The hills are alive with the sound of a box office record for Western Canada Theatre for its production of the Sound of Music this year.

Artistic Director James MacDonald says the final numbers are still being tallied, but he expects revenue from the 17 performances to be around $250,000.

“The production essentially cost us more than that with all the staffing costs that go into it and the number of people employed,” he said. “We’re so proud to be a significant employer of people here in Kamloops. Every dollar that we take in goes back into our community in some way and that’s something we take great pride in.”

MacDonald says around 11,000 people watched the Sound of Music at Sagebrush Theatre this year, which was a little short of the record of 12,000 set by Elf the Musical last year, which had two more performances.

“It’s not only a joy for us to be able to put on these classic stories and put them on with full professional value, but it’s also a real testament to our community that people have responded to that and people support the theatre and they buy tickets and they make donations,” MacDonald added.

“We were just so thankful that the audience responded to it with the uptake in the last few years with Mary Poppins, Mamma Mia, A Christmas Carol, Elf, and now Sound of Music.”