MAT puts on 'The Sound of Music' for Christmas

Montana Actor’s Theatre is bringing to the stage a production that has been a Christmas staple since the film version was released in 1965, “The Sound of Music.”

The play is based on the true story of the Austrian family the von Trapps: how a young governess, Maria, handles watching over the seven children of the widower Capt. Georg von Trapp, how Maria and he fall in love and are married, and their escape in 1938 from the Nazis during the Anschluss, the German annexation of Austria.

The musical, with music and lyrics by legends Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, is based on Maria von Trapp’s “The Trapp Family Singers.”

The musical has a special connection to Havre. The von Trapp Family Singers in 1945, and later the granddaughter of Maria and Georg, Elizabeth von Trapp in November 2002, performed in Havre under the auspices of the Havre Community Concert Association.

The great-grandchildren of Maria and Georg, whose father had moved to Kalispell, performed a benefit concert in Havre in June of 2002.

The film version of “The Sound of Music,” starring Julia Andrews and Christopher Plummer, earned five Academy Awards, was the highest-grossing film of 1965 and by 1966 became the highest-grossing film of all time, holding that distinction for five years.

The MAT production starts Friday, with the doors and backstage lounge opening at 7 p.m. and the production starting at 7:30 p.m.

The 7:30 p.m. productions continue Saturday and Dec 13-14 and 19-21, with 2 p.m. matinées this Saturday, Dec. 7, and Saturday, Dec. 21.

Advance tickets are $22 for adults, $17 for students, seniors and military personnel. Tickets are available at the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce, The Computer Center, & company Apparel and online at https://mtactors.com/tickets .

Advance tickets are half-price on Thursdays.

Tickets at the door are $22 for adults, $17 for students, seniors and military.

Montana State University-Northern students and faculty gain free admission.