Taking The Sound of Music to New Operatic Heights — Houston Grand Opera Tackles Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Beloved Classic

Houston Grand Opera is ending its 2023-2024 season by taking one of the most beloved American musicals — Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music — to operatic heights. Francesca Zambello, the visionary artistic director of the Washington National Opera and former AD of the Glimmerglass Festival, directs this new production, taking on the task of  tackling such a classic work of American theater for the opera.

“When these guys (Rogers and Hammerstein) were writing music, singing was harking back to Europe, operetta and the sounds of a big voice,” Zambello tells PaperCity. “That’s what we got here.”

Though it debuted at Glimmerglass in 2022, this new staging of The Sound of Music, co-produced by Houston Grand Opera and Glimmerglass, was originally supposed to premiere here in Houston several years ago, Instead, it became another performing arts production delayed by the pandemic. 

“Glimmerglass has had a healthy collaboration with HGO,” Zambello says of the two world class companies teaming up for this production.

A New Sound for Houston Grand Opera

Though Houston Grand Opera has showcased musicals in the past, this will be the company’s first time staging The Sound of Music. For those opera lovers and traditionalists who might wonder why, Zambello sings the praises of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. In fact, Zambello argues the legendary duo surely got influenced by opera when creating many of their magnificent American musicals. 

She also believes everyone should acknowledge the complexity of their work that offered “an incredible mirror of American society.”

“They wrote this and of the founding of the state of Oklahoma, and what happened in Southeast Asia with colonialism (The King and I),” Zambello says, “They took on pretty serious events, and we often don’t give them credit for that.

“They wrote this musical so shortly after the end of WWII. It’s incredible.”

Beyond the chance to see and hear proof that Rodgers and Hammerstein still have much to tell us about love, family and making life-risking moral choices, Zambello notes that this HGO production also provides a rare opportunity for opera fans to hear some of the best voices of current time, like Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard as Maria and baritone Alexander Birch Elliott as Captain von Trapp. After all, many of the superstars of American opera started their artistic journeys in musicals.

“You have to remember many American opera singers’ roots are in musical,” Zambello says. “That’s where they began, by performing in their high school musical. That’s what made them fall in love with music.

“And these very classical pieces require a level of vocalism and skill that is not far off from a lot of operas.”

And for those audiences new to Houston Grand Opera and perhaps attending just for a chance to see the beloved classic live, they can expect a Sound of Music on a glorious scale.

“That audience, who maybe have never been to the opera, are going to experience not only a great American classic, but they’re going to experience a first class, visual production, a big oral experience with a huge full orchestra and big chorus,” Zambello says. “They’ll really hear this piece much more the way perhaps Rogers and Hammerstein would have heard it in 1959 because Broadway would have had a big orchestra then.”

Love Amid a War Story

What people shouldn’t expect is an exact recreation of The Sound of Music movie on stage. The show will adhere to the Broadway production for the song list with the inclusions of a few of the film numbers. But more importantly, Zambello says there’s much in The Sound of Music that might strike a dark cord of recognition with today’s 21st century world. 

While The Sound of Music might bring to mind nostalgia and the lightness of the film, this production will emphasize the big questions the story tackles while keeping the core romantic and family love story that so many people across generations adore. 

“The film presents it more as a love story,” Zambello tells PaperCity. “We are presenting it, of course, as a love story. You can’t have a musical without a love story. But I think audiences today understand when something is presented with more gravitas and seriousness.” 

Some of that seriousness comes from the setting, as the love and family story blooms as Germany begins the annexation of Austria. Patriotic Austrian Captain von Trapp has to make choices to serve his conscience even if it puts his family in danger. 

“The basic story that is important to tell is what happens when people do nothing, what happens when people don’t speak out,” Zambello says. “That’s why the Nazis took Austria without a fight. People did nothing. As a director you try to make those messages stronger.

“There are Nazis who come on stage. You want to remind people of the horrific things that have come before us.”

By looking at these ideas and themes that were always in the show with 21st century eyes, Zambello believes we can see why The Sound of Music still has much to say, and sing to audiences in 2024. 

“It doesn’t matter what side you’re on,” Zambello tells PaperCity. “I think if you don’t ask moral questions there’s something wrong. And this piece asks moral questions.” 

And perhaps asking those questions, especially amid a musical with songs such as “My Favorite Things” and Do-Re-Mi” is why theater and opera still resonates with so many of us.

“I do think we nowadays need to be using theater as a way to have dialogue and conversation and a way for us to discuss ideas because it doesn’t seem to be going well otherwise,” Zambello says. “I think it’s very important to use examples and use things like this to enable dialogue.”

Zambello hopes this productions draws families to the Wortham Theater Center, and believes the darker themes of the piece are something kids can handle even as the music delights us. 

“I think it’s a really good way for families and kids to understand the drama of this family escaping from Austria to Switzerland with the arrival of the Nazis is an incredible lesson for these kids,” she says. “Having the kids in the show, it’s been great to talk to them about it and for them understand what the story is and how it relates to their own world.”

Some of the von Trapp children and understudies will be played by local Houston area kids. In fact Houston Grand Opera held the largest youth auditions in company history for this show. Zambello says they ended up casting a diverse group of talented young actors who reflect the demographics of Houston.

Whether you’re a longtime season subscriber or brand new to Houston Grand Opera, you should prepare yourself to experience the “grand” in Houston Grand Opera in its own The Sound of Music.

“This definitely does have a very big production value, big scenery, lot of costumes and a lot of children,” Zambello promises.

Houston Grand Opera’s The Sound of Music runs this Friday, April 26 through May 12 at Wortham Theater Center.