Maria ( Rodgers and Hammerstein song ) - Wikipedia Maria ( Rodgers and Hammerstein song ) `` Maria '' Song Released 1959 in The Sound of Music Genre Showtune Composer ( s ) Richard Rodgers Lyricist ( s ) Oscar Hammerstein II `` Maria '', sometimes known as `` How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria ? '' is a show tune from the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, The Sound of Music. This song is sung by the nuns at Nonnberg Abbey, who are exasperated with Maria for being too frivolous and frolicsome for the decorous and austere life at the Abbey. This song gave its title to Andrew Lloyd Webber 's reality TV series How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria ?, in which TV viewers voted for a contestant to play the lead role of Maria von Trapp in his London revival of The Sound of Music. Connie Fisher won the TV series and was cast as Maria in the London revival of the show that opened in November 2006 at the London Palladium. When Oscar Hammerstein II wrote the lyric for this song, he followed the lead from a line in the dialogue that Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse wrote in their script, describing Maria 's flighty ways in the Abbey. In particular, he was taken by the detail of her wearing curlers in her hair under her wimple. Hammerstein asked if he could incorporate their dialogue into the song, and they allowed him to do so because `` if you tell a story in a song, it 's so much better. '' When writing the lyric, Hammerstein knew he needed adjectives for the nuns to describe Maria. He admitted that his vocabulary was never big, but the simple adjectives he used to describe Maria 's character proved a success. References Jump up ^ Maslon, Laurence ( 2006 ). The Sound of Music Companion. London : Pavilion Books. Jump up ^ Wilk, Max ( 2007 ). The Making of The Sound of Music. New York : Routledge. Jump up ^ Fordin, Hugh ( 1995 ). Getting to Know Him : A Biography of Oscar Hammerstein II. New York : Da Capo Press. Rodgers and Hammerstein Stage musicals Oklahoma ! Carousel Allegro South Pacific The King and I Me and Juliet Pipe Dream Flower Drum Song The Sound of Music A Grand Night for Singing State Fair Cinderella Productions I Remember Mama Annie Get Your Gun Happy Birthday John Loves Mary Show Boat The Happy Time Burning Bright Films State Fair Oklahoma ! Carousel The King and I South Pacific Flower Drum Song State Fair The Sound of Music Cinderella Television Cinderella The Sound of Music Live ! Songs `` Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin ' '' `` The Surrey with the Fringe on Top '' `` Kansas City '' `` I Cai n't Say No '' `` Many a New Day '' `` It 's a Scandal ! It 's a Outrage ! '' `` People Will Say We 're in Love '' `` Lonely Room '' `` The Farmer and the Cowman '' `` All Er Nuthin ' '' `` Oklahoma '' `` If I Loved You '' `` Soliloquy '' `` You 'll Never Walk Alone '' `` It Might as Well Be Spring '' `` That 's for Me '' `` A Fellow Needs a Girl '' `` So Far '' `` Some Enchanted Evening '' `` There Is Nothing Like a Dame '' `` Bali Ha'i '' `` I 'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair '' `` I 'm in Love with a Wonderful Guy '' `` Younger Than Springtime '' `` Happy Talk '' `` You 've Got to Be Carefully Taught '' `` I Whistle a Happy Tune '' `` Hello, Young Lovers '' `` Getting to Know You '' `` We Kiss in a Shadow '' `` Something Wonderful '' `` I Have Dreamed '' `` Shall We Dance ? '' `` No Other Love '' `` I Enjoy Being a Girl '' `` The Sound of Music '' `` Maria '' `` My Favorite Things '' `` Do - Re-Mi '' `` Sixteen Going on Seventeen '' `` The Lonely Goatherd '' `` Climb Ev'ry Mountain '' `` So Long, Farewell '' `` No Way to Stop It '' `` Edelweiss '' Related articles `` Something Good '' The Sound of Music The Sound of Music : Music from the NBC Television Event Trapp Family Singers Members Maria von Trapp Georg von Trapp Rupert Agathe Maria Franziska Werner Hedwig Johanna Martina Johannes Memoir The Story of the Trapp Family Singers Films The Trapp Family ( 1956 ) The Trapp Family in America ( 1958 ) The Sound of Music ( 1965 ) The von Trapp Family : A Life of Music ( 2015 ) Other adaptations The Sound of Music ( 1959 musical ) Trapp Family Story ( 1991 anime ) The Sound of Music Live ! ( 2013 ) The Sound of Music Live ( 2015 ) Songs `` The Sound of Music '' `` Maria '' `` My Favorite Things '' `` Do - Re-Mi '' `` Sixteen Going on Seventeen '' `` The Lonely Goatherd '' `` Climb Ev'ry Mountain '' `` No Way to Stop It '' `` So Long, Farewell '' `` Edelweiss '' `` Something Good '' Albums The Groovy Sound of Music ( 1964 ) The Sound of Music ( 1965 soundtrack ) The Sound of Music : Music from the NBC Television Event ( 2013 ) Associated acts Elisabeth von Trapp The von Trapps This show tune - related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Maria_(Rodgers_and_Hammerstein_song)&oldid=782276478 '' Categories : 1959 songs Songs with music by Richard Rodgers Songs with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II Andy Williams songs Songs from The Sound of Music Show tune stubs Talk About Wikipedia Italiano Edit links This page was last edited on 25 May 2017, at 21 : 53. 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Question: who sings how do you solve a problem like maria
Answer: the nuns at Nonnberg Abbey