Audience members at the Kennedy Center’s production of "The Sound of Music" told Fox News Digital the story serves as a reminder of timeless values.
Sarah Portner, who grew up watching the film, which tells the story of Maria, a young woman of discerning religious life who leaves the convent to care for the seven children of Captain von Trapp, told Fox News Digital in an interview that she first heard about the show coming to the Kennedy Center in March, and made sure to get tickets.
"My mom's the youngest of six and she grew up in Ireland in like a really, really tiny village, and her mom took each of her six kids to see the movie when it came out," Portner said. "So that's kind of how it started. And then when my sister and I were old enough, we watched it together. So, yeah, so that's I guess how we kind of got introduced to it."
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Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer are pictured with the von Trapp children in a publicity still from the 1965 Rodgers and Hammerstein film adaptation of "The Sound of Music." (Getty Images)
Portner, who called the story a "lifelong favorite," said it reflects values people today can still learn from.
"Resilience and just the power of family and unconditional love for other people," Portner said. "And yeah, I think a lot of that sounds cliché, but that helps you persevere through a lot of life's trials and periods of suffering and everything."
The Kennedy Center is hosting the production in Washington, D.C., from Sept. 9 to Oct. 5, 2025.
Directed by three-time Tony Award winner Jack O’Brien, the production features stage design recreating the Austrian countryside, the iconic staircase used in the "So Long, Farewell" number in Captain von Trapp’s home, and the Nonnberg Abbey where the family hid in their effort to escape the Nazis.
Katie Burnham, who came to the show with her sister, Caroline Burnham, told Fox News Digital in an interview that good lessons can be taken from hard times.
"Not to get too political, but I think we can learn a lot from that generation with current, the last 10 years," Burnham said.
"I feel like, with our generation kind of almost following similar footsteps of our grandparents and great-grandparents, so my grandparents were of that era, so that's very much like, it's interesting hearing their stories and their life stories, and now we're kind of the same age going through those years of difficult, tumultuous world politics," she added.
Caroline Burnham told Fox News Digital that even as a member of Gen Z, she appreciates classical stories like "The Sound of Music."
"I feel like it does talk a lot about like community. Like you know, Maria, while she's kicked out of the convent, they're doing it because it's her best, and then she's able to form a new community through the family. And then she goes into a home that's disjointed because they aren't connected with each other, and she's able to get them to that place and I think that's a really important thing to remember."
Burnham added that she thinks members of her generation are nostalgic for the community and culture depicted in "The Sound of Music."
"I think, at least for me, I feel like my friends and I were always talking about that, of like how disconnected we are with phones and social media and you never get to see anybody because everybody's working like three jobs and nobody can pay to go to the bars these days," Caroline Burnham said.
"And so I think it's nice to have a reminder and maybe also live vicariously through a different time," she added. "Not that that was a great time in Austria, but it's just nice to sort of escape into it."
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Julie Andrews performs a musical number in the 1965 film "The Sound of Music," directed by Robert Wise. Though it opens the movie, the scene was the final sequence shot in July 1964 in Europe before the cast and crew returned to Los Angeles. The film went on to win five Academy Awards, including Best Picture ( (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images))
Ellen Wilson, who also grew up with "The Sound of Music," told Fox News Digital she finds its values inspiring.
"My parents lived in Germany when I was in college, so I think the whole, like them escaping from Austria and like the political part, I found that really interesting," Wilson said. "And the loyalty to his country, and you know, the loyalty to his family."
Valerie Wheeler told Fox News Digital she was thrilled the Kennedy Center was staging a live performance of the timeless story.
"I think it's wonderful," Wheeler said. "I think any time we can get a live performance, I love going to the National. I love coming to the Kennedy Center. I'm a retired teacher of over 35 years and I was an English teacher. So, I loved, love, love, loved live performances."
"The Sound of Music," began as a 1959 Broadway musical before it was adapted into the iconic 1965 film starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer.
The film won five Academy Awards in 1966, including Best Sound, Best Music and Best Picture. It grossed $158 million domestically and $286 million globally on a budget of $8 million, according to box office records.
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Julie Andrews is pictured in 1965 with Charmian Carr, Nicholas Hammond, Angela Cartwright, Heather Menzies, Duane Chase, Debbie Turner, and Kym Karath from "The Sound of Music." (Photo by Screen Archives/Getty Images) (Getty Images)