IT’S been 50 years since Julie Andrews first ran over the Austrian hills, away from her convent and towards the von Trapp family home.

Since then, The Sound of Music has become the most successful film musical of all time and captured the hearts of generations.

Now, this Rodgers and Hammerstein musical returns to the stage and comes to the Mayflower Theatre at the start of a major national tour.

The songs are as familiar and homely as apfelstrudel; listening to the unforgettable score feels like being wrapped in a comforting blanket, transporting you back to all those Christmasses spent in the company of the most famous Austrian singing family in the world.

And it’s not only the songs that are familiar. Maria is played by Danielle Hope, who found fame in the search for Dorothy in the BBC’s Over The Rainbow and went on to star in The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium.

She’s an engaging, vivacious Maria, and it isn’t long before her warm, innocent charm causes the stiffly formal Captain von Trapp (Steven Houghton) to melt like a crisp white winter into spring.

This is a stunning production to look at and listen to. Gary McCann’s sets are sumptuous and very clever, building in layers across the stage.

Costumes are gorgeous, and the orchestra, under the direction of David Steadman, handles everyone’s favourite songs with kid gloves.

It’s impossible not to listen to the big numbers without a smile plastered across your face; the seven von Trapp children – played with skill, assurance and not a trace of precociousness – singing The Sound of Music and So Long, Farewell are a delight. And Mother Abbess (Jan Hartley)’s powerful rendition of Climb Ev’ry Mountain is mesmerising.

As the emotion heightens with the advance of the Third Reich in the second half, there is not a sound in the audience, and Steven Houghton’s Eidelweiss, sung in front of a panel of swastikas, is very moving.

A fabulous production from beginning to end, this is a fitting way to celebrate the continuing success of one of the world’s favourite musicals.

Buy a ticket – this deserves to be one of your favourite things of 2015.

JANE SULLIVAN

The Sound of Music is at the Mayflower Theatre until January 31