‘The Sound of Music’ is Cayleigh Capaldi’s oyster 

(News4usOnline) – The storylines centered in the hit Broadway musical The Sound of Music  are plenty. And they all seem to come back to the main source: Maria, whose heart is grand and whose gifted singing voice is a godsend. 

You name it and the The Sound of Music has just about everything thrown into its bowl of drama. There’s a bit of family, faith, love, with a dash of humanity as the backdrop of World War II provides another turn of intrigue. 

Wherever the storyline goes, Maria, more of less, is at the center of attention. With her angelic singing and finely-tuned acting chops, Julie Andrews made the role of Maria Rainer famous in the 1965 film version of The Sound of Music. The period drama won five Academy Awards. 

Underscoring this titanic collaboration of talented thespians in the live show now is actress Cayleigh Capaldi. Capaldi takes on the complicated role of Maria and hits a home run. 

However, navigating the avenues of her faith as she goes from trying to become a nun to playing nanny to seven children to falling in love with a widower, is a little more complex than what Maria signed up for. 

Her faith level, rather her relationship with God, is the key to unlock’s life’s door for Maria. When we first see Maria and all the way up to the end of the production, her faith walk becomes the barometer to her success, both personally and professionally.   

Capaldi, in an interview with News4usOnline Editor Dennis J. Freeman, says Maria’s roller-coaster faith ride is simply an installment of growth. 

“At the start of the show, she is really struggling to find her way,” Capaldi said. “She was orphaned, working at a young age, sort of left at this abbey to be raised by and taken care of by nuns, and she’s basically been told her whole life that, you know, this is your past, you have to follow these rules, no exceptions. She’s sort of taught as if it’s another rule that I have to find out what is the will of God, and to do it no matter what.” 

Like the question itself, Capaldi says Maria’s faith struggle has many layers to it as she tries to find out what it is that she has been called to do. 

“I think she, at the start, I think she struggles with that a little bit, because she’s feeling this, she’s feeling this tension between what she’s being told to do around her by the authority figures in her life versus what she feels her heart is yearning for, which is following adventure, following her gut, following her heart,” says Capaldi. 

“And so it kind of unlocks this wonderful world of opportunity for her when she is assigned to go and be the governess for these seven children at the captain’s house.  And I think she has a bit of a rocky relationship with her calling by the end of the first act, right through the middle of the show,” she adds. 

Before playing Maria, Capaldi sharpened up her theatrical skills by taking on characters such as Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Cinderella for Into the Woods, Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins, and as Jo March in Little Women. She is also no stranger to television with appearances in NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime and HBO’s Mrs. Fletcher. 

With an impressive resume portraying powerful women, Capaldi appears to be the perfect fit to play Maria, whose spiritual tug-o-war struggles goes from one extreme to another to the point where her internal conflict is only calmed by much wiser voices.  

“The biggest conflict for her, is that you know she, she has dedicated her whole life to God’s service, and yet now she’s being encouraged by the Mother Abbess to actually lead a life of being a nun and being devoted entirely to God, and to actually pursue love with another person,” Capaldi said. 

“I don’t think she views that as following God’s will initially, but when the Mother Abbess tells her, you know, the love between a man and a woman is holy, too. And just because you love another person doesn’t mean you love God any less. It’s actually a way to love God to love another person…when she comes to terms with that, her relationship strengthens so much with her faith. I think it’s what gives her the courage and the bravery and the fortitude to then escape and leave her home with her family in Act Two.  Even though it’s terrifying and uncomfortable and tragic, she has the strength to do what she feels is right,” Capaldi goes on to say. 

What drew Capaldi into playing Maria was that she found the character to be very likable and she tries not to emulate anyone else.

“Maria is just such a wonderful character, because she is so genuinely authentically herself, and she learns that that is her superpower,” Capaldi remarked. “There’s no way that she’ll be able to succeed or find her purpose or find love in her life if she is not unapologetically herself, and that’s what ends up helping her win over the kids, and you know, find her path in taking care of them and inspiring them.” 

Perhaps what makes playing the role of Maria so appealing to Capaldi is that the audience can identify with the character on so many levels. There’s a connectedness to Maria that feels authentic, Capaldi said. 

“I think they can identify with the fact that she is really an imperfect human being,” Capaldi said. “We all have our struggles. We all have our exceptions. Nobody is perfect, and she [Maria] is certainly not a perfect person. But I think it’s through her quirkiness and mistakes she makes along the way that we end up falling in love with her, because we see ourselves in her, and I think it just inspires the audiences again to not deny the world their true authentic self.”     

Cover Art/Lead Image: (left, standing) Cayleigh Capaldi (Maria Rainer) with the von Trapp Children (l to r) Eli Vander Griend (Friedrich), Benjamin Stasiek (Kurt), Luciana VanDette (Gretl), Haddie Mac (Brigitta), Ruby Caramore (Marta), Ava Davis (Louisa), Ariana Ferch (Liesl) in The Sound of Music. Photo by Jeremy Daniel

The “Sound of Music” is currently playing at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts through June 14, 2026. The production will take a month-long hiatus before starting up again in Reno, Nevada on July 14, 2026.