The musical is based on a true story about the von Trapp family who famously escaped the occupation of Austria by the Nazi's at the start of the Second World War. The von Trapp's were an aristocratic Austrian family for whom a lady called Maria Rainer, a young postulant at Nonnberg Abbey, worked as a governess. Maria and Captain Von Trapp, the head of the family, eventually fell in love and were married just before their escape.
—Anonymous