Showbiz Queenstown president Alex Derbie welcomed the audience of 40 in the hall's supper room. The hall next door was being transformed into the von Trapp mansion complete with painted backdrop of the "Austrian Alps".
Veteran musical theatre director Bryan Aitken, of Christchurch, who returned to Queenstown after he directed All Shook Up last year, and musical director Emma Wilson introduced the black-clad multi-national cast.
Wakatipu talents flawlessly sang show tunes including the complex Latin Dixit Dominus performed by 11 "nuns" and the renowned Do-Re-Mi featuring Lisa Moore as Maria and the two casts of von Trapp children.
About 60 youngsters auditioned for the 14 places to play the von Trapp siblings.
Set in 1938 at the time of the German-Austrian Anschluss, or annexation, the story was "deceptive if you don't know the plot; you don't know where it's going", Ms Wilson said.
The purpose of the "sneak peak" was to generate buzz and put the enduring musical in context, but not to reveal too much, Mr Derbie told the Queenstown Times.
"This production is slightly different because it's based on a true story. The setting and places do exist.
"There is an abbey, where Maria trained, and there was a Captain von Trapp, and they all made their way to America and performed with the children for many years."
Mr Derbie said Showbiz Queenstown, a non-profit society incorporated in 1975, first performed the musical exactly 30 years ago, in 1982.
"What we seek to do are shows which have a variety of talents with regards to participation."
The Sound of Music was "a family show and the world's most loved musical. It's been performed in 30 or 40 languages because of its universal appeal and its portrayal of a family and its historical context".
"And, of course, it's by Rodgers and Hammerstein, who were no slouches when it came to musical theatre."
The show will open in the hall on May 17 and run till May 26.
