The Hills of Hartford Are Alive with Music

To Captain Von Trapp marching is in, music is out, work is in, play is out,

 whistles are in, laughter is out, discipline is in, singing is out. All that changes when a novice nun named Maria plays governess to the Captain's seven motherless children in Rodgers and Hammerstein's wonderful family musical classic "The Sound of Music".

 Three days from Friday, May 17 to Sunday, May 19, the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford will be resounding with joy for the whole family.


 1938 Austria presents profound changes for the earnest and solemn Captain Georg Von Trapp when both the Nazis and a young impetuous girl named Maria enter his life. He is powerless to defy either as one hardens his heart and the other captures his soul.The captain has been running his household as he did his naval ships: strictly and decorously. Instead of names, he uses whistle sounds to summon his seven children: Liesl, Kurt Friederich, Louisa, Marta, Brigitta and Gretl.

 When the irrepressible Maria skips into their lives, the hills of Austria and Hartford suddenly are alive with the sounds of music.Whether Maria is teaching the children how to sing, in the fun song "Do-Re-Mi," dressing them in play clothes cut from old curtains, helping them yodel their way through a thunderstorm, or preparing them to star in the Carlsbad Festival, she opens windows to love and laughter in their lives.With the Captain and Maria, the Captain's almost fiance, the manipulating Max, and Mother Abbess, each have their individual moments in the spotlight. 

 For tickets ($22-104) call the Bushnell, 166 Capitol Avenue, Hartford at 860-987-5900 or online at www.bushnell.org. Performances are Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 pm. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

If girls in white dresses, packages tied up in string, crisp apple strudel, and

 bright copper kettles are among your favorite things, then plan a visit to the Bushnell where they are all delightfully awaiting you.