{"id":149986,"date":"2026-03-27T12:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T12:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/149986\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T12:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T12:04:10","slug":"sound-of-music-back-in-philly-at-a-time-that-feels-terribly-relevant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/149986\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Sound of Music\u2019 back in Philly at a time \u2018that feels terribly relevant\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Love Philly? So do we. Let\u2019s be friends. Sign up for the Billy Penn newsletter today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens, bright, snappy lyrics with which I am smitten.<\/p>\n

Broadway songs that everyone sings, these are a few of my favorite things.<\/p>\n

Honestly, doesn\u2019t everyone know the lyrics to at least one song from the \u201cSound of Music?\u201d<\/p>\n

Andy Einhorn probably knows them all. He\u2019s the music supervisor for the \u201cThe Sound of Music\u201d Broadway tour<\/a> presented by Ensemble Arts Philly<\/a> at the Academy of Music<\/a> March 31 through April 5.<\/p>\n

\u201cRodgers and Hammerstein \u2013 it was their final collaboration. They were at the top of the game when they wrote the show,\u201d Einhorn said. \u201cI think Rodgers and Hammerstein spoke to the heart. Their music was popular \u2014 and populist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Set in Austria in 1939 as the Nazis were growing in strength and influence, the original Broadway \u201cSound of Music\u201d<\/a> opened in 1959. In 1965, Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer starred in the movie version which won five Academy Awards, including best picture.<\/p>\n

The music was largely the same in both the stage and movie versions, although the movie omitted two songs from the stage show that Einhorn and the creative team have brought back into the touring company production.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose two songs are politically entrenched in what was happening in the world at the moment of the setting of the show,\u201d Einhorn said. \u201cThey were removed from the movie, making [the movie] more populist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both songs, \u201cHow Can Love Survive?\u201d in the first act and \u201cNo Way To Stop It\u201d at the start of the second act, alluded to the coming Nazi threat.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to play down those elements when you are making a film that\u2019s the `raindrops on roses\u2019 version,\u201d Einhorn said. \u201cI think the stage version gives [the audience] a greater sense of understanding of why the family makes the decisions it makes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The actors, Einhorn said, \u201care telling a very compelling and prescient story. I think there\u2019s a certain part of the \u2018Sound of Music\u2019 that feels terribly relevant in our country and in how the world is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Kevin Earley (Captain Georg von Trapp) and Cayleigh Capaldi (Maria Rainer) in The Sound of Music. Photo by Jeremy Daniel.<\/p>\n

So, what does a music supervisor do?<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of my job was in the build of the show, the rehearsal process, and helping shape the orchestration,\u201d Einhorn said. It not only involves orchestrating the songs, but also the music played by the 15-member orchestra during the transition times and scene changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point, my job is a maintenance job,\u201d he said. \u201cAny time we have new cast members, I attend auditions. I oversee the rehearsals. Every three to four months I come out to visit the tour just to check on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShows are living, breathing organisms. They change night to night and because of the fact they are changing venues every week or two weeks, it can be a taxing job for the performers and the musicians.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

For this show, the most intense part for Einhorn was in August rehearsals, ahead of the tour opening in September.<\/p>\n

Before that, there was the decision to include the two songs among other issues, including smaller things an audience might miss.<\/p>\n

For example, during Maria\u2019s wedding to Captain von Trapp, Einhorn worked to develop a blended version of six once separate pieces of music.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are trying to weave together the action with the music to make the experience feel grander and streamlined,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re using music to catapult the story and make it feel breezier as it were. We\u2019re not changing the DNA, just slightly rearranging it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s part of why, when you are reexamining the piece, your job is to understand the context in which it was written in 1959 and how to present it for an audience in 2026,\u201d Einhorn said. \u201cThe world has evolved and our responsibility in harkening something from the past is to honor it and push it forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Kevin Earley (Captain Georg von Trapp) with the von Trapp Children (l to r) Ariana Ferch (Liesl), Haddie Mac (Brigitta), Ruby Caramore (Marta), Benjamin Stasiek (Kurt), Luciana VanDette (Gretl), Eli Vander Griend (Friedrich), Ava Davis (Louisa) in The Sound of Music. (photo by Jeremy Daniel)<\/p>\n

The show travels with five musicians \u2013 a conductor, two keyboard players, a lead trumpeter, and a concert master who plays the violin. In each city, a contractor works through a musicians\u2019 union to hire 10 more musicians with \u201ca classical sensibility,\u201d Einhorn said. The show needs to recruit three woodwind players, another trumpeter, a trombonist, a cellist, a bass violinist, another violinist and a percussionist.<\/p>\n

Finding musicians to play is never a problem, Einhorn said. \u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful score. When you have a show like the \u2018Sound of Music,\u2019 players enjoy the actual composition of the music. It makes it a valuable call that you want to get.\u201d<\/p>\n

Einhorn won\u2019t be visiting the show in Philadelphia, but he has connections here (and no, not related to Ira Einhorn<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Andy Einhorn\u2019s mother is from Philadelphia and Einhorn has, on several occasions, conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra. In 2022, it was for a staged concert version of \u201cFiddler on the Roof.\u201d<\/p>\n

What was it like to conduct the orchestra here?<\/p>\n

\u201cI would describe it like driving a Rolls Royce,\u201d Einhorn said. \u201cThey are one of the top five orchestras in the country. There\u2019s an ease in guest conducting. You\u2019re a guest and a leader at the same time. There\u2019s a beautiful communing and give and take. You understand that you are a guest and they are respecting me as a leader. We are all coming together as trained studied musicians aiming for the best possible result. That\u2019s the best symbiosis in those movements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Einhorn has been involved in many projects and is currently busy with a \u201cDream Girls\u201d revival set to open on Broadway in the fall. He teaches in The Julliard School\u2019s opera program, working on bringing musical theater into the curriculum.<\/p>\n

As for \u201cSound of Music,\u201d Einhorn refuses to say which of the songs is his favorite.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are all my children. It\u2019s hard to have a favorite,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are all a few of my favorite things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if Einhorn can\u2019t or won\u2019t pick a favorite song, he does pick his most favorite show \u2014 the \u201cSound of Music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my 20 years, it\u2019s what I\u2019m most proud of,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s beautiful and incredibly moving. Hearing the story today is a gentle reminder of keeping our eyes open and being vigilant in the world and not to lose our individuality and joy in living.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Sound of Music,\u201d<\/a> March 31-April 5, Ensemble Arts Philly<\/a> at the Academy of Music,<\/a> 240 S. Broad St., Phila. 215-893-1999<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Love Philly? So do we. Let\u2019s be friends. Sign up for the Billy Penn newsletter today. Raindrops on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149987,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[8486,4877,8232,69,71,70,1483],"class_list":["post-149986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-academy-of-music","tag-arts","tag-broadway","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-theater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}