abstractgayconcept:

In Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic stage musical and its brilliant film adaptation The Sound of Music, characters often know they are singing, subverting the generally accepted definition of musicals. Oftentimes during the show this is because the characters are singing known songs, such as Edelweiss, but often they are not, instead they seem to be coming up with the songs they sing on the spot, like Maria does with Do-Re-Mi. This seems to be the case with the song sung by Rolf and Leisl “Sixteen Going on Seventeen”. However, later in the film Maria sings a reprise of this song to Liesl. This would mean that Maria, played by Dame Julie Andrews, is somehow aware of events and subsequent songs that occur without her presence. Maria, in this interpretation, could be seen as somewhat omnipresent and magical, somewhat like Julie Andrew’s other famous musical film role: Mary Poppins. In this essay, I will