60 years of 'The Sound of Music' in Atlanta: Iconic film returns to Georgia theaters this month

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Atlanta resident Elfriede attended the Fox Theatre screening of "The Sound of Music" in Atlanta with her family on July 27, 2025.

Credit: Kristi York Wooten / GPB News

On the last Sunday in July, the lights of the Fox Theatre marquee flashed in the afternoon sun as a capacity crowd poured in for a matinee of the 1965 Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, The Sound of Music.

This sing-along showing of the movie was part of the Coca-Cola Film Series at the Fox and patrons of all ages arrived, some in costume, ready to belt familiar tunes like "Maria," "My Favorite Things" and "The Lonely Goatherd."

"My name is Elfriede, and I'm originally from Germany," an attendee dressed in traditional Bavarian clothing told GPB. "I came here in 1962. And I've seen The Sound of Music several times. The first time I saw it, my husband and I, he was still in college. So we know the movie very well."

Elfriede said she brought her granddaughter and family to not only sing along with one of the best-loved musicals of the past century, but also hear the film's message about the von Trapp family, who escaped the Nazi regime in 1938 and ultimately found a new life in America.

"It was my daughter's idea. So maybe she would like [them to see] some of my heritage, from where I came, the kind of country that I came from."

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A marching band is shown outside the Martin Cinerama theater in Atlanta on March 23, 1966, in the 52nd of 89 weeks of the opening run of "The Sound of Music."

Credit: Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library

The movie first opened in Georgia on March 24,1965. The premiere was "sponsored by Tent No. 21 of the Variety Club of Atlanta and included special guests, Mrs. William Platzer, wife of Austria's ambassador to the U.S. and the Austrian Consul and Mrs. Robert Bunzi of Atlanta," according to an archived Atlanta Journal-Constitution preview of the film. The Sound of Music played for 89 weeks in its initial run at the Martin Cinerama on Peachtree Street, with many revivals at other locations.

Star Julie Andrews, who shares a birthday with late President Jimmy Carter, turns 90 on Oct. 1. (Christopher Plummer died in 2021; all but two of the actors who portrayed the von Trapp children are alive and well). Andrews appeared with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in 2009 as part of a children's book tour with her daughter called The Gift of Music. And the latest reprise of the original Rodgers and Hammerstein Sound of Music musical, with an all-new cast, will return to the Fox in April 2026 as part of the Regents Bank "Broadway in Atlanta" series.

This month, celebrations of the 60th anniversary 4K edition of The Sound of Music — which won Best Picture at the 1966 Academy Awards — are taking place across the country, including screenings in dozens of Georgia movie theaters from Sept. 12 to Sept. 17. (Check your local listings here).

While The Sound of Music will not play at the Fox Theatre as part of this month's screenings, Atlantans who participated in the July 27 event enjoyed party poppers inside a goodie bag of 60th anniversary trinkets.

As people took their seats inside the theater, event host Carly Lovell, dressed in an Austrian dirndl in honor of the film's Salzburg location, coached the crowd to sing "Do Re Mi." She also encouraged the audience to sing as loudly as they wished, and to be vocal about the action onscreen.

As the film played, the audience hissed at the Baroness, booed swastika flags, cheered the romantic gazebo kiss between Maria Rainer and Captain Georg von Trapp and held up their phone flashlights for the emotional chorus during "Edelweiss."

For Janine Maloney and her mom, Jenny Questell, watching The Sound of Music together is a bonding experience they've shared since she was a baby. Decades later, the movie's lessons still make sense, they agreed.

"Don't allow yourself to let your circumstances dictate who you're going to be and who you become," Maloney said.

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A group of theatergoers dress as nuns for the Fox Theatre screening of "The Sound of Music" in Atlanta on July 27, 2025.

Credit: The Fox Theatre

"And the political thing, the Nazi thing was big," Questell added. "I didn't understand it when I was 9. When I saw it again as I was growing older, it was like, 'Oh my God, this is terrible!' So, these are things that, as you get older, you realize the history with what the movie's really teaching you."

Fox Theatre Vice President Jamie Vosmeier said the venue has a long history with The Sound of Music — and everyone who sees it has a memory to share.

"We got to stay up late, past normal bedtime, and watch The Sound of Music," he said of growing up with the movie. "And then when I had children, it was on VHS and DVD. And so they watched it whenever they wanted to. And it was actually a favorite of my kids as well. So, from a personal perspective, The Sound of Music is just a sweet story. I sang the song, 'Edelweiss' in fifth grade and won a talent competition [laughs]. It's got a lot of meaning to me personally in that respect. But the Fox loves The Sound of Music because Atlanta loves The Sound of Music."

As theatergoers wiped their eyes after the nostalgic presentation, they returned to the sidewalk and the summer evening outside. Many kept singing, proving that the power of songs to lift human spirits is what keeps The Sound of Music flowing six decades later. 

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Cast members of the 1965 film "The Sound of Music" pose with Coca-Cola products in Salzburg, Austria, during filming.

Credit: Rodgers & Hammerstein Productions