Christopher Plummer In the Spotlight: From Broadway to THE SOUND OF MUSIC and Beyond

2025 marks the 60th anniversary of The Sound of Music, one of the most beloved movie musicals of the twentieth century. Starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, the movie has returned to theaters in a new 4K remaster, running from September 12- 17.

Upon its release in 1965, audiences fell in love with Plummer's performance as the gruff Captain von Trapp, the love interest of Andrews' Maria. However, both before and after the release of this now-classic film, Plummer's distinct charisma and acting presence were witnessed by Broadway audiences during his storied stage career, which lasted across six decades.

Plummer made his Broadway debut in his mid-twenties in Diana Morgan's then-new play The Starcross Story. It was not a success, closing after only one performance in January of 1954, following a lawsuit. This first failure didn't keep him down long, however, as only a few months later, the actor returned to Broadway in Home Is the Home, which ran for a little under a month.

Over the next two years, he was a frequent mainstay on the New York stage, appearing in three more Broadway productions: The Dark Is Light Enough (1955), The Lark (1955), and Night of the Auk (1956).

Between Broadway productions, he was a frequent participant in plays at the Stratford Festival in Ontario. Making his debut at the festival in 1956 as the title role in Henry V, he played a variety of Shakespeare roles throughout the years, including Hamlet, Mercutio, and King Lear. 

It was in late 1958 that he would find major professional success by starring in the play, J.B. A modernization of the Biblical story of Job. The play itself won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play. For his performance as Nickles, Plummer received his first Tony nomination. He returned to Broadway five years later as the title role in Bertolt Brecht's Arturo Ui, the World War II allegory. Directed by Tony Richardson, the short-lived production closed after only ten performances. 

It was around this time that director Robert Wise was seeking out Plummer to play Captain von Trapp for the big-screen adaptation of The Sound of Music. He has seen the actor perform on Broadway and eventually convinced a reluctant Plummer to take the part. Unlike those of his co-star Julie Andrews, Plummer's singing vocals were dubbed by another performer in the final cut of the film.

In 1965, the same year that The Sound of Music opened in theaters, Plummer returned to Broadway in Peter Shaffer's The Royal Hunt of the Sun. The actor led the cast as conquistador Francisco Pizarro opposite David Carradine as Atahualpa. In the 1969 film adaptation, Plummer took on the role of Atahualpa to Robert Shaw's Pizarro. In 1971, Plummer appeared in the Royal National Theatre in a production of Amphitryon 38, directed by the giant of the stage, Laurence Olivier.

After a few years away to focus on his success in Hollywood, Plummer starred in the musical Cyrano. Based on the play (which itself is based on the real-life French novelist Cyrano de Bergerac), Plummer received favorable reviews as the title character and took home both the Tony and Drama Desk Award.

Only a few months after the closing of Cyrano, Plummer toplined the original production of Neil Simon's The Good Doctor. Based on the work of playwright Anton Chekhov, the show also starred Rene Auberjonois, Barnard Hughes, Frances Sternhagen, and Marsha Mason. It ran for about six months.

Plummer's next two Broadway credits were a pair of Shakespeare plays. In Othello, he played the villainous Iago to James Earl Jones in the title role. The production won a Tony Award for Best Revival, and Plummer received a nomination for his performance. In 1988, he played another great part: Macbeth, starring opposite Glenda Jackson as Lady Macbeth.

Six years later, Plummer returned to Broadway alongside Jason Robards in a revival of Harold Pinter's No Man's Land. The play centers on two aging writers and, for his performance as Spooner, Plummer received his fourth Tony nomination. Plummer saw major success in 1997, starring in a two-person play about stage and screen star John Barrymore. Plummer played the actor near the end of his life, looking back at his storied career. Plummer's poignant portrayal won him his second Tony Award. He reprised his performance in a screen adaptation, released 14 years later. 

In 2002, Plummer brought his take on Shakespeare's King Lear to the Stratford Festival. The production (and Plummer's performance) received largely positive reviews and, two years later, transferred to Lincoln Center Theater's Vivian Beaumont Theater. With direction by Jonathan Miller, the Broadway production received nominations for Best Revival and Best Actor for Plummer.

Plummer's final Broadway role came in 2007 with a revival of Inherit the Wind, playing the character of Henry Drummond. The actor starred opposite Brian Dennehy in the 12-week run, receiving another Tony nomination. Though this would mark the end of his career on Broadway, Plummer's stage work continued at Stratford. In George Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra, Plummer starred as Julius Caesar in 2008, and played the part of Prospero in Shakespeare's The Tempest in 2010. Both productions were filmed and released in theaters. 

In the last 10 years of his life, Plummer experienced a career resurgence for his onscreen work, winning his first Academy Award for his role in the movie Beginners. At 82, this made Plummer the oldest actor to be honored with the award. Other late-career highlights include his performance as J. Paul Getty in Ridley Scott's All the Money in the World, and the mystery novelist Harlan Thrombey in Rian Johnson's hit whodunit Knives Out. 

Though Plummer passed away in 2021, his undeniable talents as a performer continue to live on in his many beloved performances, from early favorites like The Sound of Music to his later work in Barrymore and Shakespeare's The Tempest. 

Experience the breathtaking theatrical presentation of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s iconic musical The Sound of Music in movie theatres across the US.

Photo Credit: “THE SOUND OF MUSIC” ©1965 20th Century Studios, Inc. All rights reserved.