I think it was also my first kiss, albeit a 'stage' kiss. I was quite in awe of P who was a whole grade older than I, so in awe that on opening night I forgot my first line until she whispered it to me. Rolf is not the most likeable character in the story, though he does somewhat redeem himself at the last moment.
Sitting in our seats at the Arts Club carried me back all those years. I could have sung along, almost word for word. Many of the songs have a soaring feeling about them. Climb Every Mountain or Edelweiss. I was most alive in those productions with large casts and orchestra, set crews, makeup and costumes, all come to life, on Lethbridge's then, new, Yeats Theatre stage. I loved every minute of high school, especially theatre and musical theatre in particular. I went on to play roles in The King and I and Oklahoma, then theatre in college and directing musical theatre as a high school teacher. Way back in grade 10, I couldn’t have imagined what that first audition would lead to.
Apart from the music, The Sound of Music is a good story; the transformation of a military drill sergeant father and his neglected family under the loving care of Maria, the 'failed" postulant-nanny sent to the VonTrapp family to take control of the ‘unruly’ children.