"For the first time in 45 years, the entire cast of The Sound of Music will gather for a once-in-a-lifetime reunion on the “Oprah” show stage on Thursday, October 28, 2010. *Note date change* Stars Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, along with fellow cast members Charmian Carr (“Liesl”), Nicholas Hammond (“Friedrich”), Heather Menzies-Urich (“Louisa”), Duane Chase (“Kurt”), Angela Cartwright (“Brigitta”), Debbie Turner (“Marta”) and Kym Karath (“Gretl”) will reunite and reveal the stories behind one of the world’s most beloved movie musicals. Together for the first time in nearly half a century, the cast shares secrets from the set, reminiscences about their time together and what their lives have been like in the years since the movie was released. Finally, the von Trapp Children – a singing group featuring members of the real von Trapp family – pay their own special tribute to the film that made their family name known throughout the world. 
Considered by many to be the most successful movie musical in history, “The Sound of Music” took home five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, in 1965. Its first release lasted over 4 ½ years. It is shown annually on network television and the soundtrack CD is one of the best selling soundtracks of all time, having gone Platinum more than 12 times. Its landmark score includes some of the most beloved songs in the American songbook including “My Favorite Things,” “Edelweiss,” “Climb Ev’ry Mountain,” “Do Re Mi,” “Sixteen Going on Seventeen,” and the title song." [from Oprah's site]
[On Oprah's show], Julie Andrews talks about the loss of her singing voice after an operation. “It certainly was huge,” the Oscar winner says. “I did go into huge decline. But the wonder is, and it’s true that it — as Maria says in the movie, ‘When God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window.’ And I began to write and I began to write with my daughter, Emma, to write books and we began a small publishing collection.”
Plummer talks about his mixed feelings about the 1965 musical, the winner for best picture Oscar. Winfrey announces, “Christopher Plummer has never done an interview with this group since the movie came out.”
“On purpose,” Plummer adds.
“You were pretty grouchy about taking the role, weren’t you?” Winfrey asks.
“Yes. As I said before, I wanted to do a musical and that was what attracted it to me,” Plummer says. “And to work with Julie, of course. That goes without saying. But the part was not — as written — was not exactly Hamlet.”
Plummer owns up to nicknaming the movie “The Sound of Mucus.” “There needed to be a cynic of some kind around to stop it from getting too mawkish,” Plummer says.
Andrews seems to agree, saying, “I think we all felt that if we weren’t careful the film could have been dreadfully saccharin.”
After watching the televised reunion, I'm looking forward to a new book to be released next year. Nicholas Hammond (Friedrich) announced that he and the other actors who portrayed the Von Trapp children are putting together a book about their experience filming The Sound of Music and will answer some of the questions that have been addressed over the years.
-> More on THE SOUND OF MUSIC
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