Roles reversed as play reveals truth about Maria and the Baroness

Fans of The Sound Of Music know and love its leading lady, Maria, as the sweet singing nun who wins the heart and hand of Captain von Trapp over her arch rival, Baroness Schräder.

But while the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical depicted the baroness as a Nazi sympathiser cast aside for the virtuous Maria, a play is being researched that claims that in real life she was a much-maligned character who lost her love to the pushy Maria.

The story of the Von Trapp family was based on a 1949 memoir written by Maria Augusta von Trapp, the nun who was fictionalised for a Broadway musical in 1959 and a 1965 film in which she was played by Julie Andrews.

The tale focused on the love between Georg Ritter von Trapp, a widowed father in Salzburg suburb, and Maria, who came to tutor his children as the Second World War loomed. Until Maria arrived, the captain was due to marry his fiancée, Elsa Schräder.

Annie Caulfield is writing the play for BBC Radio 4, which will either be called The Real Sound Of Music or How Do You Solve A Problem Like That? It will offer a fresh look at the baroness's character and a critical interpretation of Maria as a pushy young nun who steals the heart of Captain von Trapp. It is due to be aired next May.

"I remember seeing the musical a lot as a child but I watched it recently with my godchild and thought, why doesn't he [Captain von Trapp] go off with the more interesting, sophisticated woman? Having just turned 40, I looked at the character of the baroness differently," said Caulfield.

"I also found no evidence to suggest the baroness was connected to the Nazis at all. And there is something vaguely disturbing about [the captain] going off with a young nun."

Caulfield also discovered the baroness's poor treatment at the hands of Captain von Trapp as she got older, when she discovered it was the baroness who suggested Von Trapp hire a governess, which led to her being jilted.

"The facts tell us the captain had lost his wife and huge amounts of money and was in a real state when Baroness Schräder found him. She tried to sort his life out and made this mistake of getting a nun in as a governess," Caulfield said. "Julie Andrews was so nice that Maria came across as nice, but she was pushy. The Von Trapps were quite a well-known folk singing group and Maria was ambitious. I also got the impression that the nuns were only too glad to see the back of her."

Caulfield said the play would feature the baroness enjoying "girl talk" in Vienna. "She could have a friend she talks to, saying, 'I've met this guy and he dresses his children in military uniform, but I like him.' " It will follow the real story of the Von Trapps, including their departure to Italy, not Switzerland as the film suggests.