The Knowlton Players are putting on The Sound of Music at Theatre Lac-Brome with the first performance scheduled for May 5. 

The Sound of Music is a musical composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is inspired by the family biography of Maria Augusta von Trapp.

Lucy Hoblyn, owner of Brome Lake Books and one of the pioneers of the Knowlton Players, discovered The Sound of Music when she first moved to Canada as child after picking out the album from a neighbour’s garage sale, and it quickly grew on her. 

After directing other theatre productions in the past, Hoblyn finally found the perfect cast to take on The Sound of Music. 

“They let me choose anything from the garage sale and I chose this album The Sound of Music. I had never seen and I had never heard of The Sound of Music. I listened to it over, and over, and over again until I knew every single note and word of the album,” said Hoblyn.

After seeing the musical about two years later, Hoblyn added that she became “obsessed with everything The Sound of Music.”

“The Sound of Music music has always had a special place, but I have never had the cast. Finally, in the last few years, we finally have a load of kids, who are the right ages and are extremely talented, we have a person that can play Maria, we have a Captain, and we have many other talented musicians and actors. So it seemed to be the perfect time,” she explained. 

The Knowlton Players will stick to the original musical as much as possible, according to Hoblyn, “but with one little quirk” that audiences will have to wait to see. 

“It’s based very lightly on a true story about Maria von Trapp, who fell in love with her employer, but before that she was a nun. Then she went on to become a governess for Captain von Trapp and fell in love. They had to escape from Austria in order that Captain von Trapp did not have to serve in the German army in World War Two,” Hoblyn highlighted. “It’s based over a six-month period of their life and the incredible music that came out of that family.”

Hoblyn described the cast of The Sound of Music as being incredibly talented as a whole. She brought along two of the child actors taking part in the musical, Gracie Gauthier and Brody Jette, to chat with CIDI about their characters and their experience with the Knowlton Players. 

The dates and tickets for The Sound of Music can be found on the Knowlton Players website.

Listen below for the full interview to hear more from Gauthier, Jette and Hoblyn on all things The Sound of Music: