the family! Also, their escape from the Nazis wasn't as dramatic as in the movie. The Captain was born in a part of the Austrian Empire that Italy grabbed after 1918, and that gave him the right to claim Italian citizenship, which he did long enough to get them out of the country.
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