Opened on Broadway: 16 November 1959, Charted: 20 March 1965 S
Tracks: * (Click for codes to singles charts.)
Cast Album: 1. Preludium 2. The Sound of Music (12/28/59, Patti Page #90) 3. Maria 4. My Favorite Things (12/14/68, Herb Alpert #45) 5. Do-Re-Mi (12/14/59, Mitch Miller #70; 12/28/59, Anita Bryant #94) 6. Sixteen Going on Seventeen 7. The Lonely Goatherd 8. How Can Love Survive? 9. The Sound of Music (Reprise) 10. Laendler 11. So Long, Farewell 12. Climb Ev’ry Mountain (12/21/59, Tony Bennett #74; 5/25/68, Hestations #90) 13. No Way to Stop It 14. An Ordinary Couple 15. Processional 16. Sixteen Going on Seventeen (Reprise) 17. Edelweiss 18. Climb Ev’ry Mountain (Reprise)
Soundtrack: 1. Prelude/The Sound of Music 2. Overture/Preludium (Dixet Dominus) 3. Morning Hymn/Alleluia 4. Maria 5. I Have Confidence 6. Sixteen Going on Seventeen 7. My Favorite Things 8. Do-Re-Mi 9. The Sound of Music 10. The Lonely Goatherd 11. So Long, Farewell 12. Climb Ev’ry Mountain 13. Something Good 14. Processional/Maria 15. Edelweiss 16. Climb Ev’ry Mountain (Reprise)
* As was common in the pre-rock era, multiple versions of a single song from a Broadway show would become hits. None of the versions above are actually on the cast album or soundtrack. All chart positions are from the U.S. Billboard pop charts.
Sales (in millions): 2.5 C, 15.0 S US; 2.44 S UK; 2.5 C, 22.0 S world (includes US and UK)
Peak: 116-C, 12-S US; 170-S UK
Rating: 
C cast album
S soundtrack
Review: The cast album for The Sound of Music went to #1 for 16 weeks in the U.S. in 1959. Six years later, the soundtrack spent two weeks at #1 in the U.S., but topped the U.K. charts for an astounding 70 weeks. The soundtrack has been estimated at worldwide sales of 22 million which makes it one of the top 100 best sellers of all time. It sparked standards such as the title song, Climb Ev’ry Mountain, and Do-Re-Mi.
The Sound of Music was the final work for the famous musical theater team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The pair previously worked on iconic musicals like South Pacific and The King and I. Like those, this was “set in a foreign locale, it starred a female lead in charge of children, it concerned an unlikely romance between an older man and a younger woman, it had a social/political element, and it featured a stirring anthem for a soprano (in this case, ‘Climb Ev’ry Mountain’). The ‘based on a true story’ plot concerned an aspiring nun who becomes a governess in pre-World War II Austria” WR-C for “a wealthy naval captain with seven children,” WR-S “only to marry the children’s father and flee with the family from the Nazis.” WR-C
The film opened in March 1965 and “became the highest grossing movie in history up to that time, and went on to win the Academy Award for best picture. WR-S While the musical starred Mary Martin, the movie version went with Julie Andrews, who had starred in the musical My Fair Lady and was fresh from an Academy Award for her title role in Mary Poppins, another story about a children’s nanny. She “proved to be superb in the film as well as on the soundtrack album.” WR-S
Resources and Related Links:
- the DMDB page for The Sound of Music
- Richard Rodgers’ DMDB Encyclopedia entry
- Oscar Hammerstein II’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry
- WR-C William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide c
- WR-S William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide s
Award(s):
Obviously, I was just one of MANY FANS! Still enjoying the albums today, both Broadway and soundtrack.
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