Flying Home

 

Between 1943 and 1959, Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote eleven musicals together. Nearly all of them are still hugely popular. When the last one, The Sound of Music, was in tryouts in Boston, it was decided one more song was needed, so Captain Von Trapp could say goodbye to his beloved homeland. Richard Rogers wrote a sweet and simple waltz tune so their male lead, Theodore Bikel, could accompany himself on guitar. Oscar Hammerstein, in the hospital with stomach cancer, penned lyrics that reflected a father’s love of his country and hope for her future. The Sound of Music opened on Broadway in autumn, 1959. Hammerstein passed away the following summer. Rogers collaborated with other lyricists, but was never able to top the success of The Sound of Music, Cinderella, The King and I, South Pacific, or Oklahoma! And today, more than six decades later, audiences – even native Austrians – are still mistaking “Edelweiss” for a charming old folk song.