The Sound of Music Trivia
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120 free The Sound of Music trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
63 free The Sound of Music trivia questions with answers. The Sound of Music was written off by New York critics as 'icky sticky', then became the highest-grossing film ever made and the movie the BBC would air after a nuclear attack. This quiz covers the whole story: how a 1956 West German film became a Mary Martin vehicle for Rodgers and Hammerstein, who really sang the Captain's songs, where the gazebo ended up, why the movie flopped in Austria and Germany, and what the real von Trapp family did after they walked, not hiked, out of Salzburg. It is built for anyone who can name all seven children in order, whether you grew up on the annual TV broadcast, saw the show on stage, or only know it from the Sing-a-long or the 2013 live telecast. Questions run from easy warm-ups about the film's cast to details of the family's submarine-commander patriarch that only a real devotee will know. Every answer has been checked against the Wikipedia articles for the film, the musical, the songs and the von Trapp family, and the sentence that establishes it is shown under each question.
30 of 120 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who produced and directed the 1965 film?
Robert Wise
He was busy prepping The Sand Pebbles when first asked, and only came aboard in October 1963 after that film was postponed.
Q 02Who played Maria in the 1965 film?
Julie Andrews
She admitted she thought the stage show 'rather saccharine' before she was cast, and signed for the film before Mary Poppins was even released.
Q 03Which film did the movie overtake in November 1966 to become the highest-grossing ever?
Gone with the Wind
The record it broke had stood for twenty-four years, and it kept the crown for five more before losing it in turn.
Q 04How many Academy Awards did the film win?
5
It shared the night's tally with Doctor Zhivago, which also went ten-for-five, and it took Best Picture without even a screenwriting nomination.
Q 05Which unreleased film did the director watch a few minutes of before deciding to sign his Maria?
Mary Poppins
Wise reportedly turned to Lehman and said, 'Let's go sign this girl before somebody else sees this film and grabs her!'
Q 06Who wrote the screenplay, moving 'Do-Re-Mi' out of the living room and into a tour of Salzburg?
Ernest Lehman
He had already adapted West Side Story for Wise, and he found the Felsenreitschule on a scouting trip and wrote it in as the festival venue.
Q 07Whose voice is actually heard when the Captain sings in the film?
Bill Lee
The actor recorded the songs himself, and his original vocals finally surfaced on the 2023 Super Deluxe soundtrack.
Q 08What nickname did the film's Captain later use for the movie he found so 'gooey'?
The Sound of Mucus
He skipped the 40th anniversary reunion but still recorded a commentary for the 2005 DVD, and said the only pleasant part was working with his co-star.
Q 09Which veteran director agreed to helm the film first, despite saying he hated the stage show?
William Wyler
He was eased out when his agent asked to delay production so he could shoot The Collector instead, and Fox simply moved on without him.
Q 10Which stage song did 'Something Good' replace in the film?
An Ordinary Couple
Rodgers admitted he and Hammerstein had already talked about swapping it out, but Hammerstein was too ill to write a replacement.
Q 11During which song does the real Maria von Trapp make her uncredited cameo?
I Have Confidence
She walks past an archway with her daughter Rosmarie and a granddaughter, at the line 'I must stop these doubts, all these worries'.
Q 12Which famous dubbing singer was cast on screen as Sister Sophia?
Marni Nixon
It was her first on-screen appearance after years of ghost-singing for stars, and Wise noted audiences could finally see the woman whose voice they knew.
Q 13Where were the film's wedding scenes shot?
Mondsee Abbey
It was the first Salzburg-area location shot, on April 23, 1964, right after the company flew in from Los Angeles.
Q 21Whose singing voice was dubbed by Margery MacKay?
Mother Abbess
The Mother Abbess's actress felt the lyrics of her big number were 'pretentious' and could no longer reach its high notes.
Q 22How many minutes long was the theatrical release of the film?
174
NBC's annual broadcasts hacked about half an hour out of it to fit a three-hour slot; the BBC, with no adverts, ran it whole.
Q 23Which network paid $15 million for the film's first US television broadcast in 1976?
ABC
It drew a 49% audience share, one of the twenty highest-rated films ever shown on television at that point.
The BBC has identified the film as part of its programming for which scenario?
Q 14Where is the gazebo from the film now located?
Hellbrunn Palace
It was moved twice, and the interior scenes for the two gazebo songs were actually shot on a larger set at Fox in Hollywood.
Q 15How did the director get Salzburg's leaders to permit swastika banners in the streets?
Threatened to use old newsreel footage
The film's Nazi content stayed a sore point in the region, and it ran only three days in Salzburg cinemas.
Q 16The closing hike over the mountains was filmed near which German town?
Berchtesgaden
The real family would never have walked to Switzerland, which is over two hundred miles from Salzburg; the shot is within sight of Hitler's Eagle's Nest.
Q 17Which future star was among the child actors auditioned but not chosen?
Kurt Russell
The Osmonds, Mia Farrow and Patty Duke were also seen during more than two hundred interviews across the US and England.
Q 18How old was the actress playing Liesl when 'Sixteen Going on Seventeen' was filmed?
21
She was a part-time model with no acting ambitions when a friend mailed her photo to the director's office.
Q 19Which cast member pulled Gretl's actress from the water when the rowboat capsized?
Heather Menzies
The rescuer, who played Louisa, was then vomited on by the five-year-old, who had swallowed a lot of lake.
Q 20Which was the last role cast for the film?
Rolfe
The actor married Liesl's understudy two years later, then joined the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War.
A nuclear war
The corporation paid a then-record $4.1 million for the rights and first showed it on Christmas Day 1978.
Q 25What did a Fox branch manager in Munich cut from the film without authorization?
The entire third act
Everything after the wedding vanished, including the Anschluss; Wise and the studio restored the film and the manager was fired.
Q 26Which was the promotional tagline chosen for the film?
The Happiest Sound in All the World
Publicist Mike Kaplan picked it after reading the script, and the poster art was a Howard Terpning painting of Maria on an alpine meadow.
Q 27Which pop song of 2019 interpolates the melody of 'My Favorite Things'?
7 Rings
The winter imagery of the original also made it a Christmas staple, despite the musical having nothing to do with the holidays.
Q 28Which jazz musician turned 'My Favorite Things' into a standard with a 14-minute 1960 recording?
John Coltrane
It became a signature piece in his concerts and appears in the Real Book, the jazz musician's fake-book bible.
Q 29In 'Do-Re-Mi', which syllable is 'a drink with jam and bread'?
Ti
The children's bell-ringer sequence was worked out in rehearsal by arranger Trude Rittmann and choreographer Joe Layton, not by Rodgers.
Q 30Which traditional Austrian dance do Maria and the Captain share at the party?
Ländler
The film's choreography followed the folk dance strictly, though the stage version's is only loosely based on it.