No. 43. “My Favorite Things”
THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1959). By Richard Rodgers (music), Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics), and Howard Lindsay & Russel Crouse (book). Based on THE TRAPP FAMILY SINGERS by Maria Augusta Trapp.
Late fall, 1959. Mary Martin is closing out the decade originating a role in a new Rodgers & Hammerstein musical. R&H haven’t really had a hit since The King and I, but you’re hopeful Mary Martin will bring out their best. The curtain rises on a gaggle of nuns in 1930s Austria singing a prelude before realizing one of their postulates, Maria, is missing. Cut to Martin emerging from a tree and singing the title song. Maria is the impish problem-child of the convent, climbing trees, scraping knees, and singing where she isn’t supposed to. The intimidating Mother Abbess calls Maria into her office for a serious discussion about her suitability for monastic life. She’s about to send Maria to serve as a governess for a widower naval captain’s seven children, which will set off musical’s main story (Nun meets Boy and Boy’s seven children, Nun teaches children to sing, Nun marries boy, and singing family runs away from Nazis). In order to get Maria into the right headspace to face her fears and accept this life-altering assignment, Mother Abbess encourages Maria to sing an old song she had once caught Maria singing in the abbey, eventually joining in herself. (“My Favorite Things”)
The idea for The Sound of Music began when director Vincent Donahue, Mary Martin and her producer-husband, Richard Halliday, heard about the real life von Trapp family singers and decided it would be a great vehicle for Martin. They brought on playwrights Russell Crouse and Howard Lindsay to adapt it into a play that would feature existing folk songs. Then they asked Rodgers and Hammerstein to contribute a few additional songs, but R&H thought it should either feature only existing folk songs or a wholly original R&H score. Martin and Co. opted for the latter, and R&H wrote a score to someone else’s libretto for the first time in their partnership. The musical gave Martin the opportunity to use everything in her bag of tricks: she could be playful, coy, sly, and flirtatious while still having some dramatic weight to play. It was the type of star turn that merited her own private costume designer for her looks (that replacement Marias didn’t even get to wear), and would become one of Martin’s last great triumphs.
After Martin left the original Broadway production, the show became the star, and today a production can work equally well with a major headlining star or a complete unknown. Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote their most infectious score, where nearly every song is a ubiquitous classic. The Sound of Music sadly ended up being R&H’s final show—Oscar Hammerstein II died the summer following its opening. Though SOM was less adventurous or envelope-pushing than their earlier, genre-defining works, they couldn’t have picked a more fitting finale to their partnership if they tried. The entire show is a love letter to music itself and its ability to bring people together. Through the 15 years of their collaboration, R&H’s music has become so engrained in the American consciousness that people just assume “Edelweiss” is really a beloved Austrian folk tune and use “Do-Re-Mi” to teach music. “My Favorite Things,” curiously, has taken on a second life as a Christmas carol for reasons I cannot begin to understand or explain.
Recommended Recording: ”My Favorite Things,” The Sound of Music (1959 Original Broadway Cast)
If you aren’t familiar with this recording, the performance may be a bit more matronly than you expect. Mary Martin was in her mid-40s during her run in The Sound of Music—about twenty years older than the part called for (not that audiences cared because her coy charms were so winning). The role of Mother Abbess provided an interesting casting challenge—it’s not necessarily a “star role,” but it needs to be someone with a sense of authority that would intimidate and inspire the star (while also holding down the act 1 closer, “Climb Every Mountain”). Patricia Neway was six years younger than Martin when she originated Mother Abbess, but she had a gravitas that left no doubt as to who ran that convent. Neway was best known for her work in opera, especially creating the role of Magda Sorel in Gian Carlo Menotti’s political allegory The Consul. (Watch Neway sing that opera’s climactic aria “To This We’ve Come,” filmed while she was still in The Sound of Music, and then imagine that level of intensity applied to “raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens.”) The result of the pairing is a duet that is thrilling, and surprisingly dark.
Alternate Performances
The Sound of Music has received ~54 cast recordings, not including foreign language versions of the 1965 film or numerous jazz/pop “songs from” disks. A fun album by the Brooklyn Roadfunk Orchestra features imaginative reinterpretations of the score. The UK had a whole reality series about casting a SOMrevival. Ariana Grande quotes “My Favorite Things” in her song “7 rings.”
1965 Film - Robert Wise’s film version, starring Julie Andrews, is one of the most popular movies ever made and a cultural milestone. So it stands to reason that most people are familiar with its revised context for “My Favorite Things” as a song for Maria to sing to the scared von Trapp children during a thunderstorm. (The original production used “The Lonely Goatherd” for this purpose; the movie turns “Goatherd” into a puppet show.) The film cut some of the more political numbers and added two new songs with lyrics by Rodgers: “I Have Confidence,” a travel song for Maria to sing on her first journey to the von Trapps, and “Something Good,” a replacement love duet for the Captain and Maria. It’s actually insane that Robert Wise not only directed two of the most successful and impactful movie musicals of all time (Sound of Music and West Side Story ), but did so within 4 years of each other.
1981 London Revival - Petula Clark starred in the first major UK revial of SOM. This production began the trend of revising the musical to align with the movie—including using the storm setting for “My Favorite Things.” Clark sounds fantastic belting the hell out of the score. The great light opera star June Bronhill (who played Maria in the original Australian production) played Mother Abbess. The cover art is incredible.
1998 Broadway Revival - Despite its immense and enduring popularity, The Sound of Music has only had one Broadway revival, directed by Susan Shulman, starring Rebecca Luker, and produced by Hallmark. This production also incorporated the movie’s new songs and used the thunderstorm setting for “My Favorite Things.” An 18-year old Laura Benanti was in the ensemble and eventually took over the role of Maria on Broadway and the subsequent tour.
Is it Covered by The Rat Pack, Audra McDonald, or Glee?
The Rat Pack - Sammy Davis Jr. recorded Mother Abbess’s anthemic act 1 closer, “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” in 1961.
Audra McDonald starred as Mother Abbess to Carrie Underwood’s Maria in NBC’s The Sound of Music Live!, which kicked off a nearly 10-year trend of live musicals on network television. While the production received a lot of real-time criticism online (particularly for Underwood’s acting), Audra’s performances of “My Favorite Things” and “Climb Every Mountain” were universally praised. (Laura Benanti, returning to SOM to play the captain’s pre-Maria love interest, was also marked safe from the online haters.) “Climb…” inspired genuine tears from Underwood and, if we’re being honest, me. It has since become something of a signature number for McDonald, who includes it on her album Sing Happyand performed it in the the aptly titled My Favorite Things: The Rodgers and Hammerstein 80th Anniversary Concert (where she also sang the evening’s title song).
Glee - “My Favorite Things” appears in “Extraordinary Merry Christmas” (season 3, episode 9), which takes the form of a television special styled after the Judy Garland Christmas Show. But you can’t blame Glee for turning “My Favorite Things” into a holiday song. Jack Jones was the first to include it on a Christmas album…in 1964!
In the Wings
While you await song no. 44, you may want to imagine the fact that Sound of Music opened the same season as Gypsy, and you could have had a 2-show day watching both legends at their peak. (You may also want to search “Ethel Merman buck a nun.”) If you want some truly fascinating deep dives into SOM, check out these posts by the great Kevin Daly.
Catch up with all the songs to date!
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