THE hills are alive with the sound of music as Newtown Musical Theatre Company present probably the best loved musical of them all at Newtown’s Hafren theatre.

With Josephine Catherwood as Maria, 'The Sound of Music' opens on Thursday, April 4, at 7.30pm, and there are more performances at 7.30pm on Friday, April 5, and at 2.30 and 7.30pm on Saturday, April 6.

Written and composed by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, it tells the story of Maria, a sunny, yet out-of-place nun who finds an unexpected life as the governess to the seven children of Captain Von Trapp, played by Craig Harris.

But that new life is soon threatened by the growing reach of the Nazi Third Reich.

The musical was based on the true story of the Von Trapp family and the memoirs of Maria Von Trapp and the Von Trapp Family Singers. The musical family had started performing in the 1930s but had to flee from Austria because of the Nazi expansion.

They went via Italy to America where they struggled initially before becoming a popular choral singing group for almost 20 years, disbanding in 1957.

The memoirs and portrayals in two successful German films inspired the creation of the musical which became a Broadway hit before the 1965 film adaptation with Julie Andrews as Maria and Christopher Plummer as Captain Von Trapp turned it into a worldwide phenomenon.

Newtown’s production features many new faces who have joined the company for a production which promises to be a wonderful evening of family fun, filled with songs that everyone knows by heart including 'My Favourite Things', 'Sixteen Going on Seventeen', 'The Lonely Goatherd', 'So Long Farewell' and 'Climb Every Mountain'.

“Everyone knows The Sound of Music and we’re honoured to bring it to Newtown,” said NMTC chairman Les Skilton.

The Saturday 2.30pm show will be signed by BSL signer Cheryl Walker, returning for her second show with NMTC

Tickets are on sale at The Hafren box office. Go to their website, www.thehafren.co.uk or call 01686 614555. For more information on NMTC, visit their website at www.newtownmtc.co.uk.

The company are also already working on a second production for 2019 staging the popular children’s story about the flying car 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' from October 23 to 26.

Rehearsals take place at Treowen on Wednesdays and Fridays and tickets for the shows will be available soon.

You can also become a member of the company and its future shows committee working on a list of possible shows for 2020.