Religion on Broadway
As a more classic route to highlight religion’s role in musical theatre, we see in this classic Maria’s internal struggle between her role as a Catholic Nun and her desire to fall in love and have a family. This internal struggles becomes the underlying conflict throughout the performance. We witness the journey that leads her from one to the other. While you would assume she would abandon her Catholic ways in pursuit of true love, we see that her religion remains a strong presence in her life throughout the play. She proves you do not have to chose one over the other in order to find true happiness. Therefore, we see a strong theme of Catholicism present in this musical. Maria is not a follower. Maria is a young woman attempting to forge her own path in life. A Catholic nun is a woman who has chosen to live under a particular vow, which is essentially a vow to God, that she will refrain from certain practices, whether that be chasity or disobedience. Maria defies this definition, as we see through numbers like “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria”. Her love for music and adventure deters her from this path, and she ends up becoming a nanny for the Von Trapp family. This position then leads her to fall into a forbidden love with the Captain, who is the father of the house and currently in a relationship with the Baroness. The story from that point forward is a path based on religious values and the power of love.
With songs such as “Climb Every Mountain” that hold a very religious, hymn-like feel, we easily see how religion is to be perceived throughout the performance. With this as the opening number, being sung by the head Nun at the Convent, it sets up the rest of the show and places us in a mindset that religion, specifically Christianity, will have a carrying theme throughout the piece and follow Maria throughout her life of difficult decisions.
We are also subject to the religious theme of Evil through the conflict, especially evident the Nazis nearing the end of the musical. The family must run from the evil that was Hitler during the Second World War. The army seek to have the Captain join them, but his love for his family and Maria leaves him trying to find an alternate resolution. The Nazis leave him no choice and chase him, but they flee to remain as a family unit and leave the war-stricken land. As Evil is present in almost every musical or story we see or read, it is strongly present here through the presence of the Nazi party and Hitler’s presence. It contradicts what many religions try and portray; do onto others what you would want them to do for you. For a play that has been around for so many years, it is critical that stories such as these continue to be told.
The Sound of Music premiered on Broadway in 1959, only 14 years following the end of the Second World War. (History.com, 2009)
During this time, relief efforts were certainly still being carried out around the world, so you can only imagine the impact that a musical such as this would have had on its audiences. It was an uplifting musical with strong religious ties that gave a feeling of hope. We saw the theme of love overcoming all obstacles at the fore front. Although the Captain was being pulled in an opposite direction, as was Maria at the beginning of the musical, their love for each other, for their children, and for the country of Austria (as is evident through the muscial number "Edelweiss") protect them from harm. It is truly a masterpiece of its time, and I cannot imagine a day where this musical (or film) does not have a positive impact on people around the world. As Wright writes, it is through performances like these that cause "the heart to take flight". (Wright, G. "..Bottles Lightening")
(Craenen, M. 2010) Retrieved from YouTube
